Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Agriculture Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 24 of 24

Full-Text Articles in Agriculture Law

A Uniform Approach To Farm Animal Welfare Laws: Thought For Our Food Instead Of Food For Our Thought, Channing Burd Feb 2023

A Uniform Approach To Farm Animal Welfare Laws: Thought For Our Food Instead Of Food For Our Thought, Channing Burd

Journal of Food Law & Policy

We have all seen the commercials and know “Happy Cows Come from California,” but there is a larger issue hidden inside the phrase. Why should not all farm animals be happy, regardless of which state they were raised in? Why are only the cows in California happy, but not the chickens and the hogs as well? Farm animal welfare in the United States needs regulatory overhaul, and we needed it decades ago. This article will illustrate why regulatory overhaul is needed. First, we will examine how a new system of laws, which are part of a uniform code enacted by …


The Confines Of Federalism On Farmed Animal Welfare, Miranda Groh Jan 2023

The Confines Of Federalism On Farmed Animal Welfare, Miranda Groh

Animal Law Review

Although farmed animal advocates have achieved some protection for animals through state and local laws, Congress’s constitutional authority to preempt state law and regulate interstate commerce poses a significant threat to those achievements. Additionally, the practical constraints of the United States’ interconnected food system suggest that national, uniform standards are more desirable than a state-by-state, piecemeal approach to animal welfare. Despite the potential benefits of a state-by-state approach and some obstacles faced at the federal level, this Article argues that long-lasting legal protections for farmed animals should ultimately come from Congress, and that animal advocates should concentrate their efforts there. …


Animal Welfare Consumer Protection Litigation: Challenges And Possibilities For Bringing About More "Humane" Labeling Practices, Jaycie Thaemert Jan 2023

Animal Welfare Consumer Protection Litigation: Challenges And Possibilities For Bringing About More "Humane" Labeling Practices, Jaycie Thaemert

Animal Law Review

Consumer protection claims have become a critical tool for animal welfare advocates to attack the misrepresentations that animal agriculture producers make about the humane treatment of their animals. Currently, these claims are an important accountability mechanism, as “humane” labeling standards have not been adopted on the federal level. As consumers become increasingly focused on making ethical food-purchasing decisions, consumer protection claim lawsuits have become more and more successful, drawing the attention of attorneys within and outside of the animal welfare movement. The primary limitation of consumer protection claims in the animal welfare space is that these lawsuits do not actually …


China's Food Pagodas: Looking Forward By Looking Back?, Yifei Li, Dale Jamieson Apr 2022

China's Food Pagodas: Looking Forward By Looking Back?, Yifei Li, Dale Jamieson

Journal of Food Law & Policy

In this Article we provide a close analysis of the Chinese Dietary Guidelines – the Food Pagoda. Our focus on the dietary guidelines is motivated by two main considerations. First, the guidelines represent the most comprehensive, nationwide, state sponsored effort to educate the people of China about food. Like citizens in most countries, Chinese people are presented with numerous, often competing, messages from scientists, food gurus and online influencers. The dietary guidelines are different in that they are backed by an entire suite of governmental resources for nationwide dissemination through hospitals, schools, public billboards, TV and radio ads, among others. …


United States Food Law Update: Health Care Reform, Preemption, Labeling Claims And Unpaid Interns: The Latest Battles In Food Law, A. Bryan Endres, Nicholas R. Johnson, Michaela N. Tarr Jul 2021

United States Food Law Update: Health Care Reform, Preemption, Labeling Claims And Unpaid Interns: The Latest Battles In Food Law, A. Bryan Endres, Nicholas R. Johnson, Michaela N. Tarr

Journal of Food Law & Policy

This edition of the Food Law Update explores four legal issues arising in the first half of 2010 reflective of the diverse nature of the food law specialist. As the national debate surrounding the merits of health care reform dominated the legislative agenda, this article first will discuss the food labeling rules embedded within section 4205 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. The authors then analyze the preemptive reach of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the Meat Inspection Act with respect to three separate California statutes regarding animal welfare standards, retail labels on …


Keeping The Farm And Farmer In Food Policy And Law, Neil D. Hamilton Jun 2021

Keeping The Farm And Farmer In Food Policy And Law, Neil D. Hamilton

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Thank you for the opportunity to be with you, it is always a pleasure to return to the University of Arkansas Law School where I began my teaching career in the fall of 1981. We are pleased Drake University Law School and the University of Arkansas College of Law have built and maintained a partnership on teaching and research that stretches back over three decades. I am especially pleased to be with you as we celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the Journal of Food Law and Policy, another part of the University's pioneering work in the area of food policy …


