One last ag law fix before we head off into the Holidays!  Here are some of the ag law stories making news over the last couple of weeks.

*WOTUS: The gift that keeps on giving.  As has become tradition around here, Shannon Ferrell and I close out the year writing about the current status of WOTUS.  If you’re curious where things currently stand, we’ve got you covered.  Just click here for our recent article in Southwest Farm Press.

Image by Yvette Fang from Pixabay

*Comment period for USDA Final Interim Hemp Rule extended.  The USDA has announced it will extend the comment period for the Final Interim Hemp Rule through January 29, 2020.  Comments may be submitted by clicking here.

*USMCA passes US House of Representatives.  The USMCA deal has passed the House and now heads to the Senate.  To learn more, click here to read a great blog post by our District Economist, Dr. Justin Benavidez.

*National Pork Producers Council & American Farm Bureau Federation file suit against California Proposition 12. Litigation has been filed challenging California’s Proposition 12, which mandates certain housing standards be used by anyone wishing to sell pork in California effective January 2022. The lawsuit claims the law is invalid under the Commerce Clause.  According to the lawsuit, less than 1% of pork produced in the US currently  meets the Proposition 12 standards. [Read article here.]

* Injunction issued in Iowa “Ag Gag” case.  You may recall from this prior blog post that there is a pending legal challenge to Iowa’s “ag gag” law.  The trial court ruled the law unconstitutional, and the State of Iowa has appealed.  Now, a federal judge has issued an injunction preventing the law from being forced during the appeals process. [Read article here.]

*PCCA launches “Farm Stress – Help and Hope” website. If you have been following for any amount of time, you know that mental health and agriculture is something near and dear to my heart.  Plains Cotton Cooperative Association, Plains Cotton Growers, and Texas Tech have developed a list of resources and facts related to the mental health crisis called “Farm Stress, Help and Hope.” [Read article here or see resources here.]  Kudos to these groups for putting this together.

Upcoming Presentations

I will be hitting the road again in 2020.  To see all of my scheduled speaking engagements, click here.