Conservation Programs
Agricultural Law Weekly Review – Week Ending April 9, 2021
Antitrust: Court Approves $58 Settlement in Peanut Class Action Suit 🌾
On April 5, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia approved a $58 million settlement agreement between the plaintiff peanut farmer Settlement Class and defendant peanut shellers Birdsong Corporation and Olam Peanut Shelling Company, Inc. in a civil antitrust class action suit alleging that the defendant companies over- and under-reported peanut inventories to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to manipulate prices. In re Peanut Farmers Antitrust Litigation, No. 2:19-cv-00463. The approval follows the court’s March 2021 back-to-back orders, absent accompanying explanatory opinions, approving […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—Week Ending March 19, 2021
Water Quality: Exelon’s Conowingo Dam Relicensed As Per Settlement with Maryland 🌾
On March 18, 2021, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a new 50-year license to Exelon Generation Company, LLC’s Conowingo Hydroelectric Project, the nearly century-old dam located on the Susquehanna River in Maryland approximately ten miles north of its entry to the Chesapeake Bay. Exelon Generation Company, LLC, Project Nos. 405-106 and 405-121, 174 FERC ¶ 61,217. In recent years it was discovered that previous modeling of phosphorous, nitrogen and sediment trapped behind the dam were flawed and pollutants previously assumed to be trapped behind the dam […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review – week ending February 5, 2021
COVID-19/Ag Labor: Executive Order Directs OSHA to Issue Guidance and Consider Emergency Temporary Standards
On January 29, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced the issuance of new guidance titled “Protecting Workers: Guidance on Mitigating and Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in the Workplace,” consistent with January 21, 2021’s Executive Order 13999 directing DOL to, among many other things, issue revised COVID-19 workplace safety guidance within two weeks and consider the necessity of mandatory emergency temporary standards on COVID-19 and, if necessary, issue them by March 15, 2021. EO 13999 also […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—week ending January 15, 2021
Agricultural Labor: Maryland Court of Appeals Finds Tyson Farms Not Co-Employer of Poultry Farm Employee
On November 20, 2020, the Court of Appeals of Maryland issued an opinion reversing the decision of the Maryland Court of Special Appeals and finding that Tyson Farms was not a co-employer of a Maryland poultry farm worker who sustained an occupational lung disease during his employment and residence on a Worcester County chicken farm. In overturning a jury verdict from the Circuit Court for Worcester County, which found Tyson not to be a joint employer, the majority of a Maryland Court of Special Appeals panel reversed the trial court and determined that Tyson was a co-employer with the farm owner—who had failed to carry worker’s compensation insurance—and […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—week ending December 11, 2020
Dean Foods Bankruptcy: Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board Negotiates Nationwide Solution to Preference Payment Claims
On December 9, 2020, the Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board (PMMB), partnering with the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General, announced that it had negotiated with the St. Paul, Minnesota, law firm representing the Chapter 11 bankruptcy estate of Dean Foods, ASK LLP. As a result, the PMMB prepared, and posted on the PMMB website, forms which can be downloaded, completed by producers and milk haulers in any state in the country, and mailed to ASK LLP as soon as possible as a response to the […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—week ending November 27, 2020
Food Labeling: International Dairy Federation Publishes Dairy Terminology Standards Update
On November 18, 2020, the International Dairy Federation (IDF) announced the publication of an update to its General Standard for the Use of Dairy Terms (GSUDT), titled IDF Bulletin 507/2020: The Codex General Standard for the Use of Dairy Terms—Its nature, intent, and implications. IDF specifies in the bulletin that milk “refers to normal mammary secretion of milking animals obtained from one or more milkings” and that “dairy terms are reserved to milk and milk products conforming to this definition.” Along with the bulletin, which is intended as […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—week ending November 13, 2020
International Trade: EU Imposes Tariffs on U.S. Agricultural Products
On November 9, 2020, the European Commission announced the passage of Regulation 2020/1646, which levies a new 25% World Trade Organization (WTO)-authorized tariff on enumerated U.S. agricultural products (and 15% on U.S. aircraft products) in retaliation for U.S. tariffs on European Union (EU) exports. Agricultural product tariffs, including on a wide range of cheeses, are being bi-laterally utilized by both nations as retaliation for government subsidies to Airbus and Boeing respectively. On November 10, 2020, the primary trade organization of U.S. dairy cooperatives, National Milk Producers Federation, issued […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—week ending October 16, 2020
Antitrust: JBS Subsidiary Pilgrim’s Pride Pleads Guilty to Price-Fixing
On October 14, 2020, Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (Pilgrim’s), a wholly-owned subsidiary of JBS S.A., issued an announcement stating that it has entered into a plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) regarding its involvement in broiler chicken price-fixing. According to the announcement, Pilgrim’s will pay $110,524,140 in exchange for no further charges if remaining in compliance with the plea agreement, which remains subject to approval from the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. United States v. Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation, No. 1:20-cr-00330. Multiple over parties remain […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review —December 19, 2019
International Trade: United States and China Reach “Phase One” Trade Agreement
On December 13, 2019, the White House announced a “Phase One trade deal” with China that requires “changes to China’s economic and trade regime,” including agricultural trade, and “a commitment by China to make substantial additional purchases of U.S. goods in the coming years.” However, no specific details have yet been provided in writing by either the White House or the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). The text of a Fact Sheet on the USTR website […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review —November 21, 2019
Invasive Species: USDA Restricts Imports of Tomatoes and Peppers to Prevent Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus
On November 15, 2019, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced a Federal Order (DA-2019-28) restricting the import of tomato and pepper fruits, seed lots, and transplants, effective Friday, November 22, 2019, in order to prevent the introduction of tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) into the United States. ToBRFV naturally infects tomato and pepper plants and can cause discoloration, deformation and irregular maturation, resulting in excessive fruit loss. The virus spreads easily through contact between infected plant parts, seeds, contaminated tools […]
