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Dear Friends and Colleagues, |
Greetings,
I’m not sure how this happened, but all of a sudden we looked up and it was 2021. Life has changed so much over the past year; hard to keep up sometimes as we slowly (hopefully) move back towards a sense of normalcy. The agricultural and food law world has continued full steam ahead, and we’re honored to update you on recent and upcoming Center research and information activities.
In the near future, we will post registration for the Eighth Annual Mid-South Agricultural & Environmental Law Conference. This year’s speaker lineup is excellent and it will be another great program. Unfortunately, due to COVID, we will not be able to meet in person as we had hoped. We will move to an online format, and spread the presentations over June 10-11, 2021. More information regarding Mid-South is below.
We give a big thanks to Hunt Shipman, Principal & Director at Cornerstone Government Affairs, for presenting via webinar in January, Looking Ahead: Impact of the 2020 Elections on Ag Law and Policy. This month, we have already hosted the webinar, Stuck in the Swamp: Swampbuster Basics, presented by Staff Attorney Brigit Rollins. Be sure to register for our upcoming webinar, Federal Crop Insurance: Legal Update & Latest Developments by Grant Ballard, Partner, Ark Ag Law PLLC, which is scheduled for later this month.
The center has also developed a variety of resources related to checkoff programs, the COVID-19 pandemic, regulatory updates, administration changes, and more. We invite you to view our website by clicking here. Beyond blog posts and updates, our website is also home to archived webinar recordings, reading rooms, and links to our social media platforms. Feel free to give the center a follow on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. We are looking forward to connecting with you!
Finally, we welcome Will Clark to the Center team as the Center’s Communications & Special Projects Coordinator! Will is excellent and we’re very fortunate to have him on board. Will remains heavily involved in FFA, served as a federal government affairs intern with Syngenta, and as Public Affairs/Account Management intern at Osborn Barr | Paramore where he worked closely on the United Soybean Board Team, among many other accomplishments.
As always, we sincerely appreciate your interest in the Center and it is an honor to serve the nation’s agricultural community. This is especially true during the ongoing challenges throughout the industry. Please don't hesitate to reach out to us anytime we can be of assistance.
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NALC Welcomes New Research Fellows |
The National Agricultural Law Center employs numerous research fellows to help conduct legal research and writing projects that meaningfully assist the NALC and its partners in serving state, regional, and national stakeholders in furtherance of its mission as the nation’s leading source of objective agricultural and food law research and information.
Our newest class of research fellows recently virtually met with the NALC staff for the first time. This was an opportunity for the staff and the fellows to get to know one another as well as catch up on what each other are working on in order to maintain the efficiency and effectiveness of the center.
Our current research fellows include:
- Drew Mitchell, University of Mississippi School of Law
- Samantha Mikolajczyk, Texas A&M School of Law
- Kevin Hivick, Washington & Lee University School of Law
- Eli Earich, Capital University Law School
- Liz Sharpe, Seton Hall University School of Law
- Gatlin Squires, University of Oklahoma College of Law
- Harley Montoya, Lewis and Clark Law School
- Jordan Hartman, Lewis and Clark Law School
- Kate Langworthy, Washburn University School of Law
- Kloe Buris, The University of Alabama School of Law
- Sarah Patterson, Texas Tech School of Law
- Jessie Gittemeier, Lewis and Clark School of Law
- Ann Prevas, The University of Maryland Carey School of Law
- Andrew Fenske, Mississippi College of Law School
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Nearly Eight Years of Agricultural Law Continuing Education |
We are excited to announce that our eighth Annual Mid-South Agricultural and Environmental Law Conference will be held later this year. The conference will be held in an online platform on June 10-11, 2021.
The conference will feature invited speakers discussing a wide range of agricultural and food law topics. This year's conference will cover the topics below and more:
- Agricultural Law & Policy In Washington, D.C.
- Legal Ethics
- Agricultural Economy/Market Outlook
- Agricultural Tax & Estate Planning Update
Find an overview of the conference, as well as conference materials here.
