As I noted in this blog, I’m very excited to announce that the American Bar Association’s (“ABA”) General Practice, Solo and Small Firm Division’s Agriculture Law Committee will be hosting a CLE webinar on Thursday, May 10, 2012 titled “Counseling the Local Food Movement: What a Practitioner Should Know.” This is a very substantive CLE that will be two hours. It will run from 2-4pm ET. Yours truly is the moderator/coordinator for the CLE.
The CLE is geared towards the private practitioner but attorneys, law students, and non-attorneys in other segments of the industry are certainly welcome. For those of you who know me, I am a very practical person. I don’t enjoy long heady debates about policy and theory. This CLE will lay the fundamental groundwork and build to the intermediate level on a myriad of legal issues affecting the local food movement. I want agriculture attorneys to get the “know-how” they need to properly counsel various segments of the industry. If you are an agriculture attorney or have interest in this area, I believe this will be useful educational webinar.
The faculty for the event include the following:
Dr. Stan Benda –Adjunct Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School and Ryerson University, Business School;
Derrick Braaten – Partner, Baumstark Braaten Law Partners;
Jason Foscolo – Principal, Jason Foscolo LLC;
Prof. Neil Hamilton – Professor and Director of the Agriculture Law Center at Drake University Law School;
Prof. Erin Hawley- Associate Professor at the of Missouri;
Leon Letter- Principal at the Law Offices of Leon J. Letter, PLLC;
Prof. Jesse Richardson, Jr. – Associate Professor at Virginia Tech;
Rich Schell – Of Counsel to Wagner & Schell, LLP; and,
Prof. Patricia Salkin – Associate Dean and Director at the Albany Law School.
The faculty will describe the history and current legal framework affecting the local food industry at the federal, state and local levels.The faculty will broadly discuss a myriad of legal issues affecting “local food” including:
(1) Federal Government Programs including the Women, Infant, and Children (“WIC”) Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (f/k/a “food stamps”), Seniors Farms’ Market Nutrition Program, Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food, Farmers’ Market Promotion Program;
(2) Procurement and Preference Laws including the Federal Procurement Policy Act and state reciprocity laws;
(3) Direct Marketing (e.g., farmers’ markets, roadstands, Community Supported Agriculture (“CSA’s”)) including the sponsorship/administration of farmers’ markets, market rules on producer eligibility and food safety, CSA member agreements, CSA delivery and drop-off issues, and labor issues (e.g., “work shares”);
(4) Food Safety Modernization Act (“FSMA”) compliance and exemptions including inspection of records, retail food establishments, hazard analysis, science-based risk analysis, performance standards;
(5) “Cottage Food Operation Laws” (i.e., “home-based kitchens”) including inspections, licenses, insurance and limitations on (a) the types of food produced, (b) marketing/labeling, (c) distribution, and (d) gross sales;
(6) Food Labeling Regulations including the National Organic Program (“NOP”), Process Verified Program, and Country of Origin Labeling (“COOL”);
(7) Land Use and Zoning Concerns with Urban Agriculture including a discussion on rooftop gardens, backyard chickens and bees;
(8) “Agri-tourism” and “agri-tainment” as it applies to the local food industry;
(9) Liability concerns (e.g., premise and product liability) and prevention;
(10) Liability insurance issues involved in the local food movement and direct marketing including choices in coverage (e.g., Farmer’s Comprehensive Liability Insurance Policy, Products Liability Insurance); and,
(11) Raw milk including its legal status at both the federal and state level and schemes to avoid regulation (e.g., cow shares, pet food).
Other areas of law affecting the local food movement will be discussed briefly. This two-hour CLE will be comprised of approximately 100 minutes of lecture and 20 minutes of Q & A.
The webinar is co-sponsored by the American Agriculture Law Association (“AALA”) and the ABA Section of Environment and Energy’s (“SEER”) Agriculture Management Committee. The cost for members of sponsoring ABA sections and AALA is $125. You can register online here if you are an ABA member. If you are not an ABA member, please dial 800.285.2221 and select “2” as the option Monday thru Friday from 8:30am to 6:00pm ET. The event code is CET2LFM. If you cannot attend the live webinar, the program will be available on audio CD after the event.