To further its mission and better serve stakeholders, the National Agricultural Law Center has hired two new staff attorneys, Jana Caracciolo and Samantha Mikolajczyk, both with backgrounds in agriculture.

"Our mission at the center is to be the nation's leading source of agricultural and food law research and information, and the addition of Jana and Samantha to our team will help us achieve that," Harrison Pittman, director of the center, said. "With a growing team, we are better able to serve our stakeholders throughout the United States."

Growing up on a small honey tangerine farm in Florida spurred Caracciolo's interest in the food system. In 2018, she graduated magna cum laude from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science in food and resource economics. Before attending college, Caracciolo served as a state officer for the Florida FFA Association.

While attending the University of Florida Levin College of Law, Caracciolo interned for the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic, as well as the Marketing, Regulatory, and Food Safety Programs Division of the United States Department of Agriculture's Office of the General Counsel. Caracciolo will primarily focus her research on food labeling and food safety-related issues.

"I'm excited to join the National Agricultural Law Center," Caracciolo said. "Through my research and writing, I can help our stakeholders better understand the legal issues that impact our food system, particularly those related to food labeling and food safety."

Mikolajczyk, hailing from south Texas, grew up on a strawberry farm where she was involved in agriculture from a young age through 4-H and FFA. She earned a Bachelor of Science in university studies - leadership from Texas A&M University in 2017. After receiving her undergraduate degree, Mikolajczyk attended Texas A&M University School of Law. She worked as a policy intern for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and as a research fellow with the Vermont Law School's Center for Agriculture and Food Systems.

During her second year of law school, Mikolajczyk began working at the National Agricultural Law Center as a research fellow, where she focused on finance and credit issues, as well as other projects. Mikolajczyk will focus her research on general agricultural, food and environmental law issues.

"When I became a research fellow in law school, my goal became to join the National Agricultural Law Center full time as a staff attorney," Mikolajczyk said. "The center is the perfect place to continue developing my research and writing skills in while helping a broad audience to learn more about agricultural law. I'm looking forward to this next step in my new role."

Read more about Caracciolo and Mikolajczyk at https://bit.ly/2WIP8OC.

For more information on the National Agricultural Law Center, visit nationalaglawcenter.org or follow @Nataglaw on Twitter.

About the National Agricultural Law Center: The National Agricultural Law Center serves as the nation's leading source of agricultural and food law research and information. The center works with producers, state and federal policymakers, congressional staffers, attorneys, land grant universities, and many others to provide objective, nonpartisan agricultural and food law research and information to the nation's agricultural community. The center is a unit of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and works in close partnership with the USDA Agricultural Research Service, National Agricultural Library.

About the Division of Agriculture: The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture's mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation's historic land grant education system. The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on five system campuses. 

The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture is an equal opportunity/equal access/affirmative action institution. If you require a reasonable accommodation to participate or need materials in another format, please contact 479-575-4607 as soon as possible. Dial 711 for Arkansas Relay.