Section Newsletters

Articles on Agricultural Law

Important new decision interprets certain provisions of the Packers and Stockyards Act By Jerry W. Quick Agricultural Law, October 2008 On July 21st the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit handed down its decision in the case of Cody Wheeler; Don Davis; Davey Williams v. Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. [---3rd---, 2008 WL 2789319(C.A.5, Tex)]
Ty/Walk follow-up: Farmer wins elevator case By John W. Damisch Agricultural Law, October 2008 In 2001 Ty/Walk, with grain elevators in Kendall and Will Counties, closed its doors. The Illinois Department of Agriculture took over the elevator operation.
4H and FFA income tax By Paul A. Meints Agricultural Law, September 2008 Your client’s 16-year-old child is involved with the Future Farmers of America (FFA) program at his high school.
The Farmdoc project extends education to farmers, attorneys By A. Bryan Endres, Stephanie B. Johnson, Donald L. Uchtmann, & Scott H. Irwin Agricultural Law, September 2008 The University of Illinois’ Farm Decision Outreach Central, commonly known as the farmdoc project, is an extension program that aims to improve risk-based farm decision-making through education and research.
NEPA and the economic impacts of biotechnology on the food-feed supply chain By A. Bryan Endres & Thomas P. Redick Agricultural Law, September 2008 A brief summary of recent developments in agricultural biotechnology.
Rural lender advantage By Lewis F. Matuszewich Agricultural Law, September 2008 The United States Small Business Administration has introduced a modification of one of its loan programs, specifically designed to foster economic development in rural areas.
New Payment Eligibility and Payment Limitation Provisions—Notice PL-173 Agricultural Law, August 2008 Editor’s Note - the following comes to us hot off the press from the USDA. Many thanks to long-time (but not old) Section Council member David Hoff for keeping us informed.
Vote for humane farming and nobody gets (as) hurt By Amy A. Breyer Agricultural Law, May 2008 no federal law protects animals from cruelty during their lives on the farm, and most state cruelty laws exempt “customary” practices anyway, such as debeaking or use of gestation crates and battery cages, no matter how cruel those practices are from a commonsense standpoint.
Farmland values and credit conditions By David B. Oppedahl Agricultural Law, April 2008 The largest annual increase in farmland values, 16 percent, in almost three decades highlighted an amazing year for agriculture in the Seventh Federal Reserve District.
Life estate transaction legal considerations By Alan E. Stumpf Agricultural Law, February 2008 To serve our clients better we need to be thinking and counseling about a number of future responsibility, transaction and taxation issues.
Estate and gift tax changes for 2008 By Mike Drone Agricultural Law, December 2007 Only a few changes in the estate and gift tax law go into effect in 2008.
Payment eligibility and limitations Agricultural Law, December 2007 This article is from the United States Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency Web site.
Does size matter? Homestead and Tenancy by the entirety By Richard F. Bales Agricultural Law, November 2007 Are there limits to the size and nature of a married couple’s homestead that can be owned as tenants by the entirety?
Agricultural Assistance Act of 2007 By Jeffrey A. Mollet Agricultural Law, October 2007 This article is from the United States Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency Web site. 
Grain elevator failures: Can farmers and businesses do anything? By Jeffrey A. Mollet Agricultural Law, September 2007 Ty-Walk in Illinois. Creston in Iowa. Grain elevator failures are nothing new, and have occurred throughout the past decades.
A practice pointer for dealing with the Farm Service Agency Power of Attorney By Paul A. Meints Agricultural Law, September 2007 If you have any farming clients then you are aware of the Farm Service Agency’s push for having all “paperwork” in order.
Farmland assessments—Where are we and where are we going? By Lindi Kernan Agricultural Law, July 2007 The following is the second of a two part series addressing farmland assessments.
Farmland assessments—Where are we and where are we going? By Lindi Kernan Agricultural Law, June 2007 The following is the first of a two-part series addressing farmland assessments.
Minimum wage rates Agricultural Law, June 2007 From the clients need to know file...
2007 General Assembly Agricultural Legislative Update By Paul A. Meints Agricultural Law, May 2007 Editor’s Note – the following is as of the end of March, 2007, and gives us a good idea of where things stand as this sessions moves forward.
Agriculture in Congress By Lewis F. Matuszewich Agricultural Law, May 2007 With the restructuring of Congress, some of us may have lost track of the committee assignments and those legislators who are representing us in the areas that touch upon agriculture.
Proposed Illinois legislation of interest to farmers and small rural communities By Paul A. Meints Agricultural Law, April 2007 Resource: Illinois General Assembly— http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/default.asp
2006 Agricultual Law Update By Margaret L. van Dijk Agricultural Law, February 2007 Amends the Open Meetings Act.
Estate and gift tax changes for 2007 By Mike Drone Agricultural Law, February 2007 Only a few changes in the estate and gift tax law go into effect in 2007.
Conservation easements: Smart growth or sprawl promotion? By Jesse J. Richardson, Jr. Agricultural Law, December 2006 This article attempts to briefly summarize some of the land use planning issues arising from perpetual conservation easements.
Coexistence failures and damage control: An initial look at genetically engineered rice By A. Bryan Endres & Justin G. Gardner Agricultural Law, November 2006 Riceland Foods, the nation’s largest rice cooperative, alerted Bayer CropScience (Bayer) in June 2006 of its discovery of genetically engineered rice in the 2005 rice harvest. Shortly thereafter, Bayer confirmed this finding and reported the results to USDA.
IRS revises Form 706 Agricultural Law, November 2006 With thanks to a long time contributor and former Chairman, Paul Meints, we learn of recent action by the Internal Revenue Service that may have an impact on those of us who do estate planning, probate or tax work. —jmollet
Agricultural liens: A comparison of Chinese secured transactions law and UCC Article 9 By Liu Xin International and Immigration Law, September 2006 The American Regulations of secured transactions as they relate to agriculture, set forth under Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code [hereinafter UCC-9], have been deemed the most revolutionary and important article in the entire UCC. One of the most prominent characteristics of UCC-9 is that it unifies many sorts of similar transactions, which otherwise belong to different legal regimes, including agriculture.
Making farm leases compatible with the division of USDA farm program payments between landlord and tenant By Donald L. Uchtmann Agricultural Law, August 2006 This brief note summarizes a two-page article available online from the farmdoc Web site. (http://www.farmdoc.uiuc.edu/legal/articles/ALTBs/ALTB_06-01/ALTB_06-01.pdf).
Selling food in the European Union By Lynne R. Ostfeld Agricultural Law, August 2006 The following article is a summary of a project to provide advice to Illinois farmers wishing to engage in value added work by selling a ready to eat meal in the European Union.

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