Newsletter: Agricultural and food law research and information

It's hard to believe how quickly 2017 has flown by! By the time we publish our next newsletter, we'll already be in 2018 . Until then, we're thrilled to share some updates from the National Agricultural Law Center and the Agricultural & Food Law Consortium.

In the past quarter, the Center began a new partnership with the San Joaquin Agricultural Law Review. We're excited about this new partnership, which is described in more detail below, and look forward to collaborating with the SJALR for many years to come.

The Consortium continues its webinar series on numerous agricultural and food law topics. On October 18, Sean High with the Center for Shale & Agricultural Law presented on the H-2A Temporary Guest Worker Program. In November, one webinar will cover legal issues in pesticide use and another webinar will focus on legal issues in estate planning. We are finalizing programs for 2018 as well. If you have suggestions for future topics or speakers, be sure to let us know at [email protected].

We're already beginning to prepare for our Fifth Annual Agricultural & Environmental Law Conference, which will be held June 7-8, 2018 at the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law. As before, we have a conference reception the evening on the 7^th at Charles Vergos' Rendezvous, followed by the program on the 8^th. This coming year's agenda is already shaping up to be another great program. The conference is a terrific networking and educational opportunity for attorneys and agriculture professionals throughout region and beyond. Be sure to save the date!

We continue to publish The Ag & Food Law Update as part of our mission of serving as the nation's leading source of agricultural and food law research and information. This is a daily update of federal and state legislative, regulatory, and judicial activity. Additionally, we and our Consortium partners continue publishing the Quarterly Ag & Food Law Update. In addition to these publications, be sure follow the Center's Center's Twitter account, Facebook page, and the Agricultural & Food Law Blog for additional updates in agricultural and food law.

We appreciate your interest very much and hope you have a great finish to 2017. See you in 2018!

Sincerely,

Center Director

A New Partnership

The Center is happy to announce a new partnership with the San Joaquin College of Law Agricultural Law Review. This partnership is a formalization of a working relationship that goes back several years, and will in part involve members of the Agricultural Law Review working at the Center on various projects in the role of Research Assistants.

The first two students we have welcomed through this partnership are BreAnne Ruelas and Christina Cardenas-Gonzalez. One of the goals of the partnership is to enhance the development and dissemination of agricultural and food law research and information impacting Center stakeholders in the western United States.

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 animal welfare, the Syngenta Viptera corn lawsuits, dicamba drift, and FSMA.

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, 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 Third Quarter 2017 Update is available here.

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:

In August, Robert Moore, a principal with Wright and MooreLaw Co. LPA, along with Chris Hogan, a Law Fellow with The OSU's Agricultural Law & Taxation Program, presented a webinar titled "Using LLCs in Agriculture: Beyond Liability Protection." To watch the recorded webinar click here.

The first September presenter was Jesse Richardson. He gave a "Water Law Update," summarizing recent legislative developments and case law regarding topics such as exempt wells, water rights and regulatory takings. The recorded webinar is available here.

The second September presenter was Stephanie Showalter Otts, director of the National Sea Grant Law Center. Her presentation on "Tackling the Challenge of Invasive Species to Reduce Impacts to Agriculture," included an overview of the recent D.C. Circuit Court decision in U.S. Association of Reptile Keepers v. Zinke. For more information on this webinar including the recording, click here.

The first October webinar was presented by Shannon Ferrell from Oklahoma State University.His webinar addressed "Legal Issues with Data (Big and Small)" and focused on the use and collection of data off of farms. To learn more about this webinar and to see the recording, click here.

The final October webinar was given by Sean High from the Center for Agricultural and Shale Law at the Penn State College of Law. His presentation entitled, "Understanding the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Guest Worker Program" covered the basics of employing non-immigrant foreign workers and the potential issues that can arise under this program. To learn more about this webinar and to view the recording, click here.

Upcoming:

The Ag and Food Law Consortium has two final webinars for 2018 and both of which are intended for the non-attorney audience.

On November 1st at 12:00 pm EST, Tiffany Dowell Lashmet from Texas A&M and Rusty Rumley from the National Agricultural Law Center will present "From Farm Fields to the Courthouse: Legal Issues Surrounding Pesticide Use." This webinar covers the legal background of pesticide regulation, labeling, usage, and damage claims in the United States.

The final webinar is on November 15th, during which Rusty Rumley will discuss " Estate Planning: Preparing to Plan." The purpose behind this webinar is to provide attendees with an idea of what information and documents they will need to gather to start the estate planning process with their attorney.

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.

A "Thank You" Years in the Making

About fifteen years ago, Drew Kershen, Earl Sneed Centennial Professor of Law at the University of Oklahoma College of Law, and Lisa Bowles, a law librarian at OU, created the Agricultural Law Bibliography. The Bibliography draws from law journals, law reviews and legal periodicals that publish articles, comments, notes, and developments comprising the body of published research in agricultural and food law. As he included articles tracing back to 1950, Professor Kershen then created a table of 48 categories in which the bibliography is categorized for research efficiency. Since its creation, it has been updated quarterly.

The Center has been proud to house this repository on its site since 2004, and it is certainly a well-known and well-utilized part of the Center's mission to disseminate research and information in agricultural law. It can be searched either by keyword or category .

Professor Kershen has since taken emeritus status at OU, and is moving on to other projects. As a result Center staff have taken on the role of compiling bibliographic information, beginning with the third quarter of 2017. While the learning curve to assemble the bibliography is steep, we look forward to continuing to provide exceptional research, education and information through this compilation. Thank you, Professor Kershen, for your enduring contributions to the field of agricultural law.

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:

In both July and August, Rusty Rumley traveled to Mississippi to present at two MS Farm Bureau meetings, discussing legal issues associated with the use of new technologies in agriculture.
In July, Harrison Pittman and Elizabeth Rumley spoke at the American Farm Bureau Federation National Commodity Conference.
Harrison visited Washington DC to take part in informational meetings with stakeholders.
In September, Rusty spoke to beginning farmer/veterans in Baltimore, MD about leasing and business organizations.
Harrison, Rusty and Elizabeth attended and spoke at a legal roundtable at the NASDA Annual Meeting in New Orleans.
Rusty traveled to Madison, WI to take part in the Soil and Water Conservation Society annual conference.