Dear Friends and Colleagues,
I hope everyone is doing well and having a great Spring. It is always an honor and a privilege to share updates from the National Agricultural Law Center and the Agricultural & Food Law Consortium.
We continue to publish the
The Ag & Food Law Update, a daily update of federal and state legislative, regulatory, and judicial activity. If you haven't checked it out already, be sure to check out the updates on the Center's
Agricultural & Food Law Blog. In addition, the Consortium has begun publishing a quarterly agricultural and food law update. The inaugural update is available on the Center's website and discussed more below.
The Consortium also continued its monthly free webinar series, featuring programs on numerous and varied agricultural and food law topics. Our most recent webinar was April 20, where over one hundred listeners learned more about Ag Taxation & Reform. For a list of archived and upcoming webinars, visit our website here.
We want to recognize two new research assistants as well! Mary-Thomas Hart is a third year student at Samford University's Cumberland School of Law and Matt Dalton is a second year student at the University of Mississippi School of Law. To learn more about them and the work they've been doing since the beginning of the year, please read the article below.
As always, we continue to add new resources to our website, and for daily updates in agricultural and food law, be sure to check the Center's Twitter account, Facebook page, and the Agricultural & Food Law Blog. We sincerely appreciate your interest in the Center, and welcome your input and suggestions on how best we can provide objective agricultural and food law research and information to stakeholders throughout the United States.
Sincerely,
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The Fourth Annual Mid-South Ag & Env. Law Conference
The workshop will have speakers covering a wide range of topics, including:
- Farm & Ranch Estate Planning: Daddy's Gone, How Do We Move On?
- Ag Lending in a Down Economy: Ag Liens, Secured Transactions and Best Practices
- USDA Conservation Program Compliance: Pitfalls and Pointers
- Considerations for Legal Ethics: Common Issues
- Compensatory Mitigation and the Future of Ag Land Use
- Agricultural & Environmental Law Update: Recent Trends and Developments
The evening before the workshop, at 6:30 p.m., attendees are invited to join us for a "BBQ & Beer" welcome reception at
Charlie Vergos' Rendezvous. The cost of the reception is included in the conference registration.
The program is approved for five hours of general continuing legal education credit and one hour of ethics credit in Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee.
For individuals seeking continuing education credit, the cost will be $175. For other attendees not seeking professional credit the fee is $125, and for students the fee is $25. In all cases, the cost includes the reception at the Rendezvous, lunch and materials. More information and a link to register is available
here.
To register for the conference click here.
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Consortium Quarterly Update
Since the beginning of the year, there have been a number of significant legal developments in the agricultural sector. Many of these issues will continue to play out over the next year and will impact agriculture throughout the country. Notably, there were important developments involving the WOTUS Rule, the Des Moines Waterworks lawsuit, and the Endangered Species Act.
In this light, the Agricultural and Food Law Consortium has compiled a review of some of these developments, with links for additional resources. Led by the National Agricultural Law Center (NALC), the Consortium is a four-university partnership designed to enhance and expand the development and delivery of authoritative, timely, and objective agricultural and food law research and information.
A copy of the First Quarter 2017 Update is available
here
.
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Consortium News: Webinar Series
As part of its mission, the
Agricultural & Food Law Consortium
continues to host a series of webinars on numerous agricultural and food law topics. These webinars are freely available to the general public and are typically designed to be appropriate for both attorneys and non-attorneys.
Recent:
During this past quarter, three webinars were held for the general public. In January, Tom Reddick and Drew Kershen discussed "Major Market Approval and the Syngenta China Corn Class Action" in a lively webinar presentation. For more information on their presentation or to view a recording, click here.
The February webinar featured NALC Director Harrison Pittman, giving us a legal checkup on checkoffs, with his "Recent and Emerging Legal Issues in Federal & State Checkoff Programs" presentation. His presentation is recorded here.
Finally, in March, John Dillard, an associate with Olsson, Frank, Weeda, Terman, Matz PC in Washington DC, presented a webinar on the FSMA animal food rule. For more information on his presentation, including a recording, click
here
.
Upcoming:
Three webinars are also scheduled so far for the current quarter. On Thursday, April 20th, Paul Neiffer, a CPA and Principal with the AgriBusiness Group of CliftonLarsonAllen LLP, discussed "Ag Taxation and Reform: What You Need to Know." For more information on his presentation, including a link to view the recorded webinar, click
here.
