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Welcome from the Director
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
 Since publication of the last e-Newsletter, the Center has moved forward in a number of ways in furtherance of its mission to be the nation's leading source of agricultural and food law research and information.
Extensive and focused efforts are underway to complete all remaining Case Law Indexes and to dramatically expand the quantity of case summaries within each index. In addition, the Center continues to expand the scope of its research and information focus areas to sustainable agriculture and local food systems.
Other activities include collecting and digitizing state laws important to agriculture such as animal cruelty legislation, agritourism-related laws, statutory agricultural liens, and right-to-farm laws. And, in furtherance of the Center's cooperative agreement with USDA, the Center is coordinating with the Cooperative Extension Service on final plans to establish an eXtension Community of Practice for Agricultural Law.
These are just some of the accomplishments and events at the Center over the past two months, and we're glad to share them with you. In the meantime, if the Center can be of any assistance to you, or if you have any suggestions regarding areas of research, information, and outreach in which the Center could engage, please feel free to contact us anytime. Thanks to all of you who have offered suggestions in recent weeks and months.
Best regards,
Center Director |
| Food Less Traveled -- A New Reading Room
 It is not unusual in our current agricultural system for food to travel more than 1,500 miles from where it is grown to where it is consumed. The number of miles a product travels is commonly referred to as food miles. In recent years, there has been increased interest from individuals and communities alike to reduce the number of food miles to better insure food safety, lend support to area farmers, and reduce the amount of fossil fuels consumed by the food system.
The Center recently constructed and posted its new Local Food Systems Reading Room. The room contains an overview article, major statutes, regulations, case law, Center publications, USDA materials, and other resources. As with all our reading rooms, we welcome comments and suggestions on resources and research areas that could be pursued to enhance and supplement the information provided in the room. |
| Farm Bill Digitization Project Attracts
Media Attention
An initial press release from the University of Arkansas on May 8, 2008 announcing the completion of the Center's Farm Bill digitization project sparked a flurry of activity across the Associated Press news lines. The Northwest Arkansas Times printed a lengthy feature article on the Center, and The New York Times reported news of the compilation in their pages. Multiple local news stations featured the project in their news broadcasts, and reports made news headlines as far away as WXVT in Greenville, MS and KNOE in Monroe, LA. On PBS's Bill Moyer's Journal, the Center was recommended for "maintaining a comprehensive collection of information on all aspects of agricultural law, including an extensive historical and contemporary look at Farm Bills."
Universities as far away as UC Davis in California headlined the news on their websites, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture showcased the news on the agency's up-to-the-minute news on the government and its policies relating to the field of agriculture. Lobbyist groups including the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group, Connect Nutrition, and OpenSecrets.org spread the news across their websites, and numerous newsletters reported news of the project.
More than 60 enactments and amendments, as well as 32 items of legislation created since 1933, span over 3,200 pages of information that are now easily and freely accessible to the public via the Center's website.
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New Staff Attorney - Shannon Mirus
 The Center is pleased to welcome Shannon Mirus, our newest Staff Attorney, who will work to further develop the Center's relationship with Cooperative Extension Service across the nation. Her research will focus on the needs of Extension Agents, coordination with CSREES, providing legal research for Extension publications and outreach, and education for the Extension community. Shannon joined the Center after completing her coursework in the Agricultural Law LL.M. program at the University of Arkansas.
Shannon hails from northeast Arkansas, where she grew up among row crops of rice and soybeans. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Business and a Juris Doctor from the University of Arkansas. During law school, she served as the Articles Editor for The Journal of Food Law & Policy and worked as a research assistant on projects involving risk management, minority farmers and legal issues in agriculture. She serves on the Board of Directors for Arkansas Women in Agriculture, Inc. and is licensed to practice law in the state of Arkansas.
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Making Legal Research Faster and Easier -
States'Animal Cruelty Statutes
 Each state in the United States has enacted statutes to punish individuals who engage in cruelty to animals. While there are many similar characteristics, the actual codified provisions vary drastically from state to state. Familiarity with these statutes is essential to anyone who interacts with animals--from recreational hunting to raising livestock, from owning a pet to living alongside wild animals.
