Agricultural Law in the United States
If you want to look at state laws around the nation regarding agriculture, go to the Lawi Project´s Encyclopedia of Law. The beauty of this site, like Cornell, is that it takes you to specific agricultural laws instead of depositing you at a general locale and forcing you to navigate alone.
Agricultural Law Resources
By James Evans (2001), who is the author of Law on the Net and Government on the Net (Nolo Press, Berkeley).
Agricultural law embraces a wide range of fields, including real property, contracts, environmental, wills and estates, tax, and so on. Fortunately, just as farmers turned to computers to aid their businesses, they and those who represent them have moved onto the Internet and provide a host of reliable resources for your benefit.
The United States was once a nation of farmers, and continues to be a global exporter of food, so it’s no surprise that agriculture is heartily represented in the U.S. Code, requiring 103 chapters to handle it all, from Commodity Exchanges and Golden Nematode to Watermelon Research and Promotion and Organic Certification.
The U.S. Code also offers Title 21 Food and Drugs, with pertinent chapters such as Adulterated or Misbranded Foods or Drugs, Animals, Meats, Meat and Dairy Products, and Pesticide Monitoring Improvements.
The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) has Title 7, devoted to agriculture and updated as of January 1, 2001. You also may search for specific subtitles and chapters at the CFR homepage (access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/cfrtable-search.html).
Continuing on the federal level, the Department of Agriculture (usda.gov/) keeps farmers and environmental activists current on developments around the planet. Check the Agencies, Services & Programs section of the site (usda.gov/services.html) for information about a wide variety of topics. You also may search and browse subjects alphabetically.
In California, the State Code (www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html) offers a current version of the Food and Agricultural Code (leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/calawquery?codesection=fac&codebody=&hits=20). The California Department of Food and Agriculture website (www.cdfa.ca.gov/) is superficial, but it does provide statistics (cdfa.ca.gov/statistics/) about agricultural production and exports.
Before moving to the research organizations, several sites that provide collections of agricultural law and related fields need mentioning. Cornell Law School’s Agriculture: An Overview (law.cornell.edu/topics/agriculture.html) has links to the U.S. Code and the Code of Federal Regulations; recent agricultural decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court, courts of appeals, and New York Court of Appeals; state statutes; and a short list of germane legal and other sites. Washlaw from Washburn University School of Law has Agricultural Law (washlaw.edu/subject/agriculture.html), focusing on Kansas and federal resources, and includes references to three online legal discussion groups. FindLaw’s Agriculture Law (guide.lp.findlaw.com/01topics/41agriculture/sites.html) is a well-organized compendium of sites.
Lastly, let’s move to the law schools and other research entities that concentrate on agriculture. The National Center for Agricultural Law Research and Information (http://law.uark.edu/arklaw/aglaw/) at the University of Arkansas School of Law maintains an agricultural law library filled with essential links. At the Penn State Agricultural Law Research and Education Center website (www.dsl.psu.edu/aglaw/aglaw.html), the Agricultural Links from the Dickinson School of Law should be your primary destination.
The American Farmland Trust (www.farmlandinfo.org/) is loaded with legal and other material, including farmland-protection fact sheets, full-text literature, laws, maps, and statistics. The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (www.cast-science.org/) studies food, environmental, and other agricultural issues and interprets that information for legislators, regulators, and the media.
More:
www.nalusda.gov/pubs_dbs/#dbs
National Library of Education’s Publications and Databases
www.fao.org/ag/
The U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization’s agriculture section
www.aglaw-assn.org/index2.html
The American Agricultural Law Association
Agricultural Law Traditional Online Sites
This comprendium of sites related to Agricultural Law is an excellent site:
Note: this list is current as of 2009. This explains what the links are to web.archive.
Historical Background
- History of American Agriculture
- A Brief History of Agriculture
- Timeline of Farming in the US
- Seeds of Change Garden
- The Corn Laws
- Milestones in U.S. Food and Drug Law History
- Milestones in U.S. Food Labeling
- The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
- North Carolina Agriculture History
- Prairie Settlement: Nebraska Photographs and Family Letters
NEW
- History of 4-H
- Cyrus Hall Mccormick
- John Deere
- Luther Burbank
- George Washington Carver
- George Washington Carver 1860-1943
- The Dust Bowl
- Louis Bromfield
- The Ohio Agricultural Hall of Fame
- World Food Habits Bibliography
- Death of the Dream: Farmhouses in the Heartland
- Conner Prairie: A Living History Museum in Fishers, Indiana
- The Association for Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums
The Law
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UPDATED
- Anderson’s Ohio Administrative Code
- US Code Title 7: Agriculture
- US Code Title 21: Food & Drugs
- Agriculture Laws
- ORC Title 9: Agriculture
- Wage & Hour Farm Labor Laws
- The Food Stamp Act
- Food Stamp Regulations
- Rules of the House Committee on Agriculture
- Commodity Exchange Act
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Government Committees, Departments & Agencies
- U.S. Department of Agriculture
- Farm Credit Administration
- Agriculture Related Departments and Agencies
- USDA-Rural Development
- USDA-Food, Nutrition & Consumer Services
- USDA-Foreign Agricultural Service
- USDA-National Agricultural Statistics Service
- USDA – Agricultural Marketing Service
- Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)
- Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
- House Committee on Agriculture
- Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry
- GCIP State Agriculture Agency Links
- Ohio Department of Agriculture
- OSU Extension Offices
Government Publications & Databases
- USDA’S Agriculture Fact Book 1998
- U
- SDA’S Agriculture Fact Book 2000
- USDA Economic Research Service
- National Agricultural Statistics Service
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- Wetlands and Agriculture
- ERS Report: Do the Poor Pay More for Food?
