Meet Our Speakers - Jenna Khoury-Hanna
NAME: Jenna Khoury-Hanna
TITLE: Associate Lawyer, Kinch Eddie Litigation Professional Corporation
EDUCATION: BA in Environmental Studies from Acadia, Juris Doctor from the Schulich School of Law, LLM at Pace University (Food and Agriculture Graduate Law Fellow, and member of the Food and Beverage Law Clinic)
Q: Tell us a bit about your work: what do you do/research/teach/practice? And how does it relate to or involve the governance of food or food systems?
I work at Kinch Eddie Litigation Professional Corporation, a litigation firm in Northumberland County. Due to the firm’s location, many of our clients are farmers in the area who seek legal assistance in relation to land. So, while I would not label myself a food lawyer, many of my clients are farmers , and so I work closely with the food system indirectly, through farmland.
Q: What is an ongoing and/or emerging food law and policy issue that you have come across through your work that you feel is important and/or urgent and why? What is at stake?
I often see farmers who have gone to lawyers for succession planning, but the plan created for them is not appropriate for their circumstances. The current tools lawyers are equipped with for dealing with estate planning are not always applicable to farmland. Consequently, the legal issues that arise from poorly executed land succession plans can lead to a loss of farmland in the area, despite the farmer’s intentions to maintain it.
Q: What is something you talked about during your panel at the conference?
In my panel, I discussed farmland succession issues I have experienced through my work.
Q: Based on your work in Farm Leasing and Conservation, how can agricultural services support farmers in implementing conservation practices on leased land?
Through my work with farm leasing, I have seen that the best way to ensure the implementation of conservation practices on leased land is to create a section within the lease dedicated to conservation. In the creation of the lease, the tenant and the landowner are encouraged to talk extensively about conservation, especially where there is shared space on the property. The conservation section can include practices such as soil management, fertilizer and pesticide use, and crop rotation.
Q: How has being a part of CAFLP impacted or guided your career?
I became the Secretary of the CAFLP’s Board of Directors this past January but have been a part of the association ever since the annual conference was hosted at Dalhousie University.
As a first-generation university student, there were lawyers discouraging my pursuit of a food systems legal path, but the association has helped guide me towards a path that reflects my passions. The connections I have gained while being a member of CAFLP have been invaluable to my success in the field and I would not have pursued my LLM without the support of my mentors at CAFLP.
I encourage everyone to use the guidance that the association has to offer.