Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I hope everyone had a celebratory and safe Fourth of July weekend. It’s hard to believe that we are now halfway through 2020! Seems like just yesterday we were revving up for the new year. It’s hard to believe how much has changed in agriculture and beyond throughout the country in these short six months. As always, it is an honor to share some of the Center’s research and information activities during this quarter.

In June, we hosted the Seventh Annual Mid-South Agricultural & Environmental Law Conference online. That was a first for us. The program was overall a great success, but we are definitely looking forward to hosting next year’s Mid-South in person! I want to give a special shout out to all the terrific speakers who shared their time and expertise with us. This year’s conference was especially meaningful because proceeds will be used to support the Scott E. Fancher Agricultural Law Research Fellowship that will be launched this fall. You can read more about the Fancher Fellowship here.

We normally host three webinars each quarter, but in light of the numerous issues presented by COVID-19 we hosted eight! I encourage you to read more about these programs below, but wanted to highlight the comprehensive work by Center staff on the issue of states’ meat labeling laws. Senior Staff Attorneys Rusty Rumley and Elizabeth Rumley presented a webinar covering Slaughter and Processing in the United States: Oversight and Requirements. Additionally, Elizabeth Rumley and Center Research Fellow James Wilkerson published an excellent resource on this issue, Meat Processing Laws in the United States: A State Compilation. These are both incredible resources for producers, state legislators, state agriculture departments, Congressional staffers, producer groups, and others interested in this area.

Next month, two of our newest Staff Attorneys will officially start at the Center. Sarah Catherine Copper will focus primarily on Food Safety and Food Labeling Issues and Micah Brown will focus on Agriculture Finance and Credit issues. Along with Brigit Rollins, whose focus has been on environmental law issues, this will greatly enhance the Center’s capacity to serve the nation’s agriculture community.

Finally, I want to congratulate Zach Gihorski and Bryce McWilliams. Zach was an outstanding Research Fellow for the Center who recently began as Associate Director of Public Policy for the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA). Bryce has worked as part of the Center’s communication team and is also spending his summer with NASDA as a NASDA Policy Intern.

In conclusion, thanks, again, for your interest in the Center. We're honored to serve the nation's agricultural community and welcome any suggestions on how we can best serve you. Please don't hesitate to reach out to us anytime we can be of any assistance.

Sincerely,

Center Director

The Deal with Dicamba

Dicamba has certainly been in the spotlight of agricultural news since the Ninth Circuit vacated the EPA's registration of three dicamba herbicides, and Staff Attorney Brigit Rollins has kept stakeholders up to date on the latest developments by continuing her Deal with Dicamba blog series and adding another Deal with Dicamba webinar to the books!

In her original blog series, Brigit primarily followed two cases: B ader Farms, Inc v. Monsanto Co.  and the several hundreds of cases filed by farmers against Monsanto and BASF that were consolidated into one lawsuit known as  In re: Dicamba Herbicides Litigation. Since Brigit ended her eight-part blog series, she has followed up with three additional blog posts covering the most recent changes. Her recent additions are:

In her most recent webinar, " The Deal with Dicamba: Examining the Ninth Circuit's Decision and Its Potential Impacts" , Brigit provided an overview of the case history, the Ninth Circuit’s decision, EPA’s Cancellation Order, the actions that the parties have taken since, and potential consequences of the decision. A recording of this webinar can be found here.

Seven Years of Agricultural Law Continuing Education (and Counting!)

Although we had to move from Memphis to online, we were glad to host our Seventh Annual Mid-South Agricultural and Environmental Law Conference the first week of June.  



The conference featured seven invited speakers discussing a wide range of agricultural and food law topics. Some of those topics included: 

Find an overview of the conference, as well as conference materials  here .

If you'd like to receive email notifications for next year's conference, email our Communications Coordinator,  Sarah Cato . 

Slaughter & Processing in the U.S.: Resources from the NALC

COVID-19’s impact on the meat processing industry has left many interested in opening custom slaughter facilities. However, there are a multitude of requirements to consider before taking the plunge. To provide a better grasp on the many requirements for slaughter and processing facilities, researchers at the Center have created resources outlining the agencies governing these facilities, as well as the requirements for each state in both a state-by-state compilation and a recorded webinar.

The state-by-state compilation, available here , provides contact information to offices both with the United States Department of Agriculture, specifically the Food Safety and Inspection Service ("USDA-FSIS") and with appropriate state authorities on a state-by-state basis. Additionally, it provides links to the relevant statutes in those states that have a state meat inspection program in place.The webinar, led by Senior Staff Attorneys Rusty Rumley and Elizabeth Rumley dove a little deeper.

This webinar discussed not only the authority for slaughter and processing of meat and poultry, but also covered proposed federal bills that might change the requirements and addressed challenges facing small meat processors. A recording of this webinar can be found here.

COVID-19 and Agriculture Resource Library

Last quarter 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.

"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. 

Recent Webinars

This was a busy quarter for us in the webinar department, as we hosted eight webinars from April through June. Two of them discussed litigation regarding dicamba-based herbicides, led by Staff Attorney Brigit Rollins. The most recent, "The Deal with Dicamba: Examining the Ninth Circuit's Decision and its Potential Impacts," discussed the most recent developments since the Ninth Circuit vacated the EPA's registration of three dicamba herbicides; providing an overview of the case history, the Ninth Circuit’s decision, EPA’s Cancellation Order, actions that the parties have taken since, and potential consequences of the decision. A recording of this webinar can be found here.

