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—Week Ending August 19, 2022
National Agriculture Policy: Inflation Reduction Act Signed Into Law
On August 16, 2022, President Joe Biden signed into law H.R.5376, known as the “Inflation Reduction Act of 2022,” which appropriates $750 billion through 2031 for numerous federal programs, prioritizing renewable energy, climate, and healthcare initiatives. The Act allocates approximately $38 billion for agriculture and rural development, down from the previous November 2021 version of the bill, known as the Build Back Better Act, which would have provided $80 billion for agricultural programs. The 2022 Act includes
- $19.5 billion for conservation programs—$8.45 billion of which prioritizes diet […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—Week Ending July 29, 2022
Antitrust: Justice Department Files Complaint and Proposed Consent Decrees in Poultry Plant Worker and Contract Grower Compensation Conspiracy 🌾
On July 25, 2022, the United States Justice Department (DOJ) announced that it filed a civil antitrust complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland alleging meat producers Cargill Inc., Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation, Sanderson Farms Inc. and Wayne Farms LLC conspired to suppress worker pay, together with data consulting firm Webber, Meng, Sahl and Company (WMS) and its President, G. Jonathan Meng. Additionally, the DOJ proposed ten-year consent decrees as to all defendants and
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—Week Ending July 22, 2022
Antitrust: Federal Poultry Processing Wage Suppression Suit Alleging National Conspiracy Survives Motions to Dismiss 🌾
On July 19, 2022, U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland issued an opinion on five motions to dismiss the third amended complaint in this 2019 putative class action case titled Judy Jein, et al. v. Perdue Farms, Inc., et al. No. 19-2521 (USDC MD), based upon Sherman Act antitrust violations on behalf of workers at various poultry processing plants. The class action alleges that the defendant manufacturers conspired to depress wages and share compensation data in order to do so. The twenty-six […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—Week Ending July 15, 2022
Enacted Pennsylvania 2022-23 Budget Includes $25 Million in HPAI Poultry Grower Assistance Grants and $220 Million in New Clean Streams Fund; Last HPAI Quarantine Control Zone Released 🌾
On July 8, 2022, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed into law Act No. 1A of 2022, formerly known as Senate Bill 1100, titled the “General Appropriation Act of 2002” and Act No. 54 of 2022, formerly known as House Bill 1421, commonly referred to as the “2022-2023 Fiscal Code Bill,” both of which together provide the primary state fiscal year 2022-23 budget for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania government. The most succinct summary of […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—Week Ending June 24, 2022
Pesticides/Herbicides: U.S. Supreme Court Declines to Hear Bayer RoundUp Verdict Appeal ⚡
On June 21, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the August 16, 2021 Petition For Certiorari filed by Bayer (purchaser of Monsanto’s glyphosate-containing RoundUp product line and successor to its product liabilities) seeking to appeal the May 14, 2021, decision of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals holding that products liability claims for failure-to-warn of the risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma from the products’ use are not preempted by the federal pesticide/herbicide labeling regulatory scheme set forth in the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—Week Ending June 17, 2022
Animal Welfare: U.S. Solicitor General Argues Proposition 12 is Unconstitutional ⚡
On June 17, 2022, the U.S. Solicitor General filed an Amicus Curiae Brief in the case of National Pork Producers Council, et al. v. Ross, et al., No 21-468, currently pending before the U.S. Supreme Court setting forth the position of the United States government that the State of California’s Proposition 12 animal confinement law made applicable to out-of-state production of pork products sold in California violates the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. On June 14, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court set oral argument in […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—Week Ending June 10, 2022
Avian Influenza: New Commercial HPAI Detections Plummet Nationally 🌾
As of June 13, 2022, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)’s HPAI 2022 Confirmed Detections database confirmed a total of 369 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) detections in 36 states (186 commercial flocks and 183 backyard flocks), resulting in 40.09 million birds depopulated. Iowa leads the nation with 13.374 million birds depopulated in 15 infected commercial premises, however there have been no new detections in Iowa since May 4th and the Iowa Department of Agriculture has ended a moratorium on live bird exhibitions effective June […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—Week Ending June 3, 2022
Food Policy: USDA Announces “Framework to Transform Food Systems” 🌾
On June 1, 2022, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced details of a set of actions collectively called a “Food Systems Transformation” framework, funded by American Rescue Plan Act and other pandemic relief legislation, to serve the purposes announced in Executive Order 14017 (America’s Supply Chains) and “to benefit consumers, producers and rural communities by providing more options, increasing access, and creating new, more, and better markets for small and mid-size producers.” The initial announcement outlined over $3 billion of investment in at least 16 USDA programs to […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—Week Ending May 6, 2022
Avian Influenza: HPAI Confirmed at Thirteen Pennsylvania Commercial Poultry Operations 🌾
Between April 15 through May 14, 2022, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has confirmed thirteen commercial poultry premise/flocks diagnosed with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Pennsylvania — 8 in Lancaster County and 5 in Berks County. All premises have been quarantined, through orders of special quarantine, all birds have been depopulated, totally 4.166 million birds) and composted on site. In addition, all commercial poultry facilities within a 10-kilometer (6.2 mile) radius of the infected premises became part of a “Control Zone” […]
Agricultural Law Weekly Review—Week Ending April 22, 2022
Water Quality: EPA Response Finds ‘No Confidence’ in PA’s Phase III WIP, Gives State 90 Days to Submit Additional Plans 🌾
On April 19, 2022, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sent a letter to Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Patrick McDonnell responding to Pennsylvania’s draft amended Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP), submitted to EPA December 30, 2021. Although EPA “commend[s] . . . Pennsylvania for [its] “effort[s] to engage local leaders and stakeholders,” the letter identifies several deficiencies in Pennsylvania’s draft amended WIP and states that the plan “does not provide EPA with confidence that […]
