Pesticides/Herbicides
Agricultural Law Weekly Review – Week Ending April 30, 2021
COVID-19: White House Reviewing OSHA’s Long-Delayed Emergency Temporary Standard
On April 26, 2021, according to a U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) spokesperson, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) submitted to the White House an Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) for the prevention of workplace COVID-19 transmission. President Biden’s January 21, 2021 Executive Order on Protecting Worker Health and Safety directed OSHA to decide upon the necessity of an ETS and submit it to the White House by March 15, 2021, however that action was long-delayed without official explanation. An ETS on this topic would represent the first mandatory federal government […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review – Week Ending April 23, 2021
WOTUS: EPA Administrator Testifies on WOTUS 🌾
On April 21, 2021, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan testified about EPA’s approach to the presently applicable Navigable Waters Protection Rule before the House Committee On Appropriations, Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies. He stated, “What I’m pledging to do is begin a stakeholder-engagement process involving our ag community — farm bureau, ag CEOs, our environmental community — to look at the lessons learned and how we can move forward . . . that we can provide some certainty to the ag industry where we don’t overburden the small farmer […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—Week Ending March 26, 2021
COVID-19: USDA Announces New ‘Pandemic Assistance for Producers’ Initiative 🌾
On March 24, 2021, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced its new $6 billion financial assistance initiative, USDA Pandemic Assistance for Producers. Combining existing programs with new spending, the initiative aims to resolve disparities in previous assistance distribution through a four-part agenda: 1) $6 billion in Consolidated Appropriations Act and unspent coronavirus funds for new program spending, including assistance for the Dairy Donation Program, biofuels, specialty crops, and farmworker personal protective equipment; 2) $500 million in additional existing program spending, including the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program and […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—Week Ending March 12, 2021
COVID-19: $1.9 Trillion American Rescue Plan Act Includes $10.4 Billion for Agriculture 🌾
On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed into law H.R. 1319, known as the “American Rescue Plan Act of 2021,” which appropriates approximately $1.9 trillion for various COVID-19 relief funding and authorizes multiple statutory initiatives and programs, including approximately $10.4 billion in aid and assistance to agriculture in various forms. USDA has published a fact sheet on the law and its highlights, including allocation of $4 billion for debt relief for socially disadvantaged farmers and approximately $1 billion to create a racial equity commission, address longstanding […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—Week Ending February 26, 2021
Antitrust: Court Grants Preliminary Approval of Civil Antitrust Settlement; Tyson and Pilgrim’s to Pay $155 Million 🌾
On February 25, 2021, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois issued an order granting preliminary approval of the settlements between Defendants Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. and Tyson Foods and the Direct Purchaser Plaintiffs (DPPs) in the consolidated antitrust class action suit In re Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation (No. 1:16-cv-08637). According to the agreement, subject to a June 29, 2021 Fairness Hearing, Pilgrim’s will pay up to $75 million to the DPP Class, which it previously announced. See ALWR—week ending January 15, […]
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 22, 2021
The Agricultural Law Weekly Review has migrated to our new website at https://aglaw.psu.edu/topics/ag-law-weekly-review/. If you have already subscribed, you will continue to receive emails. If you are interested in receiving other publications from the Center, you can subscribe here.
Industrial Hemp: USDA Publishes Final Hemp Rule
On January 19, 2021, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS) published in the Federal Register a final rule titled “Establishment of a Domestic Hemp Production Program” (86 FR 5596), which completes the closely-followed process begun by the October 31, 2019 interim final rule to complete regulations governing domestic […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—week ending January 1, 2021
COVID-19: $900 Billion Appropriations Act Includes $13 Billion in COVID-19 Relief for Agriculture
On December 27, 2020, President Trump signed into law H.R.133, known as the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021,” which appropriates $900 billion dollars in COVID-19 relief funding, approximately $13 Billion of which represents aid to agriculture in various forms. That represents 1.4% of the total relief funding bill. The list of aid under USDA’s jurisdiction includes a gross amount of $11.2 Billion allocated to the Office of the USDA Secretary for direct financial assistance to commodity producers. The balance is appropriated to various existing statutory programs […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—week ending December 25, 2020
Pesticides/Herbicides: 5-Year Dicamba Registration Approval Challenged in Parallel Litigation
On December 21, 2020, the identical five entities (referred to collectively herein as the “Center for Food Safety”) who were successful in June 2020 in having the EPA registrations of three dicamba-containing herbicides vacated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (9th Circuit), filed a Petition for Review with the 9th Circuit seeking to have the EPA’s October 27, 2020, 5-year registration approvals of three dicamba-containing herbicides again invalidated. The petition alleges that the new registrations have been issued in violation of the Federal Insecticide, […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—week ending December 18, 2020
Pesticides/Herbicides: Punitive Damages Reduced to $60 Million in Bader Farms Dicamba Case
On November 25, 2020, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri issued an opinion and order on post-trial motions reducing to $60 million the February 2020 jury award of $250 million in punitive damages against Monsanto/Bayer and BASF as a result of dicamba-caused property damage to a Missouri peach producer’s orchards in Bader Farms, Inc. v. Monsanto Company, No. 1:16-cv-00299. For more background, see ALWR—February 20, 2020, “Missouri Federal Jury Returns $265 Million Verdict in Dicamba […]
