"The decision to create the Center, now more than twenty years ago, was certainly the right decision. As agriculture has evolved over the last quarter century, legal issues have gotten bigger and their impact has gotten broader. . . . Your work can bring predictability and equity in every day dealings in unchartered areas where agriculture is moving."

USDA Secretary Mike Johanns speaking at the
National Agricultural Law Center, April 2007.

In 1987, Congress called for the creation of the National Center for Agricultural Law Research and Information. Since then, the National Agricultural Law Center has been funded with federal appropriations through the National Agricultural Library, an entity within the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The National Agricultural Law Center is the only agricultural law research and information facility that is independent, national in scope, and directly connected to the national agricultural information network. The Center has expanded the scope of its coverage to include food law as it recognizes the expanding scope of agricultural law and its convergence with food law topics.

In early 2003, pursuant to Congressional directive, the Center established a close working relationship with the Drake Agricultural Law Center at Drake University School of Law in Des Moines, Iowa. The blend of the Center's national and international agricultural and food law focus and Drake's concentration on state and local food policy issues has formed a creative environment of sharing that generates activities and projects designed to reach all members of the agricultural and food law communities.

The Center's Mission

The Nation’s Leading Source for Agricultural and
Food Law Research and Information

The National Agricultural Law Center participates in the Agricultural Network Information Center (AgNIC). This site is reviewed for accuracy and updated every six months.