Last fall, I had the pleasure of giving the Keynote address at the University of Tennessee College of Law’s Agriculture Law & Policy Symposium. My presentation from my “National Agriculture Law Update” is found here. I was also on a roundtable discussing direct farm marketing. The presentation materials are found here. Recently, the Tennessee Journal of Law and Policy published …
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 …
Save the Date: AALA Northeast Regional Meeting
I am on the planning committee for the first ever American Agriculture Law Association (“AALA”) Northeast Regional Meeting scheduled for June 6, 2014 at the University of Maryland, School of Law. I am helping put together the employment/labor law session that day but we will also have helpful sessions on Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (“CAFO’s”) and environmental law, the Food …
Laws Regulating Water in New York Agriculture
The Federal Clean Water Act (“CWA”) was enacted in 1972 with the goal of protecting the country’s waterways from pollution. The Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) is charged with enforcing the CWA at the federal level. The New York Department of Environmental Conservation (“DEC”) works at the state level to protect New York’s water resources. While states must adhere to the …
Overview of the Environmental Protection Agency
I’m currently conducting a blog series where each week I give a brief overview of the responsibilities of a government agency regulating our food and agriculture system. I think it’s a helpful reminder for everyone on just how complex our regulatory system really is. It’s a game of Who’s Who for government players in the U.S. food and agriculture economy. …
Appointed as the Chair of the ABA GP Solo Agriculture Law Committee for 2012-2013
For the second year in a row, I have been appointed as the Chair of the American Bar Association’s (“ABA”) General Practice, Solo & Small Firm Division’s Agriculture Law Committee for the 2012-2013 year. It has been an exciting first year getting the Committee up and going again with two fantastic Continuing Legal Education (“CLE”) webinars on crop/livestock insurance and …
Will Be Attending the American Agriculture Law Association Annual Agriculture Law Symposium
I will be attending the American Agriculture Law Association (“AALA”) Annual Agriculture Law Symposium on October 19-20, 2012 in Nashville, Tennessee. I highly recommend the conference if you are a lawyer or law student hoping to build a food and agriculture law practice. Registration forms will be available later this summer. If you are a law student, there are travel …
ABA Agriculture Law Subcommittees
As I noted in this previous post, I am the new Chair of the American Bar Association (“ABA”), General Practice, Solo and Small Firm’s Division, Agriculture Law Committee. You can join the Committee and the Discussion List here. I have restructured the subcommittees as follows: 1. Ag ADR: mediation, arbitration 2. Ag Estate/Succession Planning, Family Law, and Taxation: estate planning,succession …
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 …
Back from Nebraska
Happy Columbus Day! I’m back from the great state of Nebraska where I attended American Agriculture Law Association (“AALA”) Conference. I listened in on the break-out sessions discussing Confined Animal Feeding Operations (“CAFO’s”), wind and solar farms, crop insurance, agriculture liens, and animal rights. Industry experts gave updates on a myriad of agriculture law issues including food law, environmental law, …
What Will Be The Biggest Agriculture Policy Issue of 2010?
I asked my “ag tweeps” on Twitter and this is what they had to say (in 140 characters or less): @itweetmeat – “Greater food policy legislation.” @allenlivingston – “I think Cap & Trade will be the biggest #ag policy issue 2010 – far reaching consequences.” @Fastline – “Animal rights will continue to be huge. Maybe something more for the dairy …