States' Animal Cruelty Statutes by Staff Attorney Elizabeth R. Springsteen, provides the statutory text of each state's animal cruelty statutes, along with the date of its possible expiration. The primary aim of this compilation is to provide the researcher with easy and free access to a state's statutory language by simply clicking on the state's image in the map provided.
As a further resource, Animal Cruelty Statutes - A State-By-State Analysis is a categorical reflection of how the individual states criminalize and punish different levels of animal-abusive criminal behavior that includes general animal cruelty statutes as well as the "cruelty 'plus'" statutes that have been enacted in many states to punish heightened levels of criminal behavior. In addition to the statutes themselves, the classification (misdemeanor or felony) of each offense is included, as well as the statutory punishment allowed for the offense.
The Great Case Law Roundup
Over the coming weeks, visitors to the Center's website will see changes to the Reading Rooms as staff attorneys Rusty Rumley, Paul Goeringer,and Eric Foy sift through opinions to find representative cases for case law indexes for the remaining reading rooms, as well as updating all current and pending indexes. Biotechnology, Administrative Law, Commodity Programs, and Country of Origin Labeling are among the newest indexes to be completed and will soon be taking their place on the Center website.
Once the indexes have been completed, future staff attorneys will update the indexes on a regular basis and will include older cases that are still relevant to each particular field. The goal of this project is to publish thorough but not exhaustive case law indexes to aid members of the agricultural law community to understand and properly interpret the important legal issues surrounding agriculture.
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Summer Interns Develop Promotional Video
A new internship opportunity has been developed by the Center for undergraduates in Agricultural Communications at Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences. The two students selected to participate in this summer's internship are Daniel Robinson (senior) and Ashley Reitzler (junior). This internship affords these students an opportunity to learn about communication and the public relations that surround the National Agricultural Law Center and the importance of agricultural law to the nation.
In order to enhance recruitment and notoriety for the Center, the interns will co-produce a promotional video that will highlight the work done at the Center. The film will document the challenges faced by the Center staff in its continuing efforts to accomplish its mission to be the nation's leading resource for agricultural and food law research and information.
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Outreach - Conventions, Presentations, and Meetings
Director Harrison Pittman was guest lecturer on Issues in Agriculture: Focus on Impact of Globalization on U.S. Agricultural Policies at the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural Food and Life Sciences in Fayetteville, AR. He also presented History and Future of Agricultural Law in the United States at the National Women in Agriculture Educators Conference in Oklahoma City and The 2007 Farm Bill: What You Need to Know for Your Agricultural and Rural Clients at the Iowa Bar Association in Des Moines.
Staff attorney Shannon Mirus presented Legal Issues and Concerns on the Farm and Business Organizations and Tax Issues in Hope, AR at an Annie's Project workshop, a series of risk management education workshops designed to empower farm women through networking and managing critical information. Annie's Project is funded by a grant from the Southern Region Risk Management Education Center, a division of the USDA CSREES and is supported in part by local sponsors. It is coordinated in Arkansas by Arkansas Women in Agriculture, Inc.
Center Librarian Sally Kelley attended United States Agricultural Information Network (USAIN) informational sessions in Wooster, Ohio, on biofuels, sustainable agriculture, and animal identification. The sustainable agriculture session included a panel on sustainable methods used by Amish farmers. Following the USAIN sessions, Sally attended a meeting of the AgNIC (Agricultural Network Information Center) Alliance Coordinating Committee and presented her project manager's report on the Center's recent Farm Bill digitization project, including technical issues and how they were resolved.
Staff attorneys Elizabeth Springsteen and Rusty Rumley attended the income tax and estate planning seminar by Dr. Neil Harl in Grand Island, Nebraska. The seminar covered topics from agricultural income tax such as the treatment of Conservation Security Program cost share payments, deferral of crop insurance and disaster proceeds until the next tax year, and wages paid in kind with commodities instead of cash payments. The second day of the seminar dealt with estate planning, both on estate taxes and on succession planning.
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Recent Postings to Center Website 
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