Legal Niches

The $4 barrier and rural America

Posted on June 09, 2008
As reported in the New York Times, the breaking of the $4/gallon barrier for gasoline is taking an extraordinary toll on rural America:Tchula, Miss. — Gasoline prices reached a national average of $4 a gallon for the first time over the weekend, adding more strain to motorists across the country...

Supreme Court decides Quanta

Posted on June 09, 2008
The Supreme Court just handed down its decision in Quanta Computer Inc. v. LG Electronics Inc., 06-937. The Court ruled 9-0 in favor of Quanta ruling that method patents are subject to exhaustion, and that the patents had been exhausted in this case...

Twists and Turns: Tyson's "Raised Without Antibiotics" Claim

Posted on June 07, 2008
Last week, Tyson Foods pulled the plug on its "raised without antibiotics" marketing campaign, ending a fascinating struggle involving Tyson, its competitors, the FDA, the USDA, the FTC, and a district court in Baltimore. Although along the way, the struggle seemed to involve nuances of scientific classification and the wording of Tysons' claims, the proverbial final straw came with the USDA discovery that Tyson was still using antibiotics to prevent illness and death in its chicks...

The Enron of Farming?

Posted on June 05, 2008
As noted earlier today, the New York Times reports that investment funds and large private investors are flocking to food-production-related infrastructure, including ?farmland, fertilizer, grain elevators and shipping equipment.? Investors claim that they will benefit ?everyone,? because the new capital resources will lead to new infrastructure investment...

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New York Times Series "The Food Chain"

Posted on June 05, 2008
The New York Times Business page website provides a helpful overview and supplement to its series, The Food Chain. As reported here, this series addresses ?the growing demands on, and changes in, the world?s production of food.? In addition to the articles, the site links to the variety of multimedia resources available on this important topic...

Guano is back

Posted on May 30, 2008
Peru Guards Its Guano as Demand Soars Again, New York Times (May 30, 2008):[G]uano, the bird dung that was the focus of an imperialist scramble on the high seas in the 19th century, is in strong demand once again.Surging prices for synthetic fertilizers and organic foods are shifting attention to guano, an organic fertilizer once found in abundance on this island and more than 20 others off the coast of Peru, where an exceptionally dry climate preserves the droppings of seabirds like the guanay cormorant and the Peruvian booby...

Farm Bill Enacted, or At Least Most of It

Posted on May 24, 2008
On May 14, the House passed the conference report on the farm bill, a five-year, approximately $300 billion package that includes something for everyone to like and something for everyone to dislike, with a veto proof margin of 318-106. On May 15, the Senate passed the report, 81-15...

A Different Look at Horse Breeding

Posted on May 18, 2008
On May 16 the Wall Street Journal featured an article about Jess Jackson and his Stonestreet Stables entitled Horse Racing's Would-Be Savior. Mr. Jackson, "the billionaire founder of the Kendall-Jackson wine empire" has taken on the American thoroughbred horse industry charging that the horses are over-bred, over-medicated, and lacking in durability - criticisms noted in our previous post The Dark Side: Horse Racing...

Almost heaven

Posted on May 09, 2008
Herewith a tribute to one of America's most rural and most beautiful states:John Denver, Country RoadsAlmost heaven, West VirginiaBlue Ridge MountainsShenandoah River —Life is old thereOlder than the treesYounger than the mountainsGrowing like a breezeCountry roads, take me homeTo the place I belongWest Virginia, mountain mamaTake me home, country roadsAll my memories gather round herMiners' lady, stranger to blue waterDark and dusty, painted on the skyMisty taste of moonshineTeardrops in my eyeCountry roads, take me homeTo the place I belongWest Virginia, mountain mamaTake me home, country roadsI hear her voiceIn the morning hour she calls meThe radio reminds me of my home far awayAnd driving down the road I get a feelingThat I should have been home yesterday, yesterdayCountry roads, take me homeTo the place I belongWest Virginia, mountain mamaTake me home, country roadsCountry roads, take me homeTo the place I belongWest Virginia, mountain mamaTake me home, country roadsTake me home, now country roadsTake me home, now country roads

The Dark Side: Horse Racing

Posted on May 04, 2008
The tragic death of Eight Belles, the young filly who finished second in the Kentucky Derby has already spawned a series of articles questioning the ethics of our horse racing industry.The day before the race, the Wall Street Journal published an article that questioned the breeding of American thoroughbreds, Racings Royal Bloodlines...

Ethanol: Not Ready for Prime Time, Impacts Dinnertime

Posted on May 02, 2008
Amassing an unsightly carbon footprint, I traveled from North Dakota to Washington, D.C., yesterday for an Energy Bar Association meeting, and woke up to find a copy of the Washington Post at my door. The lead was an article in the Post?s Global Food Crisis series that Susan Schneider discussed on Sunday: Siphoning Off Corn to Fuel Our Cars...

Recent Perspectives on Meat Production

Posted on May 02, 2008
For years, many in American agriculture have touted our industrialized system of animal production as a boon to consumers, i.e., the key to cheap meat, and it has been a model for the world. Several new studies question this assumption and ask whether the externalities have been properly considered...

Global Food Crisis

Posted on April 27, 2008
This week, the head of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) Josette Sheeran called for "urgent action to tackle the 'silent tsunami' of rising food prices which threatens to push more than 100 million people worldwide into hunger."The PBS broadcast, News Hour reported a stern warning from U...

Bloggers Unite

Posted on April 17, 2008
One of my fellow-bloggers, Anthony Schutz recently conducted one of our LL.M. classes at the University of Arkansas School of Law via video conference from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Law. We dialed in to Nebraska, and Anthony conducted an excellent class, engaging the students in full live discussion...

