Welcome to the U.S. Agricultural & Food Law and Policy Blog

A comprehensive news, research, and information resource for the nation’s agricultural community. 

Provided as a partnership of The National Agricultural Law Center, the nation’s leading source of agricultural and food law research and information, and the American Agricultural Law Association, the only national professional organization focusing on the legal needs of the agricultural community.  Located in Fayetteville, Arkansas the National Agricultural Law Center serves the nation's agricultural community and is a unit of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. 

U.S. Supreme Court Holds Farmer's Effort to Replicate Roundup Ready Soybeans is Patent Infrigement

On Monday, May 13, the United States Supreme Court issued its ruling in Bowman v. Monsanto Co., et al., decision that will reverberate throughout the continued debate over the role of genetically modified organisms in agriculture.  The Court ruled unanimously in favor of Monsanto Company, holding that patent exhaustion does not permit Indiana farmer Vernon Bowman and other farmers to reproduce patented seeds through planting and harvesting without the patent holder’s permission. A copy of the ten page slip opinion is available here.

According to a USA Today article covering this story, "[t]he court ruled unanimously that an Indiana farmer violated Monsanto's patent on genetically modified soybeans when he culled some from a grain elevator and used them to replant his own crop in future years."

In its decision, Justice Elena Kegan wrote that:

. . . [I]f simple copying were a protected use, a patent would plummet in value after the first sale of the first item containing the invention. The undiluted patent monopoly, it might be said, would extend not for 20 years (as the Patent Act promises), but for only one transaction. And that would result in less incentive for innovation than Congress wanted. Hence our repeated insistence that exhaustion applies only to the particular item sold, and not to reproductions.

While the decision will have far-reaching implications, Justice Kegan indicated that the decision was limited and not intended to address every situation that involves a self-replicating product.  Along these lines, the decision concludes with the following:

Our holding today is limited—addressing the situation before us, rather than every one involving a self-replicating product. We recognize that such inventions are becoming ever more prevalent, complex, and diverse. In another case, the article’s self-replication might occur outside the purchaser’s control. Or it might be a necessary but incidental step in using the item for another purpose. . . . .We need not address here whether or how the doctrine of patent exhaustion would apply in such circumstances. In the case at hand, Bowman planted Monsanto’s patented soybeans solely to make and market replicas of them, thus depriving the company of the reward patent law provides for the sale of each article. Patent exhaustion provides no haven for that conduct. We accordingly affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

Senate Ag Committee to Mark-Up 2013 Farm Bill on May 14

Senator Debbie Stabenow, Chairwoman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, will convene a meeting of the full Committee for purposes of considering and marking up the 2013 Farm Bill on Tuesday, May 14 at 10 a.m. in the Committee’s hearing room, 328-A of the Russell Senate Office Building.

Due to limited space, all press wishing to attend are required to RSVP, and seats will be reserved in order of response. Additionally, an overflow room will be provided to accommodate those unable to sit in the Committee hearing room. The markup will also be streamed live on the Senate Agriculture Committee website. 

To RSVP to attend the mark-up, email ben_becker@ag.senate.gov.  The text of the Committee Print of the 2013 Farm Bill is expected to be available to access and download later this week on the Senate Agriculture Committee’s website.

Three States Pass New "Agritourism" Liability Protection Laws

As the legislative sessions for many states are wrapping up, three states have recently passed agritourism statutes designed to reduce help reduce some of the legal liability surrounding so-called “inherent risks” of agritourism operations.  Oklahoma, Idaho and Florida have each passed laws that will come in to effect in the coming months.  The Florida and Ohio laws are set to become law on July 1, 2013.  The Oklahoma law is set to be effective on November 1.  Inherent risks are typically defined to include natural conditions of the land, water, wild and domestic animals, farm buildings, equipment, and other risks associated with farming, ranching or forestry.  Both statutes are written to cover negligent acts by other participants on the farm.

One interesting difference between the three new agritourism laws is found in their exceptions to the liability protection.  The Florida statute states that gross negligence on the part of the agritourism operators will disallow any protection under the new law.  However, the Idaho and Oklahoma statutes will disallow protection if the operator or their employees commit any negligent act or omission. 

Many states have enacted similar legislation, and there are a number of legal issues associated with agritourism.  For a recently updated list of states' agritourism laws, visit the National Agricultural Law Center's  State Compilation of Agritourism Statutes. In addition, more legal research and information pertaining to Agritourism is available on the National Agricultural Law Center Agritourism Reading Room.   

For questions regarding the legal issues in agritourism, please contact Staff Attorney Rusty Rumley at rrumley@uark.edu.  

