Agricultural Labor
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—June 10, 2024
Avian Influenza: USDA Announces Additional Funding, New Voluntary Bulk Milk Testing Pilot Program 🌾
On May 30, 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that the agency is providing an additional $824 million in funding and resources to address and prevent the spread of H5N1 (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A) in livestock and poultry. Additionally, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has launched a new Voluntary H5N1 Dairy Herd Status Pilot Program as an alternative to the testing and reporting requirements mandated by APHIS’s April 24, 2024 Federal Order. USDA states that participation in the pilot […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—May 30, 2024
National Agricultural Policy: House Agriculture Committee Advances Farm Bill 🌾
On May 23, 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture passed (33-21) the “Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024” (H.R.8467), the House version of the 2024 Farm Bill. Previously, on May 17, 2024, the House Committee published a discussion draft and summary of the bill, also announced by the Committee. On May 1, 2024, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry announced a summary of its Farm Bill draft, titled the “Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act of […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—May 24, 2024
Food Labeling: Iowa Passes Law Prohibiting Meat Terms on ‘Manufactured-Protein’ Products, Requires Schools to ‘Prevent Purchase’ 🌾
On May 15, 2024, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed into law SF 2391, titled “an Act prohibiting the misbranding of certain food products, and providing penalties.” The law defines “cultivated-protein food product,” “insect-protein food product,” “plant-protein food product” and “fabricated egg product” as “manufactured-protein food products” and provides that such products are misbranded if labeled with an “identifying meat term” or “identifying egg term” unless the label also contains, “in close proximity to [the] identifying . . . term,” a “conspicuous and […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—April 15, 2024
Ag-Gag Statutes: Kentucky Legislature Passes ‘Agricultural Key Infrastructure Asset Trespass Law,’ Overrides Governor Veto 🌾
On April 12, 2024, the Kentucky legislature overrode the governor’s veto to pass into law Senate Bill 16, titled “An Act Relating to Agricultural Key Infrastructure Assets” (with votes totaling 32-6 in the House and 71-26 in the Senate). The law adds three types of facilities to the definition of “key infrastructure assets”—(1) “a commercial food manufacturing or processing facility,” (2) “an animal feeding operation,” and (3) “a concentrated animal feeding operation”—and establishes that a person “commits the offense of trespass upon key infrastructure […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—March 11, 2024
Agricultural Labor: Fifth Circuit Remands ‘Independent Contractor’ Rule Challenge to District Court, DOL January 2024 Rule Effective March 11, 2024 🌾
On February 19, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued an order vacating the district court’s decision and remanding a case challenging the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) March 2021 delay (86 FR 12535) and May 2021 withdrawal (86 FR 24303) of the agency’s independent contractor rule, issued on January 7, 2021 (86 FR 1168) shortly before the change of administration. Coalition v. Su, No. 22-40316. The January 2021 […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—March 4, 2024
Explore the Center’s New Geographical Indications Virtual Resource Room.
Right to Farm: West Virginia Passes Law Prohibiting Interference with ‘Permissible’ Pesticide Use, Expands Agriculture Protections 🌾
On February 23, 2024, West Virginia Governor Jim Justice approved legislation SB 171, which amends W. Va. Code §7-1-3 to prohibit county commissions from enacting any law “that contravenes or is stricter than any state law . . . relating to agricultural operations” and simultaneously revokes any such law “previously adopted.” The legislation also prohibits a county commission from enacting any rule that interferes with “the permissible use or application, of […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—February 26, 2024
Explore the Center’s updated Waters of the United States Virtual Resource Room and Waters of the United States Issue Tracker!
Water Quality: Federal Court Vacates EPA, FWS Actions Allowing Florida to Assume Clean Water Act Wetland Authority 🌾
On February 15, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued an opinion granting summary judgment to the plaintiff environmental group and vacating the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) November 2020 “programmatic” biological opinion (BiOp) and incidental take statement (ITS), which supported the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) December 2020 approval of Florida’s assumption of Clean […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—February 20, 2024
Pesticides/Herbicides: EPA Issues Existing Stocks Order for Three Dicamba Products After Registration Vacatur 🌾
On February 14, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an existing stocks order for the dicamba-based herbicides XtendiMax, Enginia, and Tavium following vacatur of the herbicides’ registrations. See ALWR—Feb. 13, 2024, “District Court Issues Order Vacating Three Dicamba Registrations.” The order permits the “limited sale and distribution of dicamba [over-the-top] products that were already in the possession of growers or in the channels of trade and outside the control of pesticide companies as of February 6, 2024.” Also announced by EPA, […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—February 13, 2024
Dairy Policy: Federal Milk Marketing Order Hearing Ends, Brief Filing Open Until April 1 🌾
On February 2, 2024, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) received an order “Notification to the Hearing Clerk Pursuant to 7 CFR § 900.10” for the National Federal Milk Marketing Order Pricing Formula Hearing, which began on August 23, 2023 and ended after forty-nine days on January 30, 2024. According to the notice, 511 exhibits were introduced in the hearing. Additionally, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will publish forty-nine volumes of the hearing transcript on its website. Proposed transcript corrections may be […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—January 29, 2024
Water Quality: EPA Publishes Proposed Rule for Meat and Poultry Point Source Effluent Limitations 🌾
On January 23, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published in the Federal Register a proposed rule (89 FR 4474) to amend Meat and Poultry Products Effluent Guidelines and Standards. Initially announced by EPA on December 15, 2023, the 2024 Proposed Rule offers three options, the first of which EPA claims as the agency’s preferred option. According to the proposed rule, Option 1 “would include new phosphorus limits and revised nitrogen limits for large direct dischargers and new pretreatment standards on […]