The Market For Drug-Free Poultry: Why Robust Regulation Of Animal Raising Claims Is The Right Prescription To Combat Antibiotic Resistance, Dorinda L. Peacock Jun 2021

The Market For Drug-Free Poultry: Why Robust Regulation Of Animal Raising Claims Is The Right Prescription To Combat Antibiotic Resistance, Dorinda L. Peacock

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Since their introduction in the mid-twentieth century, antibiotics have become a mainstay of poultry production for purposes ranging from growth promotion to disease treatment and control. Nevertheless, for almost as long, there have been concerns about the role that these agricultural uses play in the development of antibiotic resistant bacteria. The issue of antibiotic resistance in general is fast becoming a public health crisis and scrutiny of agriculture as a contributing cause continues. Nevertheless, to date, neither regulatory efforts to curb agricultural usage nor private sector actions in response to consumer demand and public-interest campaigns have led to significant changes …


Health And Welfare Preempted: How National Meat Association V. Harris Undermines Federalism, Food Safety, And Animal Protection, Marya Torrez May 2021

Health And Welfare Preempted: How National Meat Association V. Harris Undermines Federalism, Food Safety, And Animal Protection, Marya Torrez

Journal of Food Law & Policy

In 2008, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) released an undercover video filmed at the Hallmark Meat Packing Company and Westland Meat Company (Hallmark/Westland) in Chino, California. "The footage depicted nonambulatory cows being kicked, dragged, electrocuted, jammed with forklifts and sprayed in the nostrils with water to simulate drowning - in an effort to get them to stand up and walk to their slaughter." At least five inspectors from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) - the federal agency tasked with ensuring that food safety and animal welfare guidelines are followed - were present at the time. The …


Labeling Of Credence Attributes In Livestock Production: Verifying Attributes Which Are More Than "Meet The Eye", Nicole J. Olynk, Christopher A. Wolf, Glynn T. Tonsor Jan 2021

Labeling Of Credence Attributes In Livestock Production: Verifying Attributes Which Are More Than "Meet The Eye", Nicole J. Olynk, Christopher A. Wolf, Glynn T. Tonsor

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Americans are increasingly sensitive to the conditions under which the foods they purchase and consume are produced. It is becoming commonplace for consumers to incorporate perceived environmental impacts, animal welfare concerns, and other process attributes into food purchase decisions. Increased interest in production practices and technologies employed in food production has been seen in the U.S. specifically concerning irradiation, antibiotics, and hormone and pesticide use. Perhaps one of the most controversial technologies employed in food production today is the use of genetic engineering. Not surprisingly, consumers are particularly sensitive about practices employed or technologies used in foods produced specifically for …


Editor's Note, Luke Trompeter, Ingrid Lesemann Feb 2018

Editor's Note, Luke Trompeter, Ingrid Lesemann

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.


2015 State Legislative Review, Malorie Sneed, Jessica Brockway Jan 2016

2015 State Legislative Review, Malorie Sneed, Jessica Brockway

Animal Law Review

The past year’s state legislative sessions and court dockets bore witness to a wide variety of initiatives concerning animal welfare and animal issues more generally. The increasing prevalence of ag-gag bills continued in 2015, as Colorado attempted to pass a mandatory reporting bill and North Carolina passed its own ag-gag bill that applied to all businesses, not just agricultural facilities, over the governor’s veto. Animal welfare advocates had reason to celebrate this year, however, when the district court of Idaho overturned its ag-gag bill on constitutional grounds. Tennessee, in amending its “Good Samaritan” law to extend coverage to animals trapped …


Don't Be Cruel (Anymore): A Look At The Animal Cruelty Regimes Of The United States And Brazil With A Call For A New Animal Welfare Agency, David N. Cassuto Jan 2016

Don't Be Cruel (Anymore): A Look At The Animal Cruelty Regimes Of The United States And Brazil With A Call For A New Animal Welfare Agency, David N. Cassuto

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

In the United States and around the world, animals exploited for human use suffer cruel and needless harm. The group bearing the brunt of this exploitation--agricultural animals--is routinely exempted from the largely ineffective and rarely enforced animal welfare and anti-cruelty regulations that exist today. This Article offers a comparative analysis of the agricultural animal welfare regimes of two countries with globally significant presence in the agriculture industry: the United States and Brazil. Even though the two countries approach agricultural animal welfare differently, they arrive at the same outcome: institutionalized indifference to animal suffering. To remedy the current regulatory structure, this …