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Agricultural producers typically utilize financing from lenders to fund their farming operation. In the “Lending for Livestock, Credit for Crops” blog series, Staff Attorney Micah Brown provides an overview of the law surrounding secured transactions in agricultural lending.
Specifically, this series examines how secured transactions are created, what steps lenders must take to secure an interest in a producer’s property, and the issues that arise when multiple lenders have an interest in the same property.
Read more posts from the "Lending for Livestock, Credit for Crops" series here.
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COVID-19 and Agriculture Resource Library |
In the past, we shared with you several resources our researchers and guest lecturers have put together in an effort to keep our stakeholders up to date on COVID-19's impact on the agricultural sector. Since then, we have updated our Agriculture & COVID-19 Resource Library, as well as continued to add relevant resources.
Our Resource Library, available here, provides a compilation of COVID-19 resources relevant to our stakeholders created by the Center and its partners, as well as links to resources created by federal agencies, independent law firms, and Cooperative Extension Services from across the country.
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"Every Third Wednesday Webinar Series" |
We are happy to have continued our popular webinar series with a variety of presentations, both this past quarter and upcoming. |
The center hosted 2 webinars from October through December. One of them discussed laws and legal considerations for opening a craft beer brewery. The presenter, Candace L. Moon, covered topics including employment and labor law, registration and updates with federal, state and local agencies, and alcohol specific laws.
A recording of this webinar can be found here.
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In November, Center Director Harrison Pittman and Staff Attorney Brigit Rollins presented "A Year in Review: Top Ten Ag Law Developments of 2020," a webinar discussing new developments and rapid changes, both in the world at large, and in the agricultural law arena. From the impacts of COVID-19 on the agricultural sector, landmark Supreme Court case decisions, to regulatory overhaul of major statutes, 2020 was a particularly remarkable year in agricultural law.
Find a recording of this webinar here.
Links to all archived webinars can be found here.
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Our next webinar later this month will feature Grant Ballard, partner with the firm of Ark Ag Law, PLLC, who will be presenting "Federal Crop Insurance: Legal Update & Latest Developments" In this webinar Gran t will provide an update for producers, lenders, crop insurance agents, attorneys, and other affected stakeholders on the latest and most noteworthy legal developments regarding federal crop insurance. The program will specifically address important case law and regulatory developments, as well as issues producers should consider in 2021.This webinar will be February 17 at noon EST.
Registration and details for this webinar can be found here.
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Our upcoming March webinar, " High-Capacity Wells: A Survey of Groundwater Withdrawal Rights and Regulations," will feature Lind a Reid, the owner of Water365, LLC. In this webinar our speaker will discu ss the various legal approaches governing the right to withdraw and groundwater generally, as well as the regulatory frameworks in place for groundwater withdrawals via high-capacity wells. She will also discuss recent legal decisions and policy approaches that inform the evolving discussion regarding how these types of withdrawals might best be regulated.
This webinar will be March 17th at noon EST. Registration and more information can be found here.
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As part of its mission, the Center continues to deliver webinars, articles, fact sheets and state compilations on numerous agricultural and food law topics. These resources are free to the public and serve as a research tool for both attorneys and non-attorneys.
For example, in October we published Deconstructing the CWA: What is a TMDL? to provide further information regarding the total maximum daily load, the maximum amount of a particular pollutant allowed in a waterbody. This resource explains what a TMDL is and also provides examples of the concept in practice.
Publications
In December, Center Director Harrison Pittman published Legal Checkup on Checkoffs: “Redirection” and Producer Refunds Under the Beef Checkoff. This publication addresses federal and state research and promotion programs, commonly referred to as “checkoff” programs. Specifically, this article addresses the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service (“AMS”) final rule titled, Soybean Promotion, Research, and Consumer Information; Beef Promotion and Research; Amendments to Allow Redirection of State Assessments to the National Program; Technical Amendments (“Redirection Rule”). We encourage you to check out the publication which is linked above.
Blog Articles
We have kept our Ag & Food Law Blog up to date with Daily Updates, as well as weekly posts about current issues in agricultural and environmental law. Blog posts from this past quarter are outlined below.
October:
November:
December:
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