Agricultural Law Podcast

U.S. Trade Representative Announces USMCA Technical Consultations On Mexican GMO Corn Ban; USDA to Issue Contracts to Administer Payments to Borrowers Who Have Experienced Discrimination; F ood and Agriculture Climate Alliance (FACA) Published 2023 Farm Bill Recommendations.     Hosted by  Al Jones, Research Assistant —With  Brook Duer, Staff Attorney —Produced & Written by  Al Jones Penn State Ce...

FDA Publishes Draft Guidance on Labeling Plant-Based Milks; FDA Will Require Prescriptions for Certain Previously OTC Antibiotics for Veterinary Use Starting June 11, 2023.     Hosted by  Al Jones, Research Assistant —With  Brook Duer, Staff Attorney —Produced & Written by  Al Jones Penn State Center for Agricultural and Shale Law  https://aglaw.psu.edu/ Follow us on  Twitter : @AgShaleLaw Like us...

H-2A Regulations clear a troublesome legal hurdle; The Department of Justice opposes John Deere in right-to-repair antitrust litigation; The 2022 Food Code provides restaurants guidance on donating prepared foods.   Hosted by  Al Jones, Research Assistant —With  Brook Duer, Staff Attorney —Produced & Written by  Al Jones Penn State Center for Agricultural and Shale Law  https://aglaw.psu.edu/ Foll...

Consolidated Appropriations Act contains provisions for Carbon Credit assistance & verification ; USDA launches Cattle Contracts Library Pilot Program ; New Proposed Rule for Child Nutrition Programs contains added sugar standards which impact flavored milk . Hosted by  Al Jones, Research Assistant —With  Brook Duer, Staff Attorney —Produced & Written by  Al Jones Penn State Center for Agricultura...

FDA tells Congress it cannot regulate CBD under the current framework; California announces Sustainable Pest Management Program; Truterra offers carbon credit programs; New York City opposed by State government in its attempt to ban sale of force-fed products. Hosted by  Al Jones, Research Assistant —With  Brook Duer, Staff Attorney —Produced & Written by  Al Jones Penn State Center for Agricultur...

The U.S. and Canada go back to arbitration over the Dairy Tariff Rate Quota Allocation; a federal appeals court rules on preemption in the case alleging failure to warn regarding Roundup and No-Hodgkins Lymphoma; the Conowingo Dam relicensing faces more hurdles; and John Deere signs a Memorandum with American Farm Bureau Federation recognizing the right to repair farm equipment. Hosted by  Al Jone...

Smithfield joins JBS in completely settling civil class action antitrust allegations of pork price-fixing; a Utah state court criminal prosecution for theft of two piglets from a Smithfield pork production facility ends in a not guilty verdict; and the Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board will once again be considering whether to continue its Over-Order Premium for PA dairy farmers. Hosted by  Ethan...

Congress's repeal of Socially Disadvantaged Farmer debt relief provisions in the American Rescue Plan Act leads to a unique breach of contract suit with billions of dollars in play, and Pennsylvania, as well as other states, receive a possible signal that punitive actions may not be taken by EPA in response to missing the 2025 Chesapeake Bay clean-up goals.   Hosted by  Ethan Durand, Research Assi...

An update on a lawsuit by Tyson employees against their employer for inadequate COVID protections; animal cruelty charges are filed based upon undercover video of organic turkey processor employees; and USDA's COVID relief payments of $600 for individual farm and food workers inch closer to a reality. Hosted by Ethan Durand, Research Assistant—With Brook Duer, Staff Attorney—Produced & Written by ...

Pennsylvania's milk marketing board commits to amend a component of the state's milk pricing system, the sometimes controversial "Over-Order Premium" and the EPA withdraws its latest registration decision on Glyphosate containing herbicides, causing lots of questions for the entire ag industry. Hosted by Ethan Durand, Research Assistant—With Brook Duer, Staff Attorney—Produced & Written by Ethan D...

A federal court hears proposals for resolving the multidistrict roundup litigation; President Biden issues an Executive Order on biotechnology and biomanufacturing; and the resurgence of avian influenza.   Hosted by  Ethan Durand, Research Assistant —With  Brook Duer, Staff Attorney —Produced & Written by  Ethan Durand Penn State Center for Agricultural and Shale Law  https://aglaw.psu.edu/ Follow...

USDA has announced a total of $3.5 Billion for the new Climate Smart Commodities program; $2 Billion in new funds for Domestic Food Purchasing programs; and $300 Million for the Organic Transition Initiative. We break down what's contained in each program and the significance of these investments.   Hosted by  Ethan Durand, Research Assistant —With  Brook Duer, Staff Attorney —Produced & Written b...

