“Ag gag” refers to anti-whistleblower statutes that prohibit employees from taking pictures and recording video illustrating alleged cruelty to animals, food safety issues, and/or poor working conditions, during the farming process and/or restrict people such as activist and undercover journalists from obtaining illegal access (commonly through job application fraud) onto agricultural operations for this same purpose. I spoke on “Ag …
Some Food for Thought on Interns
Most businesses at one point or another come across the process of hiring interns. The decision to bring on an intern may be easy to take, but whether or not he should be paid is a matter that is more complicated. Many employers believe that as long as you label the person being hired as an intern that paying that …
Interested in Learning More About Insurance for Farms, Ranches, Agri-Businesses and Food Entrepreneurs?
I moderated a webinar for the American Bar Association’s (“ABA”) General Practice Solo & Small Firm Division’s Agriculture Law Committee on insurance for the farmer, rancher, agri-business or food entrepreneur. The recording is available for purchase here. This is a substantive CLE program covering many types of insurance including, but not limited to, Farmowners’ Comprehensive Liability Program (“FCLP”), commercial insurance, …
Lawline Presentation on New York Farm Animal Welfare Law
I will be giving a Lawline presentation tomorrow, November 12, 2015 from 3:30 to 4:30pm on New York Farm animal welfare law. The live webcast is tomorrow but the recording will be available via Lawline later. Continuing Legal Education (“CLE”) credit is available. This outline (posted on my JD Supra page) is New York specific but my presentation does talk …
Presentation on Direct Farm Marketing
This is my powerpoint presentation from the direct farm marketing, agri-tourism and local food presentation that I gave at the University of Tennessee about a month ago. My part of the presentation focuses on Community Supported Agriculture (“CSA”) Agreements, volunteer farm labor and the USDA Statistics from the Census of Agriculture on local food and direct farm marketing. Here is …
Litigating Surrounding Vermont’s GMO Labeling Bill
In April of 2014, Vermont became the first state in the United States to require that all food products sold within the state of Vermont have a label indicating if it contains genetically modified ingredients. The law also prohibits manufacturers from writing “natural” or “all-natural” if a food product does contain GMOs. The law goes into effect in July 2016, …
Overview of Syngenta Litigation
One of the most important questions that corn producers are asking themselves lately is whether or not to join in a class action lawsuit against Syngenta for being responsible for the drop in the market price of corn in 2013. The litigation arose when Syngenta manufactured a genetically modified seed containing the MIR 162 trait for corn. At that time, …
Raw Milk Regulations in New York
With the popularity of farmers markets rising, some consumers are more and more interested in getting food products straight from the farm. One of the products that is becoming more popular with the public is raw milk. Raw milk is milk that has not been pasteurized. Consumers of raw milk are fans of the creamy taste and thicker texture as …
So What Is All This Talk about WOTUS?
There has been a lot of talk lately about WOTUS (or “Waters of the United States”). This post gives a brief overview about what the heck is going on… In way of background, the United States government introduced the Clean Water Act (CWA) in 1972 in order to “restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation’s …
My National Overview of Agriculture Law
[slideshare id=53657806&doc=powerpoint-keynote-151007171431-lva1-app6892] This presentation was given as the keynote at the Tennessee College of Law’s Agriculture Law & Policy Symposium a few weeks ago. It covers a myriad of food and agriculture law topics including Veterinary Feed Directive, Waters of the United States, Syngenta Litigation, GMO Labeling, Country of Origin Labeling, Raw Milk, Food Safety Modernization Act, Idaho’s Ag Gag …
Roundtable Discussion at AALA for ABA GP Solo Ag Law Committee (Whew.. that’s a lot of letters..)
I am getting on an airplane later today and heading to Charlestown, South Carolina for the American Agriculture Law Association (“AALA”) Annual Meeting will be hosting a roundtable discussion for members of the American Bar Association (“ABA”) General Practice, Solo & Small Firm Division’s (“GP Solo”) Agriculture Law Committee on Friday, October 23rd for breakfast from 7:00am to 8:15am. If …
Getting Pumped – Upcoming Panel on Multimedia for Food & Ag Lawyers
I will be heading down to Charlestown, South Carolina in a few days for the American Agriculture Law Association (“AALA”) Annual Meeting and will be moderating a panel on October 22, 2015 from 1:00 to 2:30pm on “Multimedia Specialist: Using their Skills to Grow Your Food & Agricultural Law Practice and Management of High Profile Cases.” We have a rockstar …