Summer is here and there are plenty of agricultural law updates to discuss.

Photo by Darla Hueske 

*Lawsuit filed challenging law creating business courts.  On May 23, Dallas County filed suit challenging the constitutionality of the business court system created by the Texas Legislature last session.  The new courts have jurisdiction in high-dollar business cases, with the judges appointed by the governor and a 15th Court of Appeals to hear all appeals.  The lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of the business court set up in creating a state-wide district for the new Court of Appeals.  Dallas County filed for a writ of injunction with the Texas Supreme Court. The Supreme Court  requested a response from the Defendants to Dallas’ petition. [See Petition here.]

*Additional briefing lawsuit alleging program discrimination against Texas farmers.  The USDA has filed its response to the Plaintiffs Motion for Preliminary Injunction in Strickland v. USDA.  The  USDA makes several arguments including that the plaintiffs have failed to satisfy the requirements to obtain an injunction.  Specifically, USDA claims that the plaintiffs have only identified past harm, which cannot justify injunctive relief.  USDA also argues plaintiffs are unlikely to succeed on the merits because the Secretary has the discretion to create the “socially disadvantaged farmer” category for payments and the use of the category meets the required strict scrutiny to uphold.  [Read Response here.]  After that, the Plaintiffs filed a Reply brief.  They claim that they plaintiffs do face irreparable harm of being discriminated against on the basis of race and sex.  They also claim that they brought the case with reasonable promptness given its complex nature.  Finally, they argue they are likely to succeed on the merits in several ways, including their claim that the USDA cannot satisfy strict scrutiny.  [Read Reply here.]

*Maryland Court of Appeals upholds application of Right to Farm protection for farm.  The Maryland Court of Appeals held the state’s Right to Farm statute applied to protect a 423 acre row crop farm from complaints about their nutrient management plan.  The key issue in the case was whether the 1-year period during which an agricultural operation may not raise the Right to Farm statute was re-set when the farm changed from using chemical fertilizers to biosolids. The court found that the statute requires “an agricultural operation” to be in place for a year, not that a particular operation has to exist for a year or more to receive the protections.  Thus, the Right to Farm statute applied and the case was dismissed. [Read Opinion here and blog post here.]

* Iowa farm challenges Swampbuster.  A family-owned farming operation from Iowa recently filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of Swampbuster, a federal program passed in the 1985 Farm Bill to discourage the conversion of wetlands to cropland by requiring farmers to obtain a wetlands determination in order to qualify for various government programs, loans, and insurance.  Farmers who convert wetlands to cropland will not qualify for such payments or programs.  Plaintiffs claim Swampbuster violates the Commerce Clause (because their land at issue is purely intrastate), constitutes a taking for which no compensation was given, and exceeds the agency’s authority. [Read Complaint here.]

* Executive agencies publish statement on voluntary carbon markets.  Last month, several federal executive agencies, including the USDA, published a Joint Statement of Policy and Principles for Voluntary Carbon Markets.  In this Statement, the Department of Energy noted that there are “challenges in these markets, such as projects that don’t deliver the positive climate impact they promised” that have “undermined the confidence” in voluntary carbon markets.  The statement outlines seven principles of the federal government’s approach to voluntary carbon markets.

*  First Texas appellate opinion addressing Production Sharing Agreements.  John McFarland recently wrote a blog post summarizing Hamilton v. ConocoPhillips, a decision from the Corpus Christi Court of Appeals that is the first in Texas to address Production Sharing Agreements. [Read blog post here and Opinion here.]

Upcoming Programs

Next week, I’ll be speaking at the Ag Women Connect Amarillo Chapter on Monday at Cask and Cork.  On Tuesday, I’ll be presenting at a hunting lease webinar hosted by Terrell County AgriLife Extension. To see a full list of my upcoming presentations, click here.