I took this photograph in Idaho at the American Junior Simmental Association Classic.

If you are a fan of this food and agriculture law blog, I would appreciate it if you submit your recommendation to the American Bar Association (“ABA”) here to help the ABA select the Top 100 “Blawgs” for the 2011.  The ABA is currently seeking recommendations for “law blawgs” to include in their survey; subsequently, those blogs will be subject to a vote to select the Top 100.  Put another way, the ABA is seeking to identify blogs to include in the nominations list.  The deadline for submitting recommendations is September 9th.

This blog is including in the ABA Blawg Directory.  I encourage you to review the list and add blogs of interest to your RSS Feed (or even recommend other law “blawgs” in the directory).

I love this picture of Lady Liberty. You can purchase the print at http://tinyurl.com/5wux8sv

For the last year, I have been a member of the Downtown Lawyers group here in New York City.  It is comprised of attorneys who practice law in New York City in a myriad of practice areas including bankruptcy, estate planning, elder law, business law, personal injury, employment law, immigration, matrimonial law, tax law, landlord-tenant law, intellectual property, criminal law, entertainment law, traffic law, civil litigation, real estate transactions, and insurance law.  I am the food and agriculture attorney in the group.

We meet on a monthly basis “downtown” in the Financial District.  I have enjoyed getting to know such a high quality group of professionals.  Please contact me if you would like for me to introduce you to any of the other attorneys in the Downtown Lawyers group.

I am excited about attending the New York Farm Bureau (“NYFB”) State Annual Meeting from December 7-9 in Melville, New York.  I oftentimes must travel to Syracuse or Albany for agriculture meetings so it is convenient that this year’s NYFB State Annual meeting is on Long Island  - about an hour east of the city.  It is also an appropriate location for the State Annual Meeting since Suffolk County has a very rich and diverse agriculture industry.  If you haven’t done so already, please take a look at the event’s General Information and Agenda online.  If you cannot make the event, I will be tweeting from the conference using the #NYFB hashtag.

I am looking forward to attending the New York State Fair again this year.  I will be up in Syracuse on Tuesday, August 31st to watch the State Supreme Champion   Beef Female Show.  I will then be judging the steer show the following day.  If you are up in Syracuse on those days please come by and say hello.  If you can’t make it, I will be tweeting from @CariRincker with a #NYStateFair hashtag.

I am a strong supporter of 4-H and similar youth programs.  New York is not alone in funding cuts — which is why it is as important now as it has ever been to support our 4-H programs around the country.  The lessons that are learned through agriculture youth programs such as 4-H are invaluable.  I am a firm believer that hard work teaches our kids to be good people.

I had a great weekend judging the New York Beef Producers’ Association‘s (“NYBPA”) summer preview show in Lockport, New York.  There were around 66 kids participating with 112 head of cattle for me to sort last Saturday.  Not only was I impressed with the quality of cattle and young people, but it was great to see so many wonderful families supporting NYBPA’s junior program.  Like I said in this blog, our kids will remember the time that we spend with them during their showing career instead of the trophies they won.  I also loved seeing the beautiful farmland and livestock facilities up there in Niagra County.  I feel very privileged to have judged the preview show and look forward to working with working with young cattle producers in the future.

A proposed bill named the Good Samaritan Hunger Relief Tax Incentive Extension Act of 2009 (HR 3227 and S 1313) would extend the deduction that farmers recieve by donating produce to feed the hungry.  It is currently being discussed in the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee. 

Since I live in New York where I walk past hungry people everyday, I think that agriculture producers should really get out in their communities and either volunteer at their local soup kitchen or help donate food to those shelters.  It is appropropriate that producers receive tax deductions to do so.  New York Farm Bureau (“NYFB”) has an “action alert” on this bill so you are encouraged to write your elected representative.  You can find more information here. 

While we are on the topic, I am a proud supporter of Hope for New York and the organization is always looking for coats, gloves, dress suits, food and volunteers in NYC. 

