This fall, the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems (CAFS) at Vermont Law and Graduate School (VLGS) welcomed two new members to its team: Legal and Policy Fellows Bella O’Connor JD’24 and Haley Rowlands. As fellows, they will contribute significantly to CAFS’s work creating broadly accessible resources and providing law and policy expertise, while supervising VLGS students and collaborating closely with project partners. Read more about them below.
Bella O’Connor JD’24 recently graduated from VLGS, where she was an Environmental Mission Scholar and received the Marc Mihaly Environmental Leadership Award for outstanding service in her volunteer and clinical work. She has committed much of her time to grassroots campaigns and policy initiatives focused on climate change, industrial agriculture, consolidation, and animal rights issues. She founded the Vermont Coalition Against Factory Farms and manages the local farmers market in South Royalton.
Haley Rowlands joins CAFS from Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide, where she conducted research on various issues, from marine pollution to the impacts of mining on biodiversity. She earned a JD from Boston College School of Law and has worked with a variety of organizations and government agencies with a focus on environmental law. She has also worked on farms and community gardens for over a decade and has volunteered as a master gardener through UVM Extension.