National Agricultural Law Center Partners with American Agri-Women to Host Ag & Food Law Webinar

 

On Monday, May 6, 2013 at 10 a.m. Mountain/11 Central the National Agricultural Law Center is hosting a webinar in partnership with American Agri-Women, the national coalition of farm, ranch, and agribusiness women's organizations.  There is no charge for the webinar.  To sign on to the webinar, click https://connect.extension.iastate.edu/aglaw at or before the webinar start time. 

This event is part of the ongoing effort between the National Agricultural Law Center and American Agri-Women to mutually engage in long-term collaboration in providing legal research, information, and outreach activities important to women who own and operate farms, ranches, forests, and agribusinesses as well as their allies throughout the United States. While the primary audience will be women farmers, ranchers, and agribusinesses, the webinar is open to the public. 

The goal of the webinar is to discuss the National Agricultural Law Center, its research and information mission, and its resources that are available to the nation's agricultural community.  There will also be ample opportunity for question and answers.  In addition, the webinar will provide a platform for identifying future research and information activities targeted to women-owned and operated farms, ranches, forests, and agribusinesses.  

American Agri-Women officially began November 14, 1974, founded by four state women’s agriculture groups which had formed: Women for the Survival of Agriculture in Michigan; Wisconsin Women for Agriculture; Oregon Women for Agriculture; and the Washington Women for the Survival of Agriculture.  Kansas Agri-Women (then United Farm Wives of Kansas) and Illinois Agri-Women (then Illinois Women for Agriculture) joined soon thereafter.

Today, American Agri-Women has 50 state and commodity affiliate organizations as well as individual members throughout the country, representing tens of thousands of women involved in agriculture. Throughout the organization's history, its members have been actively involved and making a difference in legislative and regulatory matters at the local, state, and national levels. American Agri-Women has also been instrumental in student and consumer education about agriculture, having initiated the Agriculture in the Classroom program at the national level and are integrally involved in national and state programs still today.  For more information about American Agri-Women, click here. 

Now celebrating its 25th Anniversary, the National Agricultural Law Center at the University of Arkansas serves as the nation's leading source of agricultural and food law research and information.   The Center is the only institution of its kind in the nation, serving the nation's vast agricultural community of farmers, extension professionals, agribusinesses, academics, attorneys, state and federal policymakers, and others. Located in Fayetteville, the Center is a unit of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. 

For anyone with questions or seeking additional information, please feel free to contact either Harrison Pittman, Director, National Agricultural Law Center at hmpittm@uark.edu or Karen Yost, President, American Agri-Women at president@americanagriwomen.org. 

Reuters reports that the Environmental Protection Agency has named thirty-one experts to review an upcoming report on “fracking,” the term used to describe the extraction of natural gas and oil. For a link to the Reuters news story, click here.  

 

For additional background and information on this issue, visit the National Agricultural Law Center website here.

In 2010, Congress requested a study from the EPA on the natural gas and oil extraction method commonly known as fracking. Hydraulic fracking extracts natural gas and oil by sending large volumes of water mixed with chemicals and sand underground to crack rock and free the resources.  

According to the Reuters article, critics of fracking are concerned that drilling near schools and homes may pollute water and air. However, others are concerned the study could lead to more regulations and raise operating costs.   

In August 2012, the EPA’s scientific advisory board sought public nominations for fracking specialists. The board screened one hundred and forty-four candidates for conflicts of interest and curtailed the list to thirty-one experts. The Reuters article further reported that the panel consists of twenty-one academicians, five company or consulting firm employees and two government employees. The expertise of the panelists includes oil and gas engineering, well drilling, hydrology, geology, groundwater chemistry, toxicology, civil engineering, and waste and drinking water treatment.

According to the article, “EPA Acting Adminstrator Bob Perciasepe said the selection of a range of impartial experts shows the agency, whose foes have accused it of being opaque in its practices, is being open in the report’s procedure.” The article further quotes Perciasepe:

"We have worked to ensure that the study process be open and transparent throughout, and the SAB (scientific advisory board) panel is another example of our approach of openness and scientific rigor."

The panel is scheduled to meet May 7-8, 2013 and will provide feedback regarding the 2012 progress report on the study. The study is expected to be delivered in 2014.

A complete list of the panelists can be found at: http://link.reuters.com/zaq86t

 

 

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: USDA Extends Deadline for USDA Hispanic and Women Farmers and Ranchers Claims Process to May 1

The USDA has extended the filing deadline for the USDA Hispanic and Women Farmers and Ranchers Claims Process to May 1, 2013.  In the USDA press release, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack stated:

Hispanic and women farmers who believe they have faced discriminatory practices in the past from the USDA have additional time to file a claim in order to have a chance to receive a cash payment or loan forgiveness. . . . USDA urges potential claimants to contact the Claims Administrator for information and to file their claim packages on or before May 1, 2013.

For more information about the Claims Process, please visit the Claims Administrator website at www.farmerclaims.gov.