Agricultural Law Weekly Review
The Agricultural Law Weekly Review provides an update of recent agricultural law developments from local, state, national, and international levels. Subscribe for updates.
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—May 20, 2025
This Week! Wed. May 21: NALC Webinar Will Explore Americans with Disabilities Act Requirements for Farm Operators
Next Week: Fri. May 30: Understanding the Basics of the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (free attorney CLE available)
Agribusiness: Pennsylvania Opens Farm Vitality Planning Grant Program, $500,000 Available 🌾
On May 17, 2025, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin a notice (55 Pa.B. 3427) of the standards and requirements for the Agricultural Business Development Center’s (ABDC) Farm Vitality Planning Grant Program. According to the notice, the program will provide grants up to $15,000, limited […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—May 13, 2025
Next Week! Wed. May 21, 2025, Navigating ADA Compliance for Agritourism Guests, Jackie Schweichler presents with the National Agricultural Law Center
Registration Open! 2025 Pennsylvania Agricultural Law Symposium—Thurs. Sept. 18, 2025
Pesticides/Herbicides: Pennsylvania Superior Court Upholds $175 Million Roundup Verdict Against Monsanto, Finds No FIFRA Preemption 🌾
On May 8, 2025, the Pennsylvania Superior Court issued an opinion affirming a $175 million jury verdict awarded in October 2023 in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas in favor of a plaintiff claiming that Monsanto/Bayer’s glyphosate-based Roundup herbicide caused his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Caranci v. Monsanto, No. 993 EDA 2024 (Pa. […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—May 6, 2025
This Friday! May 9, 2025, Understanding the Basics of PA Ag Exemptions for Inheritance Tax and Other Real Estate Transfers (rescheduled)
Pesticides/Herbicides: EPA Publishes Final Insecticide Strategy for Federally Listed Species 🌾
On April 29, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published its final Insecticide Strategy, which the agency states “represents a framework that EPA will use as it registers and re-registers pesticides” (EPA-HQ-OPP-2024-0299). The final Strategy to Protect Endangered Species from Insecticides details the EPA’s “three-step framework” for agricultural insecticide registration and review actions under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA): (1) “establish[] the […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—April 29, 2025
Next Week: May 9, 2025, Understanding the Basics of PA Ag Exemptions for Inheritance Tax and Other Real Estate Transfers (rescheduled)
Dairy Policy: USDA Issues Final Rule to Reauthorize Dairy Forward Pricing Program 🌾
On April 23, 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) published in the Federal Register a final rule (90 FR 16997), effective April 24, 2025, reauthorizing the Dairy Forward Pricing Program, which “allows farmers to voluntarily enter into forward price contracts with handlers for pooled milk used for Class II, III, or IV purposes under the Federal Milk Marketing Orders . […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—April 22, 2025
This week—Fri. Apr. 25: Understanding the Basics of PA Ag Exemptions for Inheritance Tax and Other Real Estate Transfers
National Agricultural Policy: USDA Cancels ‘Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities,’ Announces ‘Advancing Markets for Producers’ 🌾
On April 14, 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that the agency is cancelling its Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities (PCSC) program, initiated in 2022 under the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act. USDA states that “the majority of” PCSC “projects had . . . high administration fees which in many instances provided less than half of the federal funding directly to farmers” and that the […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—April 15, 2025
Today! Apr. 15 at Noon: Quarterly Dairy Legal Webinar—Bovine Disease Controls
Pesticides/Herbicides: Monsanto Files Petition for Certiorari Seeking FIFRA Preemption in Glyphosate Cases 🌾
On April 4, 2025, Monsanto filed a petition for writ of certiorari in the Supreme Court of the United States, asking the court to decide whether the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) preempts a state-law failure-to-warn claim. Monsanto Company v. John L. Durnell, No. 24-1068. The petition appeals a decision from the Missouri Court of Appeals upholding a $1.25 million jury verdict awarded to a plaintiff claiming that Monsanto’s glyphosate-based […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—April 8, 2025
Next Week: Apr. 15, 2025, Quarterly Dairy Legal Webinar—Bovine Disease Controls: Federal and PA Laws & Regulations
Agribusiness: FinCEN Publishes Interim Final Rule Limiting BOI Reporting Requirement to Foreign Companies 🌾
On March 26, 2025, the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) published in the Federal Register an interim final rule (90 FR 13688) to require only “foreign reporting companies” to report Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) under the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). According to the rule, “entities previously defined as ‘domestic reporting companies’ are exempted from the reporting requirements and do not have to report BOI to FinCEN, or […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—April 1, 2025
WOTUS: EPA Publishes Rule Requesting Recommendations for WOTUS definition 🌾
On March 24, 2025, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of the Army published in the Federal Register a proposed rule (90 FR 13428) announcing listening sessions and seeking stakeholder comment on “implementation of the definition of ‘waters of the United States’ in light of the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency.” Previously, EPA issued an intra-agency memorandum on “proper implementation of ‘continuous surface connection’ under the definition of ‘waters of the United States.’” Also announced by EPA, the rulemaking […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—March 26, 2025
This Week: Fri. Mar. 28, 2025, Understanding the Basics of the Clean Water Act & Ag: Impaired Waters & TMDL Process
National Agricultural Policy: USDA Announces $10 Billion for Direct ECAP Payments 🌾
On March 18, 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced (PDF) that the agency “is issuing up to $10 billion directly to agricultural producers through the Emergency Commodity Assistance Program (ECAP) for the 2024 crop year” to “help agricultural producers mitigate the impacts of increased input costs . . . falling commodity prices . . . and ‘market uncertainty.’” According to the announcement, the […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—March 18, 2025
Regulatory Policy: Ninth Circuit Upholds Preliminary Injunction Ordering Reinstatement of USDA, Federal Employees 🌾
On March 17, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued an order denying an administrative stay and upholding the district court’s preliminary injunction, which ordered the reinstatement of probationary employees at several federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Am. Federation Gov. Empl., AFL-CIO v. U.S. Office of Personnel Management, No. 25-1677 (N.D. Ca. 3:25-cv-01780). The Ninth Circuit stated, “Given that the district court found that the employees were wrongfully terminated and ordered an immediate return to […]
