Welcome from the Director
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
The time between newsletters seems to get shorter and shorter, but time does fly when you're having fun, as the old saying goes. Much has happened in the past two months both in agriculture and at the National Agricultural Law Center, and we're glad to be able to share some of those events with you. The Center staff attended the 30th Annual American Agricultural Law Association conference held the end of September and found it excellent, with the breadth of issues covered another demonstration of the diversity and complexity of the agricultural law field. Among many highlights of the conference was USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack's participation by way of delivered remarks followed by a generous question and answer period. The Center continues to expand its efforts to coordinate with the Cooperative Extension Service at the state, regional, and national levels. These long-term efforts have begun to pay dividends, and we are especially grateful to the extension personnel and clientele throughout the nation who have turned to the Center for agricultural law research and information over the past several weeks. There is a definite increase in the number of inquiries we receive overall and a pronounced increase in interaction with the extension community. We have continued to expand the Center's content areas to reflect emerging trends in agricultural and food law, as is evidenced by the additions of the Aquaculture and Nutrition Programs Reading Rooms and the enhanced focus on legal issues such as animal agriculture. The United States Agricultural & Food Law and Policy Blog continues to expand in content and readership and remains an excellent partnership between the Center and the American Agricultural Law Association. As always, a special thanks is owed to the Center's staff whose hard work and dedication are essential to the Center's operation and forward movement. Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can ever be of any assistance in any way.
Best regards,
Center Director |
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Enhanced Role for eXtension
 The Center is continuing its work toward launching the eXtension Agricultural Law Community of Practice. Graduate Assistants Walt McCarter, Emily Bridges and Joshua Bailey have been working with Staff Attorney Shannon Mirus to create new content for the Agricultural Law Community of Practice. These attorneys work to discover reliable, unbiased resources and develop legal content for use by extension professionals and their clientele. Recent postings include nearly twenty articles on topics such as business organizations, estate planning and alternative dispute resolution, and the development of several FAQs. Additionally, eXtension and the Agricultural Law Community of practice are now highlighted on the Center's website with a dedicated button on the Center home page. A new page provides information about eXtension and the work of the Agricultural Law Community of Practice. Click here to access the new eXtension page. |
New Kind of Fish Tale: Aquaculture Reading Room
 Aquaculture, or the raising of fish and other aquatic creatures for human consumption, is an increasing and developing area of agricultural law. As a result of the growing demand and production, the 2005 Census of Aquaculture reported farm-level sales of $1.1 billion, resulting from the industry's 11.7% growth over the previous seven years. Accompanying this industry growth comes laws and regulation of the industry. As a result, the Center assembled and posted an Aquaculture Reading Room. An overview article on the subject is included in the reading room, along with a listing of and links to major statutes and regulations that currently affect the industry. The room also contains an extensive case law index, relevant Center publications and important materials from many government agencies, as well as other resources that will be helpful from both a legal and a practical standpoint. 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. |
Concerns Over Animal ID Programs Addressed
 Over the summer, the USDA sponsored a series of "listening sessions" across the country on the topic of animal identification in general and the National Animal Identification System specifically. These sessions focused mainly on cost, the impact on small farmers, privacy and confidentiality, and liability issues. At these sessions, strong concerns were repeatedly raised about the issues of confidentiality and liability. On August 26, Center staff attorney Elizabeth Springsteen spoke at the National Conference on Animal Identification ("ID Expo"), sponsored by the National Institute for Animal Agriculture on these issues. Her presentation has been reported in several industry publications on animal agriculture. Her PowerPoint presentation is available on the Center's website and an audio recording of the presentation itself is available here.
