Category Archives: Weekly Round Up

March 4, 2022 Weekly Round Up

Happy Friday!  There have been a number of agricultural law stories in the news over the past couple of weeks. *Texas Supreme Court hears oral arguments in Hlavinka v. HSC Pipeline Partnership.  The Texas Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in an important eminent domain case analyzing what a pipeline must show in order to claim common carrier status and the ability of a landowner to testify regarding other pipeline easement values.  To read my summary of the court of appeals’ decision being reviewed by the Supreme Court, click… Read More →

February 18, 2022 Weekly Round Up

It has been another busy couple of weeks in the agricultural law world.  Here are a few of the stories in the news recently. *Bayer declares force majeure in glyphosate contracts.  Earlier this week, Bayer announced it would declare force majeure in glyphosate contracts due to mechanical issues.  A supplier of an ingredient used in glyphosate is facing mechanical difficulties, which Bayer says it expects to take three months to remedy.  The declaration of force majeure typically excuses the declaring party’s obligations under a contract due to an… Read More →

January 21, 2022 Weekly Round Up

2022 has kicked off with a bang in the agricultural law realm.  There has been plenty of news over the last couple of weeks. *Livestock Forage Protection deadline next week.  The deadline to sign up for the Livestock Forage Protection Program is January 31, 2022 for anyone in a qualifying county.  LFP provides payments to livestock producers who are also producers of grazed forage crops that have suffered a loss of grazed forage due to qualifying drought conditions.  Sign up is done through the Farm Service Agency (FSA) office… Read More →

January 7, 2022 Weekly Round Up

Welcome to our first Weekly Round Up of the year.  Here are a few of the ag law stories in the news over the past several weeks. *State of Texas files amicus brief supporting landowner in Texas Central Railway case.  The State of Texas has filed an amicus brief on the side of the landowner in Texas Central Railroad & Infrastructure v. Miles, a lawsuit challenging Texas Central Railway’s use of eminent domain power.  [Read prior blog post here.]  The State’s briefing supports the landowner’s argument that Texas… Read More →

December 17, 2021 Weekly Round Up

Here we are with our final Weekly Round Up of 2021!   It has been quite the year. We will have our annual nationwide and Texas-specific year-in-review blog posts coming up over the next couple of weeks, and we recently released an Ag Law in the Field Podcast episode recapping the year from an ag law perspective here. Here are some recent news stories that may be of interest. *EPA considering modifications to dicamba approval, but offers no timeline.  A senior regulatory specialist with EPA stated that “the agency… Read More →

December 3, 2021 Weekly Round Up

Happy December!  There has been a lot of agricultural law news over the past few weeks, so here are some of the biggest stories impacting agriculture. *Texas Supreme Court denied petition for review in Lyle v. Midway Solar.  Earlier this year, the El Paso Court of Appeals dismissed a lawsuit filed by mineral owners against a solar company for building a solar farm on the property.  The court held that the accommodation doctrine would apply, but that because the mineral owner had not sought to actually develop the minerals,… Read More →

November 12, 2021 Weekly Round Up

Welcome to another agricultural law weekly round up.  Here are some of the stories in the news over the past couple of weeks. *PRF (Rainfall Insurance) deadline is December 1 for 2022 sign up.  Did you know you can purchase rainfall insurance?  Essentially, PRF insurance allows you to insure a percentage of normal rainfall for your area, and you trigger a payment if rainfall falls below your insured percentage.  This can be a great risk management tool for livestock producers who have cattle or other livestock on grass. … Read More →

October 22, 2021 Weekly Round Up

Here are some of the ag law stories that have been in the news recently. *HSUS files lawsuit against Smithfield.  The Humane Society of the United States has filed suit against Smithfield Food alleging the company made false claims regarding animal care standards that mislead consumers.  In particular, the lawsuit takes aim at claims related to gestation crates and group housing of sows.  [Read article here.] *Groups object to EPA rule banning chlorpyrifos.  You may recall from this prior blog post that the EPA passed a rule that… Read More →

October 8, 2021 Weekly Round Up

It has been a busy week with agricultural law news coming in from across the country!  Let’s get caught up on some of the biggest stories in the news. *Texas federal court dismisses COVID-19 negligence lawsuit against Tyson. The US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas dismissed a lawsuit employees brought against Tyson Foods claiming Tyson was negligent  in the safety measures put in place at their facilities, which caused the plaintiffs to contract COVID-19.  The court found these claims were preempted by the Poultry Products… Read More →

September 24, 2021 Weekly Round Up

>Hello and Happy Friday!  We’re back with an Ag Law Weekly Round Up to catch you up on some of the ag law stories over the past month. *EPA Administrator discusses dicamba, WOTUS, and ag advisor.  Recently, EPA Administrator, Michael Regan, spoke at the NASDA national meeting.  He indicated that the EPA is currently working on a new version of the “waters of the United States” definition pursuant to the Clean Water Act, and he expects for the initial proposed draft to be released in November.  He did… Read More →