Sunset at the South Saint Paul stockyards

Posted on April 15, 2008
This CAFO had become a doozy of a LULU. And now it's SOL and DOA. RIP, South Saint Paul Stockyards:In a place that no longer belongs where it has always been, there rises from wood-slat pens the farewell lows and bellows of cold, wet cows. So long, so long, they call out to the oblivious human bustle...

Is Cash Is the Only Thing Green about the Renewable Fuel Standard?

Posted on April 15, 2008
In December 2007, the United States adopted a renewable fuel standard (RFS), which mandated expanded use of biofuels, including ethanol, even though corn and soybean prices were already increasing. Rather than providing a well-reasoned approach to U...

Pharyngula, we are here

Posted on April 14, 2008
PZ Myers of Pharyngula has asked bloggers everywhere to help build a Google bomb that promotes the National Center for Science Education's website, Expelled Exposed. The project consists of embedding the word Expelled inside a matched pair of <a> and </a> tags...

Center Rural Affairs on the Farm Bill: Rural Development Needs Unmet

Posted on April 13, 2008
The Center for Rural Affairs has a blog that it calls the Blog for Rural America. It provides a good example of the "bitterness" with which some members of the rural community view the farm bill negotiations. The post, Slap in the Face, is their latest reaction to Congress' efforts to provide increased payments to farming operations, while little is provided for rural development efforts.

Obama on Rural America - A Welcome Discussion

Posted on April 12, 2008
American political campaigns are infamous for providing sound bytes rather than addressing the complexity of the problems we face. Media coverage works hand in glove.Yesterday, we caught a glimpse of a candidate attempting to discuss some of the problems facing small towns in rural America...

First Impressions Publishes Online Symposium

Posted on April 11, 2008
The Michigan Law Review's companion journal, First Impressions, published an online symposium on Agriculture Animals and Animal Law.Contributors included Professor Joseph Vining (Michigan); Angela J. Geiman (Cargill Meat Solutions Corp.); Nancy Perry & Peter Brandt (Humane Society of the United States); Steven M...

Applied Ag Law

Posted on April 07, 2008
While many discussions on this blog involve policy issues and ?big picture? agricultural law, it is good to remember that agricultural laws impact farmers as well as others on a personal level. And, the interaction of different laws may be complex. A reader?s recent question provided an example...

Meat Processing for Specialty Producers

Posted on April 04, 2008
This interesting information is from Marne Coit, J.D., LL.M., Agricultural Law. Marne serves as Research Fellow at the National Agricultural Law Center, University of Arkansas School of Law.Consolidation in the meat packing industry as well as the predominance of large industrialized livestock and poultry operations have made it difficult for producers of "niche meat" products such as locally grown, certified organic, grass-fed, antibiotic-free and certified humane to find meat processors for their products...

Energy & Agriculture: Beyond Corn

Posted on April 02, 2008
For my first post, I wanted to introduce myself. I am Josh Fershee, and I am a professor at the University of North Dakota School of Law, where I teach Energy Law and Policy, Business Associations I and II, and Labor and Employment Law. My research areas include all of my teaching areas, but have primarily focused on energy law, climate change, and renewable energy issues...

"Bountiful Harvest" from the WSJ - Farm Bill Analysis

Posted on March 30, 2008
From the Wall Street Journal, March 21, 2008 - BOUNTIFUL HARVEST - Farm Lobby Beats Back Assault On SubsidiesBy LAUREN ETTER and GREG HITT, p. A-1Check out the interactive map showing where the money is going.FARM FIGHT ? Tilling the Ground: As farm income is rising, Congress is finishing a bill that will provide farmers billions in subsidies...

Thinking about the Anger

Posted on March 29, 2008
I posted this as a comment to Professor Schneider's original post. Upon reflection, it seems long enough for a post, with some further response from both Professor Schneider and myself:My Comment:The anger is a bit puzzling, if high food prices are the problem...

Farm Bill Anger in Editorials

Posted on March 24, 2008
Congress is stalled over the cost of a new permanent disaster bill for farmers.While in many ways, a permanent disaster bill may be more sensible than the annual emergency disaster bills that Congress has passed to supplement past farm bill support, consumers and non-farm policymakers are scratching their heads about the trio of support provided to farmers: there are the subsidies (many of which continue to be paid, even when prices are high); there is the heavily subsidized crop insurance program; and there is the new push for a standing disaster assistance program...

Farm Bill Tragedy in the Making

Posted on March 17, 2008
Feeling a little like Alice in Wonderland, I consider recent proposals to fix the farm bill impasse: cut small family farms out of the payment programs, and get that highly erodible ground we have been using for wildlife habitat back into production...

Words

Posted on March 13, 2008
Cotton: SustainableGrain-based Ethanol: Almost Criminal

The Ehrlich-Simon Bet At 38

Posted on March 12, 2008
The issue of whether natural resources and environmental amenities are depleted or improved over time is vital to the making of sound policy and law. In 1980 three prominent Bay Area academics (Stanford's Paul Ehrlich and Berkeley's Johns Harte and Holdren) bet business economist Julian Simon that the real (inflation-adjusted) price of five commodity metals (that is, chromium, copper, tungsten, tin, and nickel) would rise by the year 1990...

Farm Bill Frustration: The AGI Debate

Posted on March 09, 2008
Much of the justification that farmers use for the farm bill is the need for a "safety net" when times are bad. Given farmers' dependence on the weather, their inability to affect the larger commodity markets, and the importance of maintaining food security, this is an understandable objective...

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