Big thanks to Jean Terranova (@JeanTerranova for you Twitter folks) for sending me the Food Law and Policy Career Guide by the Harvard Food Law & Policy Clinic and Harvard Food Law Society. I think it’s an excellent resource for folks interested in a career in food & agriculture law. The guide briefly notes areas of concentration including agriculture, biotechnology/GMOs, …
Giving New Life to the Term “Spring Cleaning” – Does Your Farm or AgriBusiness Have a Scanner?
I have to give a shout-out to a small little machine that has made a big difference to my life and law practice — the Fujitsu ScanSnap S1500M. In preparation of my move to my new office space at 535 Fifth Avenue, I spent the weekend scanning files and documents. I purchased this Bad Boy a few months ago and …
Reminder About Working With A Veterinarian
I was reading the November/December 2011 Issue of the New York Beef Producer from the New York Beef Producers’ Association today. Ron Kuck, a New York Dairy/Livestock Extension Educator with Cornell had a nice article on page 28 regarding the importance of working with your herd veterinarian. Kuck suggests working with a veterinarian to develop a “health management strategy and …
Livestock Feedyards and Potential Liability Issues
If you haven’t done so already, I suggest reviewing the “Livestock & Liability” article by Lauren P. Caggiano (@lcagg on Twitter) on pages 32-34 in this issue of the Feedlot magazine. In this article, I recommend that cattle feedyard operators seek counsel on environmental laws and perhaps hire a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (“CAFO”) consultant to devise a plan to …
How Can You Help Change the Law?
Many people in the agriculture community like to complain about the law, but only a select few take the time to do something about it. In the recent Grassroots newspaper published by the New York Farm Bureau (“NYFB”), there is a great article by Jeff Williams (on page 13) about how a New York agriculture producer took the initiative to …
AAW Currently Having Mid-Year Meeting in Denver
Women involved in the agriculture industry from coast-to-coast are gathered in Denver, Colorado today for the Mid-Year Meeting of the American Agri-Women (“AAW”). I was hoping that I would be able to break away for the conference (and some time for fresh air in the mountains); unfortunately my caseload is keeping me here in NYC. After reviewing the agenda, I am …
Simmental Reading Part 2: Abuse in Show Industry
Yesterday, I noted how much I enjoyed this article in January’s SimTalk. I also recommend reading Marty Ropp’s article titled “Winning At Any Cost?” in the Register published this month. In this article, Marty mentioned the abuses that take place in the show livestock industry. Specifically, he stated that “the use of illegal drugs on livestock, inhumane practices such as cosmetic surgeries …
Catching Up on My Simmental Reading– Succession Planning
For those of you that know me personally, you know that I am a big supporter of the Simmental cattle industry. It’s the breed of cattle that my family raises and grew to love the breed throughout my childhood. I also spent some time in Bozeman, Montana interning at the association’s headquarters. Last night, I was catching up on reading the latest …
Interview on ShowToWin.com
I think it’s easy for legal bloggers to sit behind a computer screeen without ever sharing who they are and how they went down thier path. In particular, I realize that the fact that I’m an agriculture attorney in NYC is confusing to most people. I am fairly certain that I am the only resident of Manhattan that recieves the …
Recommendations for Ag Book Club?
As noted in this blog, I am starting an Ag Book Club where there will be an online discussion on book criticizing modern agriculture. In around mid-December there will be a discussion on Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma (tentative date and time is Wednesday, December 9th at 8pm ET). (As a reminder, you can join the faceboook group here). I …
Bryan Walsh Speaks Out On His Article in TIME Magazine
Over the last week the ag community has been in uproar over Bryan Walsh’s TIME Magazine’s cover story “Getting Real About the High Cost of Cheap Food.” Many agriculture organizations have been vocal about their disappointment of Walsh’s article including the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (“NCBA”) (a radio interview on AgriTalk with Daren Williams from NCBA can be found here) …
Rincker Law is now on Twitter
Rincker Law has entered Twitterland! You can follow @RinckerLaw here. Twitter is newly popular form of micro-blogging and is different than traditional blogs because users are restricted to 140 characters (similar to a text message). Twitter is a very different than facebook and is a great way to get a condensed version of news and participate in discussions with those …