Recent Articles

Defending the Potato

January 04, 2009 20:34

Pity the poor, misunderstood potato that has become the symbol of our inactivity and downright laziness. How inappropriate!Consider instead that we just completed the International Year of the Potato, and just last month, the FAO released a 144-page illustrated book, New Light on a Hidden Treasure,...

Regulations Open for Comment and Some Observations

January 04, 2009 13:50

New regulations concerning payment eligibility and limitation are open for comment until January 28, 2009. The notice regarding the "interim rule" that "will apply to 2009 and subsequent crop, program, or fiscal year benefits" can be retrived here (search for volume 73, page 79267) or here and...

Agricultural Law in Sub-Saharan Africa

January 03, 2009 16:50

Professor Fred Boadu of Texas A & M University posted the following announcement in the last issue of the Agricultural Law Update, the newsletter of the American Agricultural Law Association. As he explains, the development of an agricultural law framework will be critical to the success of...

WSJ on Food and Agriculture: A Contrast in Families

January 02, 2009 16:45

On December 30, the Wall Street Journal published an article evidencing the complex policy challenges facing agriculture and world food production. A striking contrast was presented in the article Two Families' Shifting Fortunes, a story of two families that exemplify the food crisis in Ethiopia...

Thoughts on Teaching Agricultural Law

January 01, 2009 23:44

The American Association of Law Schools (AALS) annual conference will be held in January 2009 in San Diego, and the session presented by the Agricultural Law section will focus on the definition of agricultural law. Our chair, Anthony Schutz has identified two related goals for the session: (1) To...

Commodities to Stablize, But Prices Could Stay High

December 31, 2008 05:16

Recall all the talk earlier this year about speculators and price volatility. The claim was that speculation was leading to extremely high costs. Although there was a some truth to that, those same speculators took a bath when costs dropped. As a recent AP article reported, "'People bought oil...

Recent News

December 24, 2008 19:12

Happy Holidays.Here is an interesting story from the NY Times.

Revenue Needs, Ag Policy, and Taxes

December 18, 2008 18:04

Mr. Kristof has again hit on the food aspects of agricultural policy in the New York Times. Today, he makes some keen observations on Governor Paterson's proposal to raise revenue with "an 18 percent sales tax on soft drinks and other nondiet sugary beverages."The state's use of taxation authority...

Vilsack Tapped for USDA Secretary

December 16, 2008 23:42

Story here.

The Mississippi River Partnership Project

December 15, 2008 23:57

Monsanto and a host of environmental groups are doing something to stem nutrient and sediment movement in the Mississippi River Basin. This page has the details. And hat-tip to Tom Redick and the ABA Ag Management Group listserve for bringing this to my attention.Interestingly, I suspect that...