Indiana Ag Leadership Program Wrap Up

The previous five posts chronicled my journey with the Indiana Agricultural Leadership program to The Netherlands, Belgium, and Liberia. From an agricultural standpoint, the contrast between northern Europe and West Africa could not be more extreme.  Northern Europe has highly developed agricultural systems; West Africa's agriculture is rudimentary by comparison. Now that the trip is a few weeks behind me, I thought it worthwhile to provide some big picture deductions after observing these two different places in our world.

The Challenges Facing Liberian Agriculture

The last leg of our Indiana Ag Leadership class was to Liberia, West Africa. What we saw was dramatically different than the highly structured and sophisticated agricultural systems of Northern Europe.  Liberian agriculture struggles in every area where EU agriculture thrives.  The root causes are many.  After a week traveling across the country, I am no expert in Liberian agriculture, but I hope these observations are enlightening to those who may never get to travel to Liberia or similar places.  My analysis below means no disrespect to the Liberian people, many of whom work hard each day just to obtain food and water.  The people I met were very friendly and welcomed US visitors with open arms.

The European Union's Common Agricultural Policy

Our Indiana Ag Leadership trip to northern Europe included a visit to the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium. The European Commission is the executive branch of the European Union (EU). One of the main topics of discussion was the Common Agricultural Policy, or "CAP," the EU's version of the US Farm Bill.  The CAP has been an essential part of EU policy for decades and, like the Farm Bill, periodically undergoes reform.  The post explains some of the differences and similarities between the CAP and most recent Farm Bill.

The European Union's Reluctance to Embrace GMOs

One of the questions that was frequently asked by our Indiana Ag Leadership class in Europe was why the European Union (EU) has not embraced genetically modified organisms (GMOs) like farmers in the US.  The answers were very interesting.

A fact I did not know prior to our recent trip is that many EU countries do allow importation of GMO corn and soybeans from the US.  Such products are used as animal feed, even though the same products could not be sold on the shelves for direct human consumption (unless the proper labeling was attached). Thus, milk on the grocery store shelves in EU member states may have come from cows fed GMO corn.

Three Agricultural Lessons from The Netherlands

The Netherlands is a country roughly the size of New Jersey yet is the second largest agricultural exporter in the world behind only the USA. That statistic is made even more remarkable when one considers that The Netherlands has over 17 million people and much of the country is below sea level. Our Indiana Agricultural Leadership class recently toured parts of The Netherlands to examine how the country maintains such productivity.  Here are my top three observations:

Indiana Ag Leaders to Visit Dutch Farms, European Union and West Africa

I am fortunate to be part of the Indiana Agricultural Leadership Program (or AgrIInstutitue).  In the next few weeks, our class will be travelling to The Netherlands, Belgium, and Liberia, West Africa.  While in The Netherlands we will tour a dairy farm, the flower market, The Hague, and one of the world's largest ports, Rotterdam.  Our Belgium visit will take us to the European Union (EU), where we will meet with world ag leaders.  Our stop in Africa will be in the country of Liberia, on the central western coast.  We will work with organizations teaching and developing agriculture in that country.

Our trip was recently written about in The Liberian Observer, the newspaper of the capital city of Monrovia.

Understanding Indiana's Farm Trespass Bill

The past two years farm issues in the Indiana legislature have been dominated by so-called “ag-gag" bills. These bills sought to stop undercover videotaping and photographing, activities used by undercover groups to expose what they believe are abusive practices.  This year’s farm trespass bill takes a different approach, and as a result, it lacks the “gag” component that many found offensive in prior legislation.

What Agriculture Can Learn from McDonald's

Today I had the privilege of hearing Don Thompson, CEO of McDonald's Corporation, speak to a room full of farmers, agribusiness professionals, politicians, and students about the connections between McDonald's and agriculture.  Some of Mr. Thompson's messages really resonated with me, so I thought I would share them here.

According to Mr. Thompson, McDonald's sees three consumer trends that drive how McDonald's evolves:  (1) transparency, (2) food quality, and (3) sustainability. Transparency explains why McDonald's posts nutritional information on all of its packaging.  It also explains why McDonald's started answering questions from consumers openly on its website:  Your Questions Answered.  For example, "Are Chicken McNuggets really made from the parts of chicken no one wants to eat?"

With the Promise of Drones Comes Legal Questions

Imagine a future where a rancher can use an autonomous drone to fly out to a pasture miles from the homestead to check on his herd. The drone reports back that the herd is accounted for except for one steer that is lying down alone, more than 1,000 feet from the herd, and appears to be sick. The drone sends GPS coordinates to the rancher, who then dispatches a ranch hand to the exact location of the sick animal. The drone’s surveillance ultimately saves the animal’s life.