In May, Alexandra Chase with the National Sea Grant Law Center and Ross Pifer, the director of the Center for Agricultural and Shale Law at PSU, will present a webinar on "AquaAdvantage Salmon and Other Current Issues in GMO Regulation. More information on their presentation is available
here.
June presenters will be Peggy Kirk Hall, with The OSU Agricultural Law and Taxation Program, along with Carrie Klumb, a senior epidemiologist in the Zoonotic Diseases Unit at the Minnesota Department of Health. They will be discussing "Agritourism, Zoonotic Diseases and Legal Liability." More specifically, they'll be examining agritourism and diseases transmitted by animals from both the scientific and legal perspectives. For more information on this upcoming webinar is available
here.
In the coming year, the Consortium will continue to host monthly public webinars on topics that are important and/or timely to agricultural law. A listing of upcoming webinars and links to the archived records will remain available
here.
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Recognizing: New Research Assistants
This January, the Center welcomed two new research assistants, who have been hard at work on various projects, including updating case law indexes for various reading rooms.
Mary-Thomas Hart is currently a third-year student at Samford University's Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Alabama. She is also pursuing a Master of Science in Environmental Management through Samford's Howard School of Arts and Sciences. Since starting law school, Mary-Thomas has worked for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. She has studied abroad in both Europe and South America, observing agricultural production operations in Ireland, France, the Galapagos Islands and Peru.
Matt Dalton is a second-year law student at the University of Mississippi School of Law in Oxford, MS, where he is a staff
editor for the Mississippi Sports Law Journal. Matt attended and played college basketball at both Hendrix College in Conway, AR and Mississippi College in Clinton, MS, and he graduated from Mississippi College in 2015 with a Bachelors of Science in Political Science and a minor in Biblical Studies. As a law student, Matt's professional experience includes serving low-income individuals while working for North Mississippi Rural Legal Services, serving as an extern in the University of Mississippi Athletics Compliance office, and clerking for Benjamin Griffith at Griffith Law Firm in Oxford, MS. Matt hopes to combine his passion and interest for serving low-income individuals with the study of agricultural law in his future career.
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The Ag & Food Law Update/RSS Feed
The Ag & Food Law Update continues to provide a daily roundup of significant judicial, legislative and regulatory developments in agriculture. We recently launched an RSS feed option allowing followers to receive our regularly changing content.
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Focus on Outreach
Center staff has given multiple presentations to a wide range of audiences over the past quarter. You can see some recent examples below. If you're interested in learning more about any of the topics below, or in having Center staff present at a conference or webinar you're sponsoring, please
contact us.
In-person presentations:
- Rusty Rumley and Harrison Pittman spoke at the NASDA Winter Policy Conference in Washington D.C. They gave an update of agricultural law issues important to state departments of agriculture.
- Harrison discussed recent and emerging agricultural issues at the Mississippi Farm Bureau Annual meeting in Jackson, MS.
- Rusty discussed estate planning at a workshop in Siloam Springs, AR.
- Harrison attended the State and Agricultural Rural Leaders Annual Meeting in Baton Rouge, and spoke about "A Look at Recent State Agriculture/Rural Laws and Rising Issues."
- Rusty gave an estate planning presentation in Goshen, AR.
- Harrison spoke to the Independent Professional Seed Association, discussing "Regulatory, Legislative, & Judicial Updates", Diego, CA.
- Elizabeth Rumley spoke at Arkansas Farm Bureau's Annual Convention in Hot Springs, AR. She discussed legal issues important to livestock and poultry producers.
- Harrison was the Emcee at the Arkansas Annual Rice Meeting in Stuttgart, AR.
- Elizabeth and Rusty spoke at the Arkansas Women in Agriculture conference in Little Rock, AR. The discussed landowner liability and environmental laws important for landowners.
- Harrison was the keynote speaker at the Tennessee Grain & Soybean Producers Conference in Dyersburg, TN, discussing "Recent & Emerging Issues for the Ag Industry."
- Elizabeth took part in the Michigan Farm Bureau's Young Farmer Leaders Conference in Grand Rapids, MI. She discussed legal issues important to livestock and poultry producers.
- Harrison spoke at the Agriculture Network Information Center annual meeting in Beltsville, MD, talking about "The National Agricultural Law Center: Resources and Issues."
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