Bayer wins a fifth consecutive state court roundup products liability trial, the legal challenge to the EPA's 2020 5-year dicamba registration approval may finally move ahead, and the criminal trial of Blue Bell ice cream's former CEO ends in a mistrial. Hosted by  Ethan Durand, Research Assistant —With  Brook Duer, Staff Attorney —Produced & Written by  Ethan Durand Penn State Center for Agricult...

The federal government enacts the second part of the Biden Administration's Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA, with nearly $38 Billion of new money for agricultural programs and rural development; pork processing giant Smithfield Foods settles pork class action claims; and one of the nation's largest dairy cooperatives, Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), is again facing an antitrust suit from its own m...

The DOJ files a complaint and proposed consent decrees in yet more poultry antitrust litigation; a settlement in a private class action case against Koch Poultry; and the USDA announces an expansion of its State MPI Program to Oregon. Hosted by  Ethan Durand, Research Assistant —With  Brook Duer, Staff Attorney —Produced & Written by  Ethan Durand Penn State Center for Agricultural and Shale Law  ...

Pennsylvania releases all HPAI control zones and is essentially HPAI free, pending the start of bird migration southward in the fall; a class-action alleges a conspiracy to suppress poultry plant worker income; and two very important water quality developments in Pennsylvania that, of course, involve Chesapeake Bay discharges.   Hosted by  Ethan Durand, Research Assistant —With  Brook Duer, Staff...

The Pennsylvania Legislature passes a budget package which features efforts to address the Chesapeake Bay; Bayer loses on an appeal regarding its Roundup liabilities; and the Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board commits to reconsider its direction for the last 30-plus years by setting 3 days of hearings on potentially making material alterations to its Over-Order Premium.   Hosted by  Ethan Durand, R...

EPA's Chesapeake Bay Program Model shows a decline in the nutrient and s ediment pollution entering the Bay, Bader Farms v. Monsanto Company and BASF  is remanded to recalculate punitive damages, t he EPA publishes a consent decree regarding pesticide-treated seed, and Sysco Corp files a beef price fixing lawsuit against major meat processors.   Hosted by Ethan Durand, Research Assistant —With Bro...

A federal court affirms the denial of Mark McAfee's request for rulemaking on interstate raw butter sales; Maryland's highest court will decide if NPDES discharge permits must control gaseous ammonia emissions; Pennsylvania suspends its 2% on-road biodiesel mandate; and, the Pennsylvania milk marketing board was petitioned to consider alternatives to the current Over-Order Premium. Hosted by Ethan...

On June 21, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a Petition For Certiorari filed by Bayer , the purchaser of Monsanto's glyphosate-containing RoundUp herbicide product line and the successor to its product liabilities for th ose product s . The  Court entered a one-word Order simply stating "Denied. " We examine  Hardeman v. Monsanto and the case's potential impact on future Roundup litigation.

This week, o n June 14, 2022, the US Supreme Court scheduled oral argument in a case out of Idaho called Sackett v. EPA for October 3, 2022. EPA prevented the Sacketts from completing construction of a residential home at an intended site on the property, claiming the Sacketts' property qualified as "navigable waters," and fall within the legal definition of "Waters of the United States" as define...

National Pork Producers Council v. Ross will decide if California's Proposition 12 animal confinement regulations are constitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court has scheduled oral argument for October 3, 2022.

New commercial poultry premise detections have decreased nationally, the EPA released renewable fuel volume blending obligations for the refining industry, the USDA announced a $3 billion investment in a "Food Systems Transformation" framework, and right to repair lawsuits against John Deere have been consolidated in the Northern District of Illinois.   Hosted by Ethan Durand, Research Assistant—W...

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) has been confirmed at 13 Pa. and 178 national commercial poultry operations and the United States has twice rejected Canada's dairy tariff-rate quota proposals. Also, EPA found "no confidence" in Pa.'s Chesapeake Bay Phase III Watershed Implementation Plan and the Supreme Court denied certiorari to Kansas's appeal of the Tenth Circuit's ruling that its "ag-...

USDA confirmed highly pathogenic avian influenza in commercial layer flocks in Pennsylvania and the White House announced EPA will issue an E15 national emergency waiver in June. Then, the Chesapeake Bay Principals' Staff Committee and the Pa. Dept. of Environ. Protection sent letters responding to EPA's evaluation of 'no confidence' for funding in the Conowingo Watershed Implementation Plan. Also...