Pesticides/Herbicides
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—April 10, 2024
Conservation Programs: Fish and Wildlife Service Publishes Three Endangered Species Act Final Rules 🌾
On April 5, 2024, the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) published in the Federal Register three final rules revising regulations for “Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants.” The first rule, “Listing Endangered and Threatened Species and Designating Critical Habitat” (89 FR 24300), amends the “procedures and criteria used for listing, reclassifying, and delisting species” and specifies that endangered and threatened species determinations shall be made “without reference to possible economic or other impacts of such determination.” The second rule, […]
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 18, 2024
Ag-Gag Statutes: Eighth Circuit Reverses Injunctions for Two Iowa ‘Ag-Gag’ Laws 🌾
On January 8, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued two opinions in separate cases reversing injunctions against two so-called Iowa “ag-gag” laws for First Amendment violations and remanding each case. Animal Legal Defense Fund v. Reynolds, No. 22-1830 (4:19-cv-00124, S.D. Iowa, filed Apr. 19, 2019) and Animal Legal Defense Fund v. Reynolds, No. 22-3464 (4:21-cv-00231, S.D. Iowa, filed Aug. 10, 2021). In the first opinion (22-1830), the plaintiffs had challenged Iowa’s “Agricultural Production Facility Trespass” law (Iowa Code § 717A.3B), […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—January 8, 2024
Animal Welfare: California’s Proposition 12 Fully Effective January 1, 2024, Producer Certification Required 🌾
On January 1, 2024, California’s Proposition 12 and implementing regulations became fully effective, establishing the state’s Animal Care Program and requiring third-party certification for producers (HSC §§ 25990-25994 and 3 CCR §§ 1320-1327.3). According to a publication from the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), as of January 1, 2024, (1) “[p]roducers are required to have a valid Certificate of Compliance,” (2) “[c]overed products sold are required to be from producers with valid Certificates of Compliance,” and (3) “[d]istributors are required to […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—December 22, 2023
Agribusiness: Beneficial Ownership Information Reporting Requirements Effective January 1, 2024 🌾
On January 1, 2024, the beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirements (31 CFR § 1010.380) become effective for many companies and small entities as part of the Corporate Transparency Act, enacted within the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, P.L. 116–283. The law requires that domestic and foreign reporting companies formed by “filing a document with a secretary of state or any similar office” report certain information about itself, its beneficial owners, and its
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—December 15, 2023
Antitrust: Federal Jury Finds Egg Producers Liable for Price-Fixing and Conspiracy, Damages Awarded 🌾
On November 21, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois entered a minute entry of a jury verdict finding the defendant egg producers liable in an antitrust case alleging that numerous egg producers—including United Egg Producers, Inc., United States Egg Marketers, Inc., and Cal-Maine Foods—“unlawfully agreed to and did implement their conspiracy to control supply and artificially maintain and increase the price of eggs through a series of collective actions.” Kraft Foods Global v. United Egg Producers, No. 1:11-cv-08808. The case […]
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, […]
