Leading issues surrounding agriculture and the environment.
The Schroeder Ag Blog addresses issues facing farmers, ranchers, and businesses involved with crops, livestock, dairy, and meat production.
Livestock facilities must go through numerous steps in order to operate, including state permit approval and county siting approval. State permit appeals in Indiana are heard by the Office of Environmental Adjudication. Permittees may represent themselves before the OEA, but they do so at their peril.
Read MoreLivestock facilities in rural areas may be considered "legal nonconforming uses" and therefore be exempt from new zoning ordinances. Indiana law, in particular, gives special protection to agricultural land uses.
Read More"Pesticide drift" is not a new issue, but it has taken center stage this summer as we hear widespread reports of crops damaged by Dicamba. This post suggests the initial steps a farmer should take if they believe their crop has been damaged by another person's Dicamba use.
Read MoreA major agriculture lawsuit is finally underway in South Dakota. The defendant is ABC Television; the plaintiff is Beef Products, Inc., a South Dakota meatpacker. The lawsuit centers on ABC's repeated use of the phrase pink slime to describe BPI's lean finely textured beef in March 2012. Five years ago, BPI sued ABC in a $1.9 billion defamation suit under South Dakota law.
Read MoreFarms can be dangerous places. Most agricultural operations are in the full swing of a busy spring, which is a good time to review workplace injury protocol. Do you and your employees know what to do if someone is injured in the field or barn?
Read MoreThe Trump administration has made aggressively searching for and deporting undocumented immigrants (including farm workers) a priority. The first question farmers usually ask is what to do if an immigration officer shows up on the farm. I suggest the following steps:
Read MoreThe Illinois legislature has introduced a number of bills directed at the food and agriculture industries. Most of these proposed bills are intended to make life easier for agriculture. This post provides a rundown on the bills which could affect Illinois livestock, cottage food industries, fields, farmers markets, or agricultural businesses.
Read MoreFSMA rules can apply to just about any entity in the animal or human food supply chain, from the producers to packagers to transporters and anyone in between. But do the new rules apply to typical grain elevators? In this blog post, I answer that question: usually no, because typical grain elevators are exempt from the most common FSMA regulations.
Read MoreA federal judge recently dismissed the Des Moines Water Works case, holding water quality problems caused by nitrates are for the legislature (not the court system) to fix.
Read MoreLet's say you want to expand your livestock operations, build a new manure storage structure, or start an agritourism business focused on beekeeping or growing hops. You know you have to complete a state application for such an operation, but what about the local level? Here are my tips for navigating the local zoning scene.
Read MorePoultry growers recently filed a federal lawsuit against Tyson Foods, Perdue Farms, and other poultry integrators under the Sherman Antitrust Act and the Packers and Stockyards Act ("PSA"). The Growers alleged the integrators have shared data about the individual Growers without aggregating or anonymizing the information.
Read MoreAs of January 1, 2017, a new FDA regulation requires a veterinarian feed directive ("VFD") from a veterinarian be in place for all antibiotics administered to livestock in feed or water. How can you stay in compliance?
Read MoreOn December 22, 2016, the USDA entered into a Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") with the Montana Beef Council ("MBC"). This MOU could affect other states' beef councils or qualified checkoff boards for other commodities.
Read MoreA lawsuit in Montana grabbed the attention of checkoff boards across the country. R-CALF sued the Montana state beef checkoff council in May, asking a federal court to prohibit the council from spending federal checkoff dollars on advertising unless the state cattle producers paying the fees have agreed to it. A federal magistrate recently issued an opinion agreeing with R-CALF.
Read MoreNew GIPSA rules were announced on Tuesday. There are plenty of opinions out there criticizing and praising the regulations, but what do the new rules really say? And, with the incoming Trump administration, does it matter?
Read MoreThe Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down several Hawaii county ordinances limiting or altogether banning the use of pesticides and GMO products. The court held the local laws attempted to legislate an area already comprehensively covered by state or federal law and those local laws were preempted by state and/or federal laws.
Read MoreA federal judge in Texas just issued an injunctive order halting the overtime rule nationwide. Judge Amos Mazzant issued a 20-page order preventing the rule from going into effect on December 1. The court wrote the injunction would preserve the status quo while the court considered the merits of the challenge to the overtime rule.
Read MoreDuring the presidential campaign, Donald Trump indicated he would gut the EPA and vastly reduce the number and scope of federal regulations. Now that Trump has been elected, what can we expect from his administration on the Waters of the US (WOTUS) rule that is currently in legal limbo?
Read MoreThe FSMA puts a new focus on prevention of foodborne illnesses and authorizes new Preventive Controls for facilities that process human food.
Read MoreCourt of Appeals case asking the Court to overturn the EPA's new WOTUS rule. The groups argue the EPA violated the law in the way it promulgated the new WOTUS rule and ask the court to strike the rule in its entirety.
Read MoreLast year the standard for review for administrative decisions was upended (Indiana and federal level). Recently our Court of Appeals explained that this change does not apply to zoning appeals.
The team from Janzen Schroeder Ag Law will present at the Indiana Farm Bureau Drainage School in August.
Todd Janzen and Brianna Schroeder will join leaders from all aspects of agriculture at the 2025 AgrIInstitue Golf Outing to benefit the Indiana Ag Leadership Program.
Todd Janzen will speak on Ag Technology and the Law at the American Society of Agricultural Consultants’ (ASAC) Annual Conference.
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There are many companies offering farmers cash to sign soil carbon contracts. What is in these contracts and should you sign up your farm?