Last winter, I wrote this article which noted that Canada and Mexico both filed complaints with the World Trade Organization (“WTO”) against the United States.  Canada and Mexico asserted that our Country-of-Origin Labeling (“COOL”) law violates the international standards of the WTO.  Our North American Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”) partners have experienced a significant decline in agriculture revenues due to the enactment of mandatory COOL (“mCOOL”).  This past week, both Canada and Mexico announced that it will continue with its complaint against the United States with the WTO.  Our livestock industry depends on a good relationship with both Canada and Mexico.

I encourage you to read my article written last winter in the ABA Agriculture Committee Newsletter on COOL as it explains this long process with the WTO in more detail.  If the United States is ultimately found to have violated international law then our mCOOL law may have to revert back to a voluntary labeling program.

Sorry that it’s been awhile since I have revisited this blog series.  I look forward to going through the common torts applicable in the agriculture industry.  As I stated in this previous blog, I will first delve into the common law elements of negligence.  The term “common law” refers to law determined through judicial decisions, instead of legislatures.  Though there are statutory torts, most tort theories are rooted in judicial decisions.

The four common law elements of negligence are:  1) duty, 2) breach, 3) causation, and 4) damages.  All four elments of negligence must be satisfied before a party is liable for negligence.  A duty is some legal obligation that one party has to another party.  A breach of that duty exists when one person’s conduct fails to conform to the required standard.  Causation occurs when there is a reasonably close connection between the breach of that duty and the damages that incurred.  Finally, the plaintiff must have incurred some type of damages.

There are many scenarios where farmers, ranchers and agribusinesses may be found negligent or may have negligence claims against another party.  Next time, I will work through some of these situations and list relevant case law.  But for now, I will let you ruminate on those four elements… (no pun intended).

Have a nice weekend!  It’s fall here in New York City– my favorite time of year.

In addition to my Ag Torts 101 series (next blog coming soon!), I’m starting another series where I help define legalese.  First up is one of my favorite contract law terms – “quid pro quo” (pronounced “kwid proh kwoh”).  It is not commonly used but it sure is fun to say!  It is Latin for “something for something” (or a tit for tat).  The more common term used in contract law is “consideration.”

Black’s Law Dictionary defines quid pro quo as “[a]n action or thing that is exchanged for another action or thing of more or less equal value.”  The elements of a contract are:  offer, acceptance, consideration (or quid pro quo), and mutual asset.  Without consideration, a contract isn’t legally enforceable.  It’s just a gift.  And a promise to make a gift is not legally binding (an exception to this general rule is if the promise to make a gift is detrimentally relied upon and that reliance is foreseeable). 

Courts view nominal consideration as inadequate to make a contract legally binding.  An example of this is where Farmer A sells Farmer B a piece of property for $1.  This is clearly inadequate consideration and the courts would view this as a gift. 

So next time you are making an agreement, ask yourself whether ample consideration (or quid pro quo) was offered, accepted, and mutually agreed upon.  Not only can you have fun saying the legal term but you now know what it means!

As I stated in this previous post, I spent last Thursday thru Saturday at the American Agriculture Law Association (“AALA”) Conference in Williamsburg, Virginia.  Next year’s conference will be held in Omaha, Nebraska.  I find conferences like this rejuvenating.  It’s great to meet other agriculture attorneys around the country to help strengthen a passion for agriculture law.  As I mentioned in this previous blog, “agriculture law” includes an incredible amount of diversity.  That variety was certainly demonstrated in this year’s conference.

A highlight of the conference for me was listening to U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) Secretary Vilsack.  He spoke briefly about some of the projects that the projects that USDA is working on including investing monies for broadband in rural areas.  He also noted some of USDA’s policies on civil rights, international trade, and support for both biotechnology and organic agriculture.  Additionally, Vilsack also briefly touched on some frustrations of his position including the long administrative rule-making process (i.e., under the Administrative Procedure Act, rules can take 12 to 36 months to promulgate).  I was impressed with Secretary Vilsack’s understanding and love for Rural America.

In this digital world, it is easy to have electronic relationships with people.  Social media has allowed me to connect with many farmers, ranchers, businessman (and women), and attorneys that I would not have met otherwise.  I finally had the opportunity to meet two other agriculture attorneys in person that I met soley through twitter:  Craig Raysor (@AgriLawyer on twitter), an associate at Gillon & Associates, PLLC in Collierville, Tennessee, and Jennifer Williams Zwagerman (@Willi568 on twitter), an associate at Faegre & Benson LLP in Des Moines, Iowa.  Craig also has a blog on Seed Law that I recommend following.