This webinar was preceded by another webinar titled "The Deal with Dicamba: An Overview of Dicamba-Related Litigation," which was held April 15th. In this presentation, Brigit discussed the various lawsuits filed against Monsanto and BASF, the claims being made by the plaintifs, and what the outcome of each of these lawsuits could mean for dicamba use in the United States. A recording of this webinar can be found here.

In June, Center Director Harrison Pittman presented "COVID-19, Agriculture, and the Law: Taking Stock of the Road Behind and Ahead," a webinar discussing COVID-19 and its impact on agriculture and agricultural law. Harrison covered the current status of enacted an proposed legislation, noteworthy developments such as the April 28 Executive Order on Food Supply Chain Resources, an overview of key litigation filed as a result of COVID-19, and much more. Find a recording of this webinar here.

Mentioned above was our webinar "Slaughter and Processing in the United States: Oversight and Requirements," presented by Rusty Rumley and Elizaeth Rumley. This webinar discussed the general outline for authority for slaughter and processing of meat and poultry, proposed federal bills that might change the requirements and addressed challenges facing small meat processors. A recording of this webinar can be found here.

Our May webinar, "Mediation as a Problem Solving Tool for Farmers and Agribusinesses," focused on agricultural mediation and featured Matt Strassberg, Director of the Environmental Mediation Center, Daniel Kos, the Assistant ADR Coordinator for the NYS Unified Court System, and Lucy Pauley, Coordinator of the Wyoming Agricultural and Natural Resource Mediation Program. This webinar discussed how mediation works, situations where it has proven useful, agricultural mediation programs available, and more. Find a recording of this webinar here.

We hosted two webinars in April that focused on COVID-19 and its impact on agriculture. The first of these, "COVID-19: Regulatory Changes Impacting Food Production and Distribution," featured John Dillard, a principal at OFW Law. The primary focus of this webinar was federal regulatory changes that were implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. John gave an overview of changes in USDA and FDA inspections, enforcement of regulations related to transporting food, and worker safety. He also discussed guidance from several federal agencies on promoting a safe food supply and a healthy workforce. A recording of this webinar can be found here .

Also addressing the COVID-19 pandemic was our April 29th webinar featuring Brandon Davis, Nathan Huff and Michael Williams, partners at Phelps Dunbar, LLP. This webinar,"Ag Labor During Seedtime and Harvest within a Global Pandemic: What Agribusinesses Must Know to Survive," discussed the impact to the agricultural labor sector. Our speakers discussed the CARES Act, various loan programs from the Small Business Association, guidance from OSHA and the Department of Labor, and the issue and status of H-2A and H-2B permits.

On April 1st we were joined by Karen Carr, Partner at Arent Fox LLP, who presented "NEPA and Agriculture: Basics and CEQ's Proposed Regulations." In this webinar, Karen discussed the basics of the National Environmental Policy Act, and walked through changes to NEPA’s regulations recently proposed by the Council for Environmental Quality, various reactions to those proposed changes, and how those changes may impact the intersection of NEPA and agriculture. A recording of this webinar can be found here.

Upcoming Webinars

Our July webinar will feature Brook Duer, Staff Attorney at the Penn State Center for Agricultural and Shale Law, who will be presenting "Agricultural District Programs: The First 50 Years. Will They Survive Another 50?" In this webinar Brook will take a look at the development of agricultural distrct programs, their benefits, which states have enacted these programs, and discuss the future of these programs as we enter the 2020's. This webinar will be July 17 at noon EDT. Registration and details for this webinar can be found here.

Our August webinar, "The Evolution of Agritourism: Current Legal Issues and Future Trends," will feature Peggy Kirk Hall, Associate Professor in Agricultural & Resource Law at Ohio State University, Eric Barrett, Assistant Professor and Extension Educator at OSU, and Rob Leeds, Extension Educator at OSU. In this webinar our speakers will discuss what's new in agritourism, current agritourism-related litigation, legal issues as a result of COVID-19, and what may come. This webinar will be August 19th at noon EDT. Registration and more information can be found here.

In September we will be joined by Ross Pifer, Director of the Penn State Center for Agricultural and Shale Law, to present "Right to Repair Statutes: Overview, Issues Presented, and Current Status of State Legislation." In this webinar, Ross will discuss Right to Repair statutes, or statutes that allow farmers the ability to perform routine maintenance and repairs on their equipment. Ross will provide an overview of arguments for and against the enactment of these statutes, and cover the current status of legislation and legislative proposals in various states. This webinar will be September 16th at noon EDT. Registration and details can be found here.

Publication Highlights

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 May we published Force Majeure and Other Contractual Defenses during the COVID-19 Pandemic in order to address the many contract questions the Center was receiving from stakeholders. This fact sheet provides a broad overview of events that may trigger possible defenses to a breach of contract, releasing a party from future obligations without legal consequence.

In April, Staff Attorney Brigit Rollins published Waters of the United States: Timeline of Definitions. This publication serves as an in-depth timeline tracking the various changes to the definition of Waters of the United States. It also identifies when and where each definition of WOTUS was applicable.

Other new and updated resources from this quarter included:

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. For example, each time a significant development occurred in the dicamba-related litigation, Staff Attorney Brigit Rollins provided a blog post explaining the event and its potential implications. All of these updates can be found here. Other blog posts from this past quarter are outlined below.

Focus on Outreach

Despite the recent pandemic making travel impossible for Center staff this past quarter, our researchers have still managed to provide outreach to stakeholders across the nation in the form of podcasts, webinars and more. You can see some examples of this outlined below. If you're interested in learning more about any of the topics below, or in having Center staff present at a conference or webinar you're sponsoring, please contact us.