CAFS Alumna Heads to Harvard

Esther Akwii LLM’20 worked with smallholder farmers and held a position at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations before coming to Vermont Law School. As an LLM Fellow at the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems (CAFS), she helped to pilot a range of projects in partnership with organizations across the U.S. She wrote a background paper on rural development for the Farm Bill Law Enterprise; developed legal memos on farm business structures, agritourism, food safety and labor for Farm Commons; created a brief on rural food access for the Healthy Food Policy Project; and worked on a handbook about policies that promote farm to school programs for the National Farm to School Network. She also taught at VLS as an adjunct professor and presented at conferences alongside scholars from across the country.

Now Akwii will be joining some of those scholars in her new position as a Clinical Fellow at Harvard Law School’s Food Law and Policy Clinic. CAFS partners with the Harvard clinic on projects including the Blueprint for a National Food Strategy and the Farm Bill Law Enterprise. Akwii will keep shaping those projects in her new position, and the CAFS team is thrilled to continue working with her. “Esther is one of the hardest working people I know, taking on more work than seemed humanly possible. All the while she brought a lot of sunshine into otherwise gloomy Vermont winters,” said CAFS Director Laurie Beyranevand JD’03. “While we are reluctant to see her go, we take some solace in knowing she’ll be just a short drive away."

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