As an aside, this is exactly why I think twitter is important for the ag community:  facebook and linkedin are more about “who you know” while twitter is about “people you want to know.”  I have found an incredible community of ag enthusiasts on twitter and was excited to finally meet Craig and Jennifer in real life (“IRL”).  As noted in this blog, there is a great list of ag tweeps available here including other agriculture lawyers that I have not had the opportunity to meet yet.  I also recommend reading this social media guide prepared by the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation.  Still not convinced?  Listen to the inspiring ag communicator Michele Payn-Knoper (@mpaynknoper on twitter and founder of #agchat) discuss why the ag community needs a voice in social media on this video blog.

To begin the plenary session, the American Bar Association‘s Ag Finance Subcommittee discussed “Land Use and Developments in Wind Energy Production.”  David Levy from Baird Holm LLP in Omaha, Nebraska delved into the implications of local land use and zoning regulations on wind use development and gave a cursory overview of wind leases.  Midwest Wind Energy was also there to discuss wind energy from a developers prospective and the importance that developers have a good rapport with farmers and ranchers.  As I noted in this legal publication, wind leases should not be entered into lightly by landowners and it is strongly recommended that farmers and ranchers seek legal counsel before entering into a wind lease.

Next, annual updates were given by Prof. Keith Meyer (“UCC Developments and Agriculture Interests”), Prof. Philip Harris (“Tax Law Developments Affecting Agriculture”), Jeffrey Peterson (“Update on Agriculture Bankruptcy”), Prof. Anthony Schultz (“Environmental Law and Agriculture”), Prof. Susan Schneider (“New Developments in Food Law”), David Grahn (“The New Farm Bill:  Implementation and Policy”), Prof. Jesse Richardson (“Land Use Law:  The Return of the Frontier”), and Prof. Neil Hamilton (“Sustainability, Organic and Local Production and Energy”).  Feel free to contact me if you would like for me to provide more information from these speakers and updates in these areas of law.

After the plenary session, there were several more in-depth sessions in various areas of agriculture law.  I attended the break-out sessions on “Uniform Commercial Code (“UCC”) developments and Agriculture Interests,” “Farm Transition and Estate Planning,” and on the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”) and biotechnology.  I was particularly inspired by the session on farm estate planning.  Over the last few years, this has become a strong passion of mine.  I believe that it is important for farm families to seek guidance from an attorney to help ensure that the farm or ranch gets passed smoothly to the next generation.  Farm families need to have more open communication about plans for the future.  For example, in my own farm family, my brother and I will each inherent half of my parents’ estate– but what if my brother decides to sell his half?  There are ways to help ensure that the farm stays intact for generations to come.

There were also some incredible special sessions that I was not able to attend (if I could pick any superpower in the world, I would want to have the ability to be two places at the same time).  These sessions include:  Developments on Antitrust Law in Agriculture-Related Industries, Wind, Wetlands & Climate Change, Tax Law Developments, Farmland Preservation, Sustainability, Organic and Local Production, Biosecurity, Regulation of Alternative/Local Agriculture, Concentration and Competition, Taxation of Natural Resources, Intellectual Property Issues, Practice before Administrative Agencies, Bio-energy, and Ethical Issues in Representing Nonprofits.

Overall, it was great conference and well worth the 7 hour drive to Williamsburg.  In my opinion, AALA is an invaluable resource for agriculture attorneys.  If you are a law student or attorney interested in agriculture law, I highly recommend becoming a member of AALA.  Not only does the organization provide a network of other agriculture attorneys around the country, but AALA membership also provides a monthly newsletter and listserv to keep members abreast of current trends and legal issues affecting the agriculture industry.  I met several law students from Drake University, School of Law, and the University of Arkansas, School of Law (the two leading agriculture law programs in the country).  If you are a poor law student (or future poor law student), AALA has funding available to assist law students with travel expenses and registration fees.

Feel free to contact myself or Robert Achenbach, President of AALA, at robertA@aglaw-assn.org if you have any specific questions about AALA.  Conference materials can also be ordered for a reasonable fee.