Biotechnology
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—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—August 9, 2024
Environmental Credit Trading: Pennsylvania Passes ‘Carbon Capture and Sequestration Act’ 🌾
On July 17, 2024, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed into law S.B. 831 (Act 87), titled the “Carbon Capture and Sequestration Act.” The law vests “ownership of all pore space in all strata below the surface lands and waters of th[e] Commonwealth . . . in the surface property interest owner above the pore space” and provides that “a conveyance of the surface ownership of real property shall be a conveyance of the pore space.” Additionally, the law directs the Environmental Quality Board to promulgate regulations for carbon […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—June 4, 2024
NEW Publication: HPAI in Dairy Cattle: Is Pasteurization Dairy’s Only Reliable Protection?, Southern Ag Today—Brook Duer, Center Staff Attorney
Related Webinar: July 17, 2024, “HPAI in Poultry and Cattle: How Can We Miss You if You Won’t Go Away?,” Staff Attorney Brook Duer Presents with the National Agricultural Law Center.
Water Quality: Supreme Court to Hear Challenge to Clean Water Act ‘Generic Prohibitions’ 🌾
On May 28, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court granted a petition for writ of certiorari to hear an appeal of a July 2023 decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which […]
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—April 1, 2024
Air Quality: SEC Publishes ‘Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors’ Final Rule 🌾
On March 28, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published in the Federal Register a final rule (89 FR 21668) that will require U.S.-listed public companies “to provide certain climate-related information in their registration statements and annual reports.” Also announced by SEC, the rule will require companies to provide “information about a registrant’s climate-related risks that have materially impacted, or are reasonably likely to have a material impact on, its business strategy, results of operations, or financial condition.” According to the rule, “an agricultural producer or […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—December 4, 2023
International Trade: Panel Report Finds Canada’s Dairy Tariff-Rate Quotas ‘Not Inconsistent’ with USMCA 🌾
On November 10, 2023, the dispute settlement panel formed under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) published its final report concerning Canada’s dairy tariff-rate quota (TRQ) allocation measures. Also announced by the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), the report concluded that “Canada’s measures are not inconsistent with the USMCA provisions cited by the United States.” However, “[a] dissenting panelist agreed with the United States that by excluding retailers and others, Canada was breaching its commitment to make its dairy TRQs available to all applicants active in the […]
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—June 5, 2023
Farmland Preservation: Appraiser Pleads Guilty to Agricultural Conservation Easement Fraud 🌾
On May 12, 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that a North Carolina land appraiser, Walter “Terry” Douglas Roberts II, pleaded guilty to fraudulently inflating the value of at least eighteen agricultural conservation easements “by at least 70%,” allowing landowners to claim fraudulent tax deductions. United States v. Lewis, No. 1:21-cr-00231 (N.D. Ga.). The DOJ stated that the inflated appraisals led to more than $460 million in fraudulent tax deductions that resulted in $129 million in lost tax revenue.
Dairy Policy: FMMO Petitions on Make Allowances Clarified
On […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—May 22, 2023
Water Quality: Consent Decree Directs Ohio EPA to Develop Western Lake Erie Watershed TDML 🌾
On April 25, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio Toledo Division issued a consent decree directing the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA) to develop a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for the Maumee River Watershed. Environmental Law & Policy Center v. United States Environmental Protection Agency, No: 3:19-cv-00295. In February 2019, the plaintiffs filed a complaint alleging that the Ohio EPA failed to take proper action, or implement an effective TMDL, to combat phosphorus and other nutrient […]