Now imagine that a similar drone is used by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to fly over feedlots. The EPA drone spends its flying hours, not looking for sick or stray cattle, but instead looking for Clean Water Act violations. The drone flies over pens, counts cattle to make sure numbers do not exceed permitted amounts and checks for visual evidence of runoff from pens into nearby creeks or streams. If a problem is found, the drone takes pictures for evidence and alerts state or federal officials to come to the feedlot for an inspection.

As is often the case with new technology, beneficial uses are often accompanied by nefarious uses. The promise for drones raises a lot of legal questions about how drones will ultimately be used.

Five Legal Issues to Watch in 2014

What will be the hot topics in ag law for 2014? Here are some predictions for the coming year:

1. Clean Air Act Targets Farmers. Congress passed the Clean Air Act in 1970 to clean up the nation’s air. The low hanging fruit of air pollution—power plants, industrial factories, trucks and automobiles-- have been under scrutiny ever since. The EPA is looking for ways to further reduce air pollution in the US, and farms will be next. Large grain dryers (producing particulate matter) and anaerobic digesters (producing carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and methane) will be part of this new frontier for the Clean Air Act.

The Year in Reverse: Janzen Ag Law Blog's Top Stories for 2013

2013 was an exciting year for agricultural law.   We saw the Supreme Court take on an Indiana soybean farmer, the CDC address raw milk sales, and Congress push the Farm Bill aside so that it could focus on the debt ceiling and Obamacare.  What were the three biggest stories on the Janzen Ag Law blog (based upon pageviews, comments, and email feedback)?

Local, State, and Federal Regulations Affecting Agriculture: Join me at the Indiana-Illinois Farm Equipment Show December 17, 2013

On December 17, 2014, I'll be attending the Indiana-Illinois Farm Equipment Show at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. I'll be speaking on a panel at 11:00 a.m. moderated by Hoosier Ag Today on "The Business of Farming: taxes, accounting, regulations, and interest rates." The panel also includes:

Joshua T. Sickler, CPA, Sikich LLP
David A. McDaniel, CPA, Sikich LLP
Matt Monteiro, VP of Finance for Farm Credit Mid-America

Please stop by if you are attending the farm show. Hope to see you there.

Land Use, Nuisance and the Right to Farm: Join me at Indiana Farm Bureau Convention December 13, 2013

I'll be speaking this week at Indiana Farm Bureau's annual convention on the topic of  nuisance and the Right to Farm Act.  There have been a flurry of farm nuisance cases in Indiana over the past decade.  I'm proud to say I have been involved in a number of these cases on behalf of Indiana livestock farmers.  Join me this Friday, December 13, 2013 at 2:30 p.m.at the Indiana Farm Bureau convention in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to explore this topic and learn how to minimize nuisance risk on your farm.

Conference registration details can be found here.

To access the handout passed out at the seminar, click here.
 

Contract Law 201: When to hire an attorney

Law school training and real-world legal experience can pay dividends in complex contract drafting and negotiation.  In my previous post, I explained the contract basics every business person should understand.  In this post, I provide some examples of when you should not go it alone, but instead pick up the phone and call an attorney for help.

1. Should the contract be in writing?  Some contracts are unenforceable unless they are in writing.  Nearly every state has a "statute of frauds" that requires a contract to be in writing if certain factors are present.  An attorney knows or can research these factors.  In Indiana, for example, no contract for the sale of land is valid unless it is written out and signed by the seller.  I.C. 32-21-1-1.  The same is true of a lease greater than three years or deed conveying land.  No writing, no signature, no contract.

Contract Law 101: What every business person should know

You don't have to go to law school to learn how to create a contract. But there are some things every ag professional should know about contract drafting. A contract only needs three things to be enforceable: an offer, acceptance, and consideration. These are the basics every law student learns in their first semester:

1. Offer. Formation of a contract begins with an offer. One person offers to do something in exchange for something else. Offers are “revocable” until such time that they are accepted or changed. But you cannot revoke an offer after it has already been accepted. That’s why it’s always good to put a time-frame on how long an offer remains open. You also want to be sure an offer is clearly communicated, whether verbally or in writing.

Is Ethanol Policy Causing Pollution of Our Streams?

