Agricultural Labor
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—December 20, 2024
Agribusiness: Federal Court Enjoins Corporate Transparency Act Ownership Reporting Requirement, January 1, 2025 Deadline Paused 🌾
On December 3, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas issued a memorandum opinion and order granting a preliminary injunction enjoining the federal government from enforcing the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) and its Beneficial Ownership Information reporting requirements. Texas Top Cop Shop, Inc. v. Garland, No. 4:24-cv-00478. The court followed the reasoning identified in the March 2024 opinion in National Small Business United v. Yellen and determined that “the CTA is not justified by the Commerce Clause, nor […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—December 10, 2024
This Week:
- Understanding the Basics of Children, Minors & Farm Work, Fri. Dec. 13, 2024 @ noon ET
NEW:
- Farmland Energy Podcast: Dust Pollution in Rural Pennsylvania (Dec. 7, 2024)
Agricultural Labor: Two Federal Courts Block ‘Temporary Ag Workers’ Rule, Nationwide Stay Issued 🌾
On November 25, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi issued an order temporarily staying nationwide the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) recent H-2A final rule, “Improving Protections for Workers in Temporary Agricultural Employment in the United States” (89 FR 33898). Int’l Fresh Produce Assoc. v. U.S. […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—November 26, 2024
Avian Influenza: Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Publishes Order Requiring Bulk Milk Testing 🌾
On November 20, 2024, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) Secretary Russell Redding issued a general quarantine order—effective immediately and published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin on November 23, 2024 (54 Pa.B. 7570)—requiring bulk testing of milk from Pennsylvania farms for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). Also announced by PDA, the order requires all in-state milk processors “receiving bulk raw milk directly from a Pennsylvania dairy farm or milk cooperative” to “begin collecting and submitting samples of raw milk taken from each compartment of each […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—October 11, 2024
Agricultural Labor: Federal Court Partially Enjoins 2023 H-2A Adverse Effect Wage Calculation Rule 🌾
On September 18, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana issued a memorandum opinion partially granting a preliminary injunction against the Department of Labor’s (DOL) February 2023 final rule, which amended the H-2A adverse effect wage rate (AEWR) calculations to include data from non-agricultural occupations. Teche Vermilion Sugar Cane Growers Assoc. Inc v. Su, No. 6:23-cv-00831. In their complaint, the plaintiffs “challenge[d] the DOL’s decision to base the AEWR for H-2A workers who haul sugarcane from the field to […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—September 10, 2024
Deadline Extended! Register by Sept. 12, 2024, noon (ET) for the Pennsylvania Agricultural Law Symposium!
Pesticides: Third Circuit Finds FIFRA Preempts State Law Label Warning Requirement 🌾
On August 15, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued a precedential opinion reversing the lower court’s judgment—which was jointly stipulated by the parties for the purpose of appeal—and holding that the state-law duty to include a cancer warning label on the glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup is preempted by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). David Schaffner, Jr. v. Monsanto Corp, No. 22-3075; […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—July 15, 2024
This Week—Register Now!
- Tues. July 16: Overview of U.S. State Milk Pricing Systems, Part 2
- Wed. July 17: “HPAI in Poultry and Cattle: How Can We Miss You if You Won’t Go Away?”
Water Quality: Oklahoma Court Holds State Ag Department Must Consider Environmental Impacts of Animal Operations 🌾
On June 28, 2024, the Oklahoma District Court for Delaware County issued an order granting partial summary judgment against the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry (OKDAFF) in an action filed by a group of landowners alleging that OKDAFF’s issuance of certain Poultry Feeding Operation registrations violated the […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—June 26, 2024
This Friday! June 28, 2024: Understanding the Basics of the Clean Water Act & Agriculture
National Agriculture Policy: Federal Court Enjoins USDA’s ‘Socially Disadvantaged Farmers’ Consideration 🌾
On June 7, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas published a memorandum opinion and order enjoining the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) from providing financial relief to farmers “based on its ‘socially disadvantaged farmer or rancher‘ designation” under the 2022 Emergency Relief Program (2022 ERP). Strickland v. USDA, No. 2:24-cv-00060. […]
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 […]