Giving Slaughterhouses Glass Walls: A New Direction In Food Labeling And Animal Welfare, Zak Franklin Jan 2015

Giving Slaughterhouses Glass Walls: A New Direction In Food Labeling And Animal Welfare, Zak Franklin

Animal Law Review

Modern industrial animal agriculture and consumer purchasing patterns do not match consumers' moral preferences regarding animal welfare. Cur­rent production methods infiict a great deal of harm on animals despite widespread consumer preference for meat, dairy, and eggs that come from humanely treated animals. Judging by the premium pricing and market shares of food products with moral or special labels (e.g., 'cage-free,' 'free range,' and 'organic'), many consumers are willing to pay more for less harmful products, but they are unable to determine which products match this preference. The labels placed on animal products, and the insufficient government oversight of these …


Using Emerging Pollution Tracking Methods To Address The Downstream Impacts Of Factory Farm Animal Welfare Abuse, Tarah Heinzen, Abel Russ Aug 2014

Using Emerging Pollution Tracking Methods To Address The Downstream Impacts Of Factory Farm Animal Welfare Abuse, Tarah Heinzen, Abel Russ

Pace Environmental Law Review

CAFOs present numerous interconnected ethical, environmental, and public health threats, and this article will discuss opportunities to address the multiple adverse impacts of factory farming through advances in pollution tracking methodologies. The first section will introduce the factory farm issue, and the relationship between its environmental and welfare consequences. We then review approaches to establishing liability for surface and groundwater contamination under existing pollution control laws and describe the unique challenges of using these approaches in the context of CAFO pollution. We then discuss techniques that have been used to more precisely identify sources of pollution, including measurements of a …


A Hen In The Parlor: Municipal Control And Enforcement Of Residential Chicken Coops, Chris Erchull Jan 2013

A Hen In The Parlor: Municipal Control And Enforcement Of Residential Chicken Coops, Chris Erchull

Student Competition Writings

The locavore movement and similar trends in sustainable agriculture and health are renewing interest in backyard residential chicken coops. This Article analyzes some of the regulatory approaches cities and towns have taken to address backyard residential chicken coops. The Article focuses on how regulation can support and encourage the beneficial aspects of keeping backyard chickens while mitigating the potential harmful impact of excessive or irresponsibly managed residential chicken coops. In particular, the Article examines common trends in local regulation, like limits on the number and sex of birds allowed in each residential yard, setback and structural requirements, and animal welfare …


Empowering Market Regulation Of Agricultural Animal Welfare Through Product Labeling, Sean P. Sullivan Jan 2013

Empowering Market Regulation Of Agricultural Animal Welfare Through Product Labeling, Sean P. Sullivan

Animal Law Review

In many Western nations, rising public concern about the welfare of agricultural animals is reflected in the adoption of direct regulatory standards governing the treatment of these animals. The United States has taken a different path, tending to rely on a “market-regulation” approach whereby consumers express their desire for specific welfare practices through their purchasing decisions. This Article explores the failure of market regulation and the welfare-preference paradox posed by consumers who express a strong preference for improved animal welfare in theory, but who simultaneously fail to demand heightened welfare standards in practice. It argues that market regulation is failing …


The Environmental Effects Of Cruelty To Agricultural Animals, Kyle H. Landis-Marinello Jan 2008

The Environmental Effects Of Cruelty To Agricultural Animals, Kyle H. Landis-Marinello

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

Laws criminalizing animal abuse should apply to the agricultural industry. When we exempt the agricultural industry from these laws, factory farms increase production to unnaturally high levels. This increased production causes devastating environmental effects, such as climate change, water shortages, and the loss of topsoil. In light of these effects, the law needs to do much more to regulate the agricultural industry, and the first step should be to criminalize cruelty to agricultural animals. This would force the industry to slow down production to more natural levels that are much less harmful to the environment.