This morning while watching CNBC during my usual workout routine, I heard a story about how President Obama's "Green Energy" policies had a dark side.  The story specifically referred to the renewable fuels standard (or "RFS") requiring that gasoline sold in the US contain a minimum percentage of ethanol.  The "secret, dirty cost" supposedly caused by this policy is that acres of prairie and marginal farmland have been tilled up and planted to corn, allegedly increasing water pollution from chemicals and fertilizer.

Further digging pointed to the source of this story.  The Associated Press ran an article about the hidden costs of the United States' ethanol policy, stating:

State GMO Labeling Laws Present Unanswered Legal Questions

At least 20 states have considered bills requiring labeling for genetically modified (GMO) foods in the past few years.  California's Prop 37 was the most notorious of these proposed laws, but it was defeated by referendum in November 2012.  This hasn't stopped GMO opponents in other states from seeking to pass laws requiring the labeling of GMO containing food.  This raises two questions: First, why doesn't the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) require GMO labels?  Second, is it even legal for states to create their own GMO labels?

Why the Chesapeake Bay Matters to Midwestern Farmers

I just returned from the American Bar Association's annual fall environmental conference. This year's conference was in Baltimore, at the north end of the Chesapeake Bay.  Needless to say that the environmental condition of the bay and the controversy surrounding it were the talk of the conference.  If you don't understand why what happens in the Chesapeake Bay may affect you, read on.

Modern Agriculture's Big Five Issues (and How the Law is Reacting to Them)

For this next year, I’m serving as the chair of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Agricultural Management Committee. The Committee is part of the wider ABA Section on the Environment, Energy and Resources and focuses on cutting-edge issues involving agriculture and the environment, including biotechnology, livestock, sustainability, and food safety. One of the chair’s duties is to create an Action Plan, identifying the five top issues related to agriculture and the environment. Here’s my list and brief explanation of the laws that these issues affect.

Wetlands and Agriculture: An Overview of Swampbuster

"Swampbuster." It is a fun word. However, it can cause some not-so-fun repercussions for farmers who violate its rules protecting wetlands. Swampbuster is the term used for the federal law that discourages farmers from altering wetlands by withholding federal farm program benefits from any person who: (1) plants an agricultural commodity on a converted wetland that was converted by drainage, dredging, leveling, or any other means; or (2) converts a wetland for the purpose of or to make agricultural commodity production possible. See 16 U.S.C.§ 3821.

Problems in the Mississippi River are Flowing Upstream: Gulf Restoration Network v. EPA

In 2008, various nonprofit environmental groups petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to create rules to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus levels in the Mississippi River Basin.  The environmental groups argued that because of the massive dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico—known as “gulf hypoxia”--the EPA was required to do a better job of reducing nitrogen and phosphorus run-off into the Mississippi River and its upstream tributaries.  The groups asserted that the Clean Water Act required the EPA to create new rules for reducing nitrogen and phosphorus.

The Economist is Right: Farming as Rocket Science.

Like many farm kids, I grew up learning how to build rockets.  Though miniature in size, the same components that made NASA rockets fly worked with our model rockets too.  The rockets contained real engines, cargo bays, and parachutes that would deploy (if everything went right) on descent.  I never thought that building rockets had anything to do with farming, but a recent article The Economist has changed my mind: 

Will drones be used by government agencies to monitor agriculture?

All of the excitement over drones lately has made me wonder how more widespread use of drones will affect agriculture.   We got a preview of the issue last year, when one Congressman falsely accused the EPA of using military drones to spy on farmers.  It is true the EPA uses aerial surveillance to look for water quality violations, but as far as I am aware such activities involve old-school tactics–people, Cessnas, and cameras.  Still, farmers looking into the future might wonder, could the EPA (or other government agency) use drones to monitor farms?

Indiana Lawyer: Farm Smells Ignite Debate, No Consensus

I was recently quoted in the Indiana Lawyer, which published an article about farm nuisance, the Right to
Farm Act, and urban sprawl into the country side:

Before dinner can be prepared and served at the table, the food has to be raised on a farm.  However, Old MacDonald’s Farm with its placid scenes of pigs and cows is a shrinking segment of American farming, being replaced with large industrial agricultural operations with hundreds and thousands of animals.

Indiana Coliseum: They don't make them like they used to.

There are times in history when civilizations construct buildings to last for generations to come.  The cathedrals of Europe, the Parthenon, and the Lincoln Memorial are all great examples. But on a much smaller scale, we are surrounded by great buildings constructed by people who built them not just for themselves, but for their grandchildren.  After recent tour of the Indiana Fairgrounds Coliseum, which is undergoing renovation that exposes its core structure, I was left with that impression.