We’ve made it to another Friday!  To those of you joining from the Montague County Fence Law Meeting yesterday, welcome!  Here are some ag law stories in the news this week.

*NC Judge significantly limits award in nuisance lawsuit.  You may recall last week we mentioned the $50 million nuisance verdict in favor of neighbors against Murphy Brown hog farms in North Carolina.  This week, the trial court judge limited the damage award to $3.25 million, which would equate to $325,000 per plaintiff.  This decision was based on a North Carolina statute that puts a cap on punitive damages. [Read Order here.]  On Monday, I’ll have a blog post discussing this case, verdict, and what might have happened were it filed in Texas.

* GMO labeling draft rules published.  The USDA has published its proposed GMO food labeling rule.  Once finalized and published, this federal law will pre-empt all state-level GMO labeling regulations.  Public comment on the draft rule is currently open through July 3, 2018.  [View draft rule here.]

* TAMU Ag Economics Custom Rate Survey.  Every year, our department gathers information about going rates for various types of agricultural services and publishes a report showing average rates across Texas.  For example, what do you pay for planting, harvesting, pesticide application, fence building, etc?  You can help us gather information by participating in an online survey between now and the end of June.  The more responses we get, the more accurate and helpful the report will be!  [Complete survey here.]

Programs Next Week

I’m headed to the coast!  On Wednesday evening, I’ll be speaking in Robstown and on Thursday, I’ll be in Corpus Christi.  The topics for these programs will be “Laws You Need to Know.”  For more info about these programs, click here.