Avian Influenza
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—November 6, 2023
Agricultural Labor: National Labor Relations Board Publishes Final Rule for New Joint Employer Status Test 🌾
On October 27, 2023, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) published in the Federal Register a final rule titled “Standards for Determining Joint Employer Status” (88 FR 73946), which replaces the previous 2020 rule (85 FR 11184). Also announced by NLRB, the final rule establishes that “an entity may be considered a joint employer of another employer’s employees if the two share or codetermine the employees’ essential terms and conditions of employment,” which the rule defines using seven categories: 1) “wages, benefits, […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—October 30, 2023
National Agricultural Policy: USDA Allocates $2.3 Billion in CCC Funds for Trade Promotion, Surplus Commodity Purchases 🌾
On October 24, 2023, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that USDA will allocate $2.3 billion in Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) funds for agricultural trade promotion and international food aid. According to the announcement, $1.3 billion will fund a new Regional Agricultural Promotion Program and $1 billion will fund purchases of surplus U.S. commodities for distribution through USAID. See also ALWR—Oct. 2, 2023, “GAO Decision Finds USDA’s Use of Commodity Credit Corporation Funds Lawful.”
Technology: USDA Rural Development Allows Loan, […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—October 16, 2023
Agricultural Labor: Supreme Court Denies Case to Apply FLSA ‘Agricultural Exemption’ to On-Farm Construction 🌾
On October 2, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition for certiorari in a case questioning whether a company must pay overtime to H-2A employees who construct on-farm livestock confinement facilities or whether those employees are exempted from Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime requirements as “agricultural workers.” Signet Builders Inc. v. Vanegas, No. 22-869. The petitioner construction company sought to overturn a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which found that the company had failed to […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—January 16, 2023
Organic Agriculture: DOJ Indicts Multiple Companies and Individuals for Organic Fraud 🌾
On January 6, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the indictment of two Dubai-based agricultural companies and three Turkish residents for conspiring to export non-organic grain labeled as “organic” into the United States. The defendants are charged with conspiracy, smuggling, and wire fraud. According to the announcement, in 2016, the defendants “shipped 16,250 [metric tons] of non-organic soybeans falsely labeled as ‘organic’ from Turkey to the United States where they were sold for over $10 million.” The case is pending in the U.S. District Court for the […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—Week Ending September 2, 2022
Agricultural Data: USDA Announces 2022 Census of Agriculture Details 🌾
On August 29, 2022, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) announced that the agency will soon be mailing and accepting questionnaires for the 2022 Census of Agriculture. The Census of Agriculture includes all sizes of urban and rural farm operations that produced and sold at least $1,000 worth of agricultural products. The census will survey producers on multiple issues, including land use and ownership, producer characteristics, farming practices, and income and expenses. The 2022 survey contains new questions on hemp production, hair sheep, […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—Week Ending June 24, 2022
Pesticides/Herbicides: U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Hear Bayer RoundUp Verdict Appeal ⚡
On June 21, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the August 16, 2021 Petition For Certiorari filed by Bayer (purchaser of Monsanto’s glyphosate-containing RoundUp product line and successor to its product liabilities) seeking to appeal the May 14, 2021, decision of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals holding that products liability claims for failure-to-warn of the risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma from the products’ use are not preempted by the federal pesticide/herbicide labeling regulatory scheme set forth in the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—Week Ending June 17, 2022
Animal Welfare: U.S. Solicitor General Argues Proposition 12 is Unconstitutional ⚡
On June 17, 2022, the U.S. Solicitor General filed an Amicus Curiae Brief in the case of National Pork Producers Council, et al. v. Ross, et al., No 21-468, currently pending before the U.S. Supreme Court setting forth the position of the United States government that the State of California’s Proposition 12 animal confinement law made applicable to out-of-state production of pork products sold in California violates the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. On June 14, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court set oral argument in […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—Week Ending June 10, 2022
Avian Influenza: New Commercial HPAI Detections Plummet Nationally 🌾
As of June 13, 2022, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)’s HPAI 2022 Confirmed Detections database confirmed a total of 369 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) detections in 36 states (186 commercial flocks and 183 backyard flocks), resulting in 40.09 million birds depopulated. Iowa leads the nation with 13.374 million birds depopulated in 15 infected commercial premises, however there have been no new detections in Iowa since May 4th and the Iowa Department of Agriculture has ended a moratorium on live bird exhibitions effective June […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—Week Ending June 3, 2022
Food Policy: USDA Announces “Framework to Transform Food Systems” 🌾
On June 1, 2022, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced details of a set of actions collectively called a “Food Systems Transformation” framework, funded by American Rescue Plan Act and other pandemic relief legislation, to serve the purposes announced in Executive Order 14017 (America’s Supply Chains) and “to benefit consumers, producers and rural communities by providing more options, increasing access, and creating new, more, and better markets for small and mid-size producers.” The initial announcement outlined over $3 billion of investment in at least 16 USDA programs to […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—Week Ending May 6, 2022
Avian Influenza: HPAI Confirmed at Thirteen Pennsylvania Commercial Poultry Operations 🌾
Between April 15 through May 14, 2022, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has confirmed thirteen commercial poultry premise/flocks diagnosed with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Pennsylvania — 8 in Lancaster County and 5 in Berks County. All premises have been quarantined, through orders of special quarantine, all birds have been depopulated, totally 4.166 million birds) and composted on site. In addition, all commercial poultry facilities within a 10-kilometer (6.2 mile) radius of the infected premises became part of a “Control Zone” […]