One Bad Day: Thoughts On The Difference Between Animal Rights And Animal Welfare, Neil D. Hamilton Jan 2008

One Bad Day: Thoughts On The Difference Between Animal Rights And Animal Welfare, Neil D. Hamilton

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

The lawsuit pitting the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals against the New Jersey Department of Agriculture brings into sharp focus the issue of animal rights versus animal welfare that has been dividing animal activists, farmers, and society for decades. On one side are proponents of animal rights—a set of rights articulated by humans but granted to animals to govern how we treat them. For many believers this includes the right not to be owned and certainly not to be eaten. On the other side are proponents of animal welfare—also a set of human derived standards …


An Argument For The Basic Legal Rights Of Farmed Animals, Steven M. Wise Jan 2008

An Argument For The Basic Legal Rights Of Farmed Animals, Steven M. Wise

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

The most abused beings in the United States are those whom we raise and kill for food. The numbers of dead are staggering. Most are victims of the severe and almost entirely unregulated practices that Americans permit on their factory farms. According to the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, in 2007, a total of 10.4 billion land-based animals were killed by the American food industry. These included 9.4 billion broiler chickens, 450 million laying hens, 317 million turkeys, 121 million pigs, 39 million bovines, 28 million ducks, 10 million rabbits, and 4 million sheep and goats—fifty …


"It's The Right Thing To Do": Why The Animal Agriculture Industry Should Not Oppose Science-Based Regulations Protecting The Welfare Of Animals Raised For Food, Angela J. Geiman Jan 2008

"It's The Right Thing To Do": Why The Animal Agriculture Industry Should Not Oppose Science-Based Regulations Protecting The Welfare Of Animals Raised For Food, Angela J. Geiman

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

Since the beginning of history, people have used farm animals to assist with their work and to provide a source of food. These agricultural pursuits were not questioned; rather, they were a widely-accepted way of life. In fact, many people still say that the very purpose of livestock on this Earth is to provide these resources for mankind. As for the proper way to treat our livestock, we commonly hear farmers and livestock producers make comments like, “If we take care of the animals, they will take care of us,” and, “We treat our animals well because that’s just good …


A Case Study On Cruelty To Farm Animals: Lessons Learned From The Hallmark Meat Packing Case, Nancy Perry, Peter Brandt Jan 2008

A Case Study On Cruelty To Farm Animals: Lessons Learned From The Hallmark Meat Packing Case, Nancy Perry, Peter Brandt

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

“I need the public to understand that my office takes all cases involving animal cruelty very seriously . . . [and i]t doesn’t matter whether the mistreated animal is a beloved family pet or a cow at a slaughterhouse. Unnecessary cruelty will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent allowed by law.” San Bernardino County District Attorney Michael A. Ramos (February 15, 2008) One morning in January 2008, images of horrific animal cruelty were blasted by Internet, television, and print media throughout the country. The story was all the more shocking in that the animals at …


Animal Ethics And The Law, Bernard Rollin Jan 2008

Animal Ethics And The Law, Bernard Rollin

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

Everyone reading this Article is doubtless aware of the woeful lack of legal protection for farm animals in the United States. Not only do the laws fail to assure even a minimally decent life for the majority of these animals, they do not provide protection against the most egregious treatment. As both a philosopher who has helped articulate new emerging societal ethics for animals, and as one who has successfully developed laws embodying that ethic—notably the 1985 federal laws protecting laboratory animals—I will stress the direction we need to move in the future to enfranchise farm animals. I have seen …


Animal Cruelty Laws And Factory Farming, Joseph Vining Jan 2008

Animal Cruelty Laws And Factory Farming, Joseph Vining

Michigan Law Review First Impressions

“Should laws criminalizing animal abuse apply to animals raised for food?” The answer is yes, and yes especially because farm animals are generally now under the control of business corporations. State and federal criminal law have proved critical in modifying corporate policy and practice in other areas, a current example being worker safety. Criminal liability today would include criminal liability of the corporate entity itself, and would thus also introduce the most effective regulation of individual handling of farm animals—regulation by the corporation, which has methods and resources public agencies cannot match. We have a background public policy of humane …


2000 Legislative Review, Alicia Finigan Jan 2001

2000 Legislative Review, Alicia Finigan

Animal Law Review

Our third Legislative Review reports the passage and de- feat of several state and federal, administrative and legislative actions. Ms. Laurie Fulkerson has researched and written on four major pieces of federal legislation; Mr. Chris Brown has discussed additional federal advances, and a re­view of state initiatives which both advance and undermine animal welfare; Ms. Amy Baggio has reviewed the passage of state anti-cruelty statues. Finally, Ms. Alicia Finigan has reported on the United State's Pelly Amendment certifica­tion of Japan for violating the International Whaling Com­mission's resolution to cease its illusory "research whaling" for minke, sperm and Bryde's whales.