In conjunction with these research activities, Elizabeth then completely renovated the Animal Identification Reading Room on the Center website. As part of this project, a much more extensive overview article was written, and the number of available resources was almost tripled. Further, an international resources section with links to animal identification websites of countries in which the system has been mandated was added, along with a listing of several new publications on the topic. She is now collaborating with various groups, including the American Veterinary Medical Association, to discuss the issues of confidentiality and liability and publicize the Center resources that are available to individuals with questions about animal identification programs. |
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"Go Greens" - Nutrition Programs Reading Room
 A reading room covering Nutrition Programs went live on the Center site this month, bringing the total to forty-four agricultural and food law topics that are covered in individual reading rooms. According to the USDA, nutrition programs help one in five Americans. While the primary goal of these programs is to provide supplemental food to low-income individuals, there is an increasing focus on nutrition education and helping people make decisions about the quality of the food they eat. In response to this expanding view, the Center constructed and posted the new Nutrition Programs Reading Room, giving particular attention to the impact of these programs on agriculture. Materials included in the room include an overview article outlining the topic and a listing of and links to the major statutes and regulations currently in place. It also contains an extensive case law index, relevant Center publications and important materials from many government agencies, as well as many other resources that will be helpful from both a legal and a practical standpoint. 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. |
Making Legal Research Faster and Easier
New Case Law Indexes
Updates to the Case Law Indexes
Cases that were added to the Case Law Indexes in August and September.
During this reporting period, 142 case summaries were completed, posted, and linked from their appropriate Case Law Indexes with heavy representation in Environmental Law, Pesticides, Clean Water Act and Commercial Transactions. |
Series on Business Organizations Published
 In response to numerous inquiries from the agricultural and food law community, Center Staff Attorney Rusty Rumley has recently published a series of short articles that explain the differences between the various business structures that are available to agricultural operations. The series describes some the benefits and consequences that business owners face when choosing one business structure over another and include sole proprietorships, general partnerships, limited partnerships, limited liability partnerships, corporations, S class corporations, and limited liability companies. The series is intended to assist agricultural operators in selecting the business structure that will most benefit their individual operation. The papers are included and linked from the Overview in the Business Organizations Reading Room. |
Bibliography Digitization Project in New Hands 
The bibliography digitization project is continuing to progress quickly, as over 2,000 articles have now been linked, with 130 journals and 1,270 authors granting republication permission. The last two months have seen agreements from over 150 additional authors and thirty new journals, including the American Journal of Comparative Law and the Missouri Environmental Law & Policy Review. The progress made in this project would not have been possible without the dedication and hard work of first Research Assistant Misti Sharp and now Research Assistant Megan Cummingham, who assumed sole responsibility for the project in August of this year. Megan's duties include obtaining author and journal contact information and authorization forms, preparing the articles for digitization and uploading, and uploading the completed articles to the website. Before coming to the Center, Megan graduated from the University of Arkansas with a degree in Agribusiness Management and Marketing. While attending UA, Megan worked for Division of Agriculture on the planning and execution of special events, and was a Bumpers College Ambassador, representing the Bumpers College both inside and outside the University to current and prospective students. She also had two internships, one in the Scottish Parliament and the other with United States Senator- and current chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry- Blanche Lincoln. During her internship in Scotland Megan worked mainly on constituent outreach, while the focus of her time on Senator Lincoln's staff was legislation related to food insecurity issues. If you have authored an article listed in the Bibliography and have not yet been contacted for reprint permission, please contact Megan via email at cmegan@uark.edu or by phone at 479-387-2043. |
Teaming Up
Agricultural and Food Law Blog Update
 The United States Agricultural & Food Law and Policy Blog, a partnership between the Center and the American Agricultural Law Association, has developed considerably in the past two months. The Blog is updated throughout the day on a variety of subject areas. If you know of any items that would be of interest to the Blog participants, please forward them to agandfoodlaw@gmail.com. |
