Monthly Archives: April 2018

New Texas Rural Land Value Trends Report Published

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The most recent Texas Rural Land Value Trends Report (2017) has been released by the Texas Chapter of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers. For a copy of the 2017 Report, click here. This is an extremely useful resource for Texas landowners. According to the Report, state-wide average land values were up to $2,644/acre, the strongest growth since 2014.  In order to assist landowners in analyzing their land values, the Report breaks the state into 7 regions (and even further by sub-region) and discusses land values, average… Read More →

April 27, 2018 Weekly Round Up

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Welcome to our final Weekly Round Up post for April.  How can it be May already?  This week, I traveled to Canadian to present at the Hemphill County Beef Conference and then gave online presentations to groups in Kerrville and Cameron County.  Welcome to those of you joining from those events! Here are some ag law stories in the news this week. *Judge gives preliminary approval to Syngenta settlement.  Earlier this month, the federal judge presiding over the Syngenta class action litigation granted preliminary approval of the parties’… Read More →

Ag Law in the Field Podcast – Episodes 21-30

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We are coming up on the one-year anniversary of the Ag Law in the Field Podcast!  Thanks to all of you who have listened on your phone’s podcast app, on iTunes, and on your computer.  Every episode is me interviewing an attorney about an agricultural law issue and. In case you may have missed them, here is a rundown of the most recent episodes, numbers 21-30 of the Ag Law in the Field Podcast, along with links to the website and show notes for each one as well…. Read More →

April 20, 2018 Weekly Round Up

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Well it’s been another busy couple of weeks around here.  Last week, I spoke in Claude at an Extension Risk Management Program and in Brownfield at the Women in Ag Event.  Both were great events and I appreciate the opportunity to attend!  I also presented online to a group of County Extension Agents from South Texas and to the Dallas Area Real Estate Lawyers group, both of which had excellent questions and thoughts during the presentations.  Then, yesterday, I was in Archer City for our Ranchers Leasing Workshop. … Read More →

Texas Landowner Duty to Trespasser on Property

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Spring has sprung and it is bluebonnet season here in the Lone Star State! Texans love our bluebonnets and many folks make yearly pilgrimages to take photographs with the official state flower. This can cause anxiety for some landowners who may be concerned about their potential liability for trespassers on their land. Under Texas law, the only duty that a landowner owes to a trespasser is not to intentionally injure that person or to act with “gross negligence.” For liability purposes, any person who enters the property without… Read More →

Negotiating a Fair Cash Lease Rate in Texas

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One of the most common questions I am asked is how much a person should charge (if a landowner) or pay (if a tenant) for an agricultural lease.  To help folks answer this question, I have put together a fact sheet listing several free resources available to Texas landowners that may help in this process.  From who to talk to at the coffee shop, to the United States Department of Agriculture surveys, to a Texas Land Value Trend report, to Agricultural Economics Department budgets, this fact sheet will… Read More →

April 6, 2018 Weekly Round Up

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Hello from sunny Kerrville!  I’ve been on the road this week, speaking at Extension meetings in Leon Springs and Kerrville as well as the Texas Bankers Association Ag and Rural Affairs Conference here at the YO Hotel in Kerrville.  Welcome to the new readers from those events. Here are some ag law stories in the news this week. *China announces proposed tariffs on US products, including agricultural exports.  The biggest ag story of the week has been China’s announcement that it plans to impose a 25% tariff on… Read More →

Revised Outline for Analyzing FMCSA Hauling Regulations

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You may recall that last month, Beth Rumley from the National Ag Law Center and I published a fact sheet outlining the steps to analyze if various Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations would apply.  Given some new legislation and some additional guidance from FMCSA, we have now made important revisions to the fact sheet. You can access the most recent version of our publication here. The major modifications include the following: (1) FMCSA granted an additional 90-day waiver of the electronic logging device rules to anyone… Read More →