I’m home for the holidays visiting family in Illinois. I hope all of my readers are having a wonderful holiday season so far. And remember that the holiday season is a perfect opportunity to have *that* conversation with your family… Safe travels! Share this Article
What’s the Skinny on Limited Partnerships?
As I noted in this post, a limited partnership is choice of entity that could be utilized by a farm or agri-business. With limited partnerships, there are two classes of partners: (1) general partners and (2) limited partners. This differs from a general partnership in several ways. The general partners are really the ones “running the show” by controlling most …
Trained to Represent Claimants in the USDA Hispanic and Women Farmers and Ranchers Claims Resolution Process
I recently completed the training thru the National Agriculture Law Center (“NALC”) to represent claimants for the USDA Hispanic and Women Farmers and Ranchers Claims Resolution Process. If you are a female or hispanic farmer or rancher who believe the U.S. Department of Agriculture improperly denied you farm loan benefits between 1981 and 2000, you may be eligible for a …
Supervised Child Visitation in New York
When one parent (the custodial parent) has physical custody of a child, the other parent (the non-custodial parent) usually has visitation rights (i.e., “parenting time”). There is an assumption that a parent has a right to unsupervised visitation with his or her child absent any threat to the child’s wellbeing. However, if the court finds that there is a threat …
New York Sanitation Requirements for Direct Marketing of Food Products
New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets (“NYSDAM”) has sanitation requirements for the direct marketing of food products. Pursuant to Article 17, NYSDAM regulates the food sanitary conditions of “retail food stores.” Said “retail food stores” do not include roadside stands, on-farm outlets, and farmers’ markets. Even though farmers participating in these methods are still subject to inspection, if …
My Presentation for Morrisville State College Equine and Dairy Students
I had a wonderful opportunity this week to speak to equine and dairy science students at Morrisville State College via Skype on a select legal issues affecting the New York livestock industry. I spoke about New York lien law, livestock animal cruelty law and business organizations. I have included the presentation below. [slideshare id=15486068&doc=nylivestocklaw2-121204102537-phpapp01] New York Agri-Women had its first …
On-Farm Poultry Slaughter Guide for the New York Farmer
I want to commend the Cornell Small Farms Program for its publication titled “On-Farm Poultry Slaughter Guidelines” (available on its resources page). I reviewed the guide in its entirety in preparation for the local food CLE that was scheduled at Pace Law School in October (rescheduled for March 13th due to Hurricane Sandy). I recommend the guide to any farmer …
Confidentiality Agreements for Your Farm or Agri-Business
I recently wrote an article on confidentiality agreements for the agriculture community. It can be found on my JD Supra page here. I understand that Non-Disclosure Agreements (“NDA’s”) lack the “excitement factor” but a misappropriate of confidential information can have deleterious effects on a farm or agri-business. I encourage my readers to gain a cursory understanding in confidentiality agreements and …
Member of the NY State Council on Divorce Mediation
I have recently become a member of the NY State Council on Divorce Mediation (“NYSCDM”). You can find me on the list of divorce mediators for New York County (Manhattan) using this search. Here is the complete list of divorce mediators. It has a nice blog you can subscribe to on information about divorce mediation. You can also follow …
Photos From the Outstanding Early Career Award Ceremony at TAMU
As I noted in this blog post, I received the 2012 Outstanding Early Career Award along with Rachel Cutrer from Texas A & M University’s College of Agriculture & Life Sciences. You can watch the video from the award ceremony here. I have posted a few photos from the event below. Share this Article
I am Thankful for… My Agricultural Roots
I hope all my readers had a nice Thanksgiving holiday filled with good food, good friends & family and good memories. Thanksgiving is easily one of my favorite holidays of the year. I hope all my readers remembered to give #foodthanks to the people who toil the land and made our Thanksgiving meal (and every other meal) possible. This past …
Questions Farmers Should Ask When Reading Farmers’ Market Rules
As noted in my last post, I have enjoyed reading Prof. Neil Hamilton’s publication titled “Farmers’ Markets: Rules, Regulations and Opportunities.” He includes a nice list of questions for farmers/vendors to ask themselves when reviewing the Market Rules for a particular farmers’ market which include: (1) Who sponsors the farmers’ market? (2) How long as the farmers’ market been established? …