- US EPA Pesticidal Chemicals Classified as Known or Possible Carcinogens
- State of the Land
- CFTC: Opinions & Orders
- CFTC: Enforcement Complaints
- CFTC: Letters
- CFTC: Public Information & Complaints
- AgNIC: Agriculture Network Information Center
- OhioLine
Food Stamps & Nutrition Programs
- Nutrition Assistance Programs
- The Food Stamp Program
- Food Stamp 2002 Eligibility Guidelines
- Food Stamp Hotline Numbers
- WIC: Women, Infants & Children
- CND: Child Nutrition Programs
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Commodities
- Chicago Mercantile Exchange
- Kansas City Board of Trade
- New York Mercantile Exchange
- Commidity & Policy Pages
- USDA: Farm Service Agency- Commodity Operations
- Bibliography: Stocks, Options, Futures, Commodities
- Agribiz
Equine Law
- Equine Law
- Equine Law Web
- Law Cases for Horsemen
- Duties & Rights of Co-Owners, Trainers, Agents, Boarders, Partners & Syndicate Managers
- Ownership & Transfer
- Horse and Equine Law
- HG Equine Law
- American Assoc. for Horsemanship Safety
- Horse Resources
Veterinary Medicine
- “Virtual” Veterinary Center
- Veterinary Education
- The Ohio State University
- College of Veterinary Medicine
- University of Illinois College of Veterinary
- Pets, Vets, You and Dr. Sue Age Comparison Chart
General Information
- National Center for Agricultural Law
- AGLAW – Legal Issues in Agriculture
- Agricultural Law Center Publications
- Farmland Information Center – Right to Farm Laws
- Saving Farmland
- Protecting Farmland at the Fringe: Do Regulations Work?
- Careful Use & Enhancement of Natural Resources
- Environmental Laws Affecting State Agriculture
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- Agriculture WWWs
- List of Agricultural Web Sites
- National Center for Farmworker Health
- Farm Safety for Children
- Ag-Links – Links for the Agriculture Industry
- Agricultural Trade Policies & Issues
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- How to Become An Agricultural Trade Option Merchant
- Agricultural Genetic Engineering
- The Mad Cow Panic
- Coming Food Shortages?
- Corporate Agribusiness Research Project
Organizations
- American Agricultural Economics Association
- American Agricultural Law Association
- The Fairtrade Foundation
- National Futures Association
- American Farmland Trust
- American Farm Bureau
Journals
- Animal Law
Journal of Extension- Small Farm Digest
- The New Review of Agricultural Economics
- The Agricultural Law Press
Tools
NEW
Forms
Agricultural Law Estate Planning
Some farmers are participating in comprehensive discussions of the major income tax and estate and business planning issues for farms, ranches and agribusinesse. The following are some of these topics:
- Farm and Farmer Liability
- Environmental Law Relating to Farms and Sale
- Agricultural Labor
- Income Tax and Social Security
- Estate Planning: Death-Time Transfers
- Gifts and Federal Gift Tax, Installment Sales and Private Annuities
- Organizing the Farm Business
- Life Estates and Trusts
- Governmental Regulation of Animal Production, Shipment and Sale
- Governmental Regulation of Crop Production, Shipment and Sale
- Government Regulation of Agricultural Inputs
- Government Regulation of Foreign Trade
- Commercial Law Applicable to Farms and Ranches
- Agricultural Cooperatives
Other Agricultural law issues
These include:
- Agricultural Labor Environment Products Liability
- Adverse Possession Farm Credit System Secured Transactions
- Animals Federal Agricultural Programs State Regulation of Agriculture
- Banking Federal Estate and Gift Taxation Veterinarians
- Bankruptcy Federal Income Taxation Workers’ Compensation
- Contracts Federal Regulations Zoning
- Corporations Partnerships
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