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Graduate Assistants Join Center Research Team
 Joshua L. Bailey, B.A., J.D. - Josh Bailey graduated from the University of Arkansas School of Law where he was President of the Environmental Law Society and in that role organized a multi-state environmental law conference held at the School of Law in 2007. He was also a semi-finalist in the Benjamin J. Altheimer Moot Court competition. Josh has clerked in both Arkansas and Texas, working in environmental law, agricultural law, oil and gas law, corporate law, criminal defense and family law.  Liliana Reyes Botero - Liliana Reyes Botero grew up in Ibagué (Colombia) and studied law at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogota. She worked at the Colombian Fond for financing the Agricultural Sector (Finagro), was an attorney of the National Agricultural Fund of Securities (FAG) and later promoted to the Legal Vice Presidency. Last year Liliana participated in the USDA sponsored Cochran Fellowship Program in Good Agricultural Practices at the University of California at Davis. She will receive a Master degree (Formation Doctoral) in Legal Theory from the European Academy of Legal Theory of Brussels (Belgium) in October 2009.  Emily Bridges, B.A., J.D. - Emily Bridges graduated magna cum laude from Lyon College in Batesville, Arkansas with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and graduated from the University of Arkansas School of Law in May of 2008. While in law school, Emily was a student editor for the Journal of Islamic Law & Culture, and clerked for Davis, Clark, Butt, Carithers & Taylor, PLC and the Doss Law Firm in Fayetteville. During her third year in law school, she served as a judicial extern for the Honorable David Clinger of the Arkansas Circuit Court, Nineteenth Judicial Circuit West, Division 2. After graduation, she worked for the University of Arkansas Legal e-Source project.  Nastasya Khyazhishcheva - Nastasya Knyazhishcheva graduated from the Novgorod State University in 2006 and worked in the area of real estate transactions, conclusion of sale and purchase contracts, and lease agreements. After graduating, she was a junior attorney in the representative office of American Consulting Law firm in St. Petersburg, Russia. Her experience includes corporate law, real estate transactions, and licensing of different types of business activities. Nastasya also participated in the Jessup International Law Moot Competition in 2005 and 2006, National Round, and the Winter Academy 2006, organized by the Center for European Security Studies (at INION RAN, Moscow).  Baylen J. Linnekin, B.A., M.A, J.D. - Baylen Linnekin grew up in Massachusetts and earned his J.D. from American University Washington College of Law. While in law school, he served as a Note & Comment editor with the Administrative Law Review; worked as a Dean's Fellow and research assistant under Prof. Norman Stein; and served as a student attorney in the school's General Practice Clinic. Prior to law school, he earned an M.A. degree in Learning Sciences from Northwestern University and B.A. from American University.  Walt McCarter, B.S., J.D. - Walt McCarter graduated magna cum laude from Arkansas Tech University in Russellville with a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Business. He received his J.D. from the University of Arkansas School of Law in May 2009. While in law school, Walt was a member of the American Constitution Society, Media, Entertainment & Sports Law Association, and a member of the 2008-2009 Board of Advocates. He has clerked at Bassett Law Firm in Fayetteville, worked as a research assistant for the University of Arkansas Southwest Research & Experiment Center in Hope, Arkansas, and worked at the Center for over a year research and writing over 300 of the case summaries posted on the Center website.  Suzanne McMillan, B.A., J.D. - Originally from Falls Church, VA, Suzanne graduated with honors from Earlham College with a degree in Sociology/Anthropology. In May of 2009, she earned a J.D. and a certificate of specialization in international law from Pace University School of Law. Prior to law school, Suzanne worked as a researcher for FarmedAnimal.Net, documented livestock conditions in U.S. factory farms and stockyards, researched EU member states' animal welfare laws, and wrote for an international animal advocacy magazine. She assisted the Westchester County District Attorney's office with animal cruelty prosecutions, as well as performed legal research for animal protection organizations.  Vivek Namane - Vivek Namane has a multidisciplinary background with a Masters in Public Policy (CEU, Budapest), a Masters in Development Studies (ISS, The Hague), and a Bachelors of Law (ILS Law College, Pune), with further studies focused on International Law, Human Rights and Criminal Law while pursuing a Masters of Law (University of Pune, India). Vivek worked as an intern with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN at the regional office for Europe and Central Asia in Budapest, Hungary. With BS in Horticulture, he has significant horticultural work experience and has also received Diploma in European Union Law by the European Commission. | |
