National Ag Law Center launches national stakeholder survey

FAYETTEVILLE — For Harrison Pittman, director of the National Agricultural Law Center, it all started with one question: How can we help you?
“The reason we’re here is to serve those in the agriculture community,” he said. “We’ve been at this since 1987, criss-crossing the country to share what we know through our legal research. While we’re out there, we also learn a lot from those we serve.”
“This year, we want to get that feedback in a more systematic way through a survey of our stakeholders,” Pittman said.
The center reaches a wide audience. In Fiscal Year 2023, NALC staff spoke in at least 25 states, plus the District of Columbia. Its newsletters reach thousands of readers and its website had more than 617,000 page views.
Staying research-based
In the spirit of its valued research-based work, the National Agricultural Law Center has launched an online stakeholder survey to help shape how it serves the nation’s agricultural community.
“The National Agricultural Law Center is a stakeholder-driven institution that serves all kinds of producers, federal and state policymakers, attorneys, lenders, and many others throughout the public and private sectors,” Pittman said. “We depend on stakeholder input to help strategically inform our work, and these survey results will be a major part of that in the months and years ahead.”
The anonymous survey is available online and will remain open until Oct. 16. The 15-question survey has multiple choice and open-answer response questions and takes less than 10 minutes to complete.

Who should take the survey?
The survey is open to anyone who has an interest in agricultural and environmental law and policy, including farmers, advocates, students, lawmakers, analysts and journalists.
“We want to hear as much feedback and input from every part of the nation’s agricultural community as we possibly can,” Pittman said. “We encourage folks to not only take the survey, but to share with others in their organizations, on social media, listservs, and other networks as broadly as they can.”
NALC will use the survey results to prioritize topics, determine preferred methods of information delivery and basic demographic information.
“We’re constantly communicating with those in the ag community,” Pittman said. “Whether through in-person opportunities or on a phone call or virtual conversation, we exist to serve the ag community on a national level.”
NALC attorneys interact daily with stakeholders from across the U.S. Recent years have seen an increase in initiatives from the NALC, including efforts to grow stakeholders in new areas of the country and develop resources pertinent to those regions. NALC resources are housed online at the NALC website, and include “Reading Rooms,” factsheets, newsletters, recorded webinars and more.
“We’re always looking for new opportunities to serve,” Pittman said. “If you’re involved in the ag community, we want to hear from you.”