Law Commons^™

Tenant Rights For Employer-Provided Farmworker Housing, Margaret C. Hannon

Articles

Farmworkers in Washington State play a crucial role in food production and distribution, and the success of Washington’s economy rests heavily on its agricultural industry. The agricultural sector employs the greatest amount of people in Washington, “generates more than $5.3 billion in direct revenue, and has a total estimated economic impact on the state of more than $28 billion each year.” In Washington State, there are about 36,000 farms, which encompass 15.3 million acres, “or 37 percent of the state’s land mass.”

Fee Simple Failures: Rural Landscapes And Race, Jessica A. Shoemaker

Michigan Law Review

Property law’s roots are rural. America pursued an early agrarian vision that understood real property rights as instrumental to achieving a country of free, engaged citizens who cared for their communities and stewarded their physical place in it. But we have drifted far from this ideal. Today, American agriculture is industrialized, and rural communities are in decline. The fee simple ownership form has failed every agrarian objective but one: the maintenance of white landownership. For it was also embedded in the original American experiment that land ownership would be racialized for the benefit of its white citizens, through acts of …

Hemp Fiber, Howard J. Bromberg, Ming Y. Zheng

Book Chapters

Hemp, Cannabis sativa, is indigenous to temperate regions in Asia. All major industrialized countries but the United States cultivate hemp for its fibers and oil-rich seeds. The former Soviet Union was the world's leading producer until the 1980s. As of 2018, China was the largest producer, with other significant industries in Ukraine, Russia, China, Canada, Austria, Australia, Great Britain, Hungary, Romania, Poland, France, Italy, and Spain.

Cannabis was initially spread around the world because of its fiber, not its intoxicant chemicals or its nutritious oil seeds. It is one of the oldest sources of textile fiber, whose use for cloth …

Opening The Gates Of Cow Palace: Regulating Runoff Manure As A Hazardous Waste Under Rcra, Reed J. Mccalib

Michigan Law Review

In 2015, a federal court held for the first time that the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) may regulate runoff manure as a “solid waste” under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (“RCRA”). The holding of Community Ass’n for Restoration of the Environment, Inc. v. Cow Palace, LLC opened the gates to regulation of farms under the nation’s primary toxic waste statute. This Comment argues that, once classified as a “solid waste,” runoff manure fits RCRA’s definition of “hazardous waste” as well. This reclassification would expand EPA’s authority to monitor and respond to the nation’s tragically common groundwater-contamination emergencies.

Utilizing Michigan Brownfield Policies To Incentivize Community-Based Urban Agriculture In Detroit, Nicholas Leonard

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

As residents have increasingly moved from urban centers to suburbs, several cities have not been able to create effective solutions to the problems that such population loss has presented. Abandoned properties have proven to be the primary problem, and nowhere is that problem more pronounced than in Detroit. Urban agriculture has been widely embraced on a grassroots level as a potential solution to the pervasive problems that abandoned properties present and that cities have been unable to solve. While urban agriculture networks have largely arisen outside of municipal control, several cities are beginning to recognize urban agriculture as a potential …

Food Miles: Environmental Protection Or Veiled Protectionism?, Meredith Kolsky Lewis, Andrew D. Mitchell

Michigan Journal of International Law

Eat local. Such a small phrase yet such a loaded proposition. Buying food from nearby sources has become a popular objective. This aim is associated with helping farmers in one’s country or region; observing the seasonality of one’s location; eating fresher foods; striving for food security; and protecting the environment. One of the unmistakable messages of the “locavore” movement is that importing food—particularly food that comes from far away—causes environmental harm. The theory is that transporting food long distances results in the release of high levels of greenhouse gases (GHGs) into the atmosphere and is thus a dangerous contributor to …

Gentle Into That Good Night: Subsidy Expiration Provides A Lesson In Reform Through Inactions, Max Bulinksi

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Caveat

After thirty years, Congress let the federal subsidy for corn-based ethanol expire on December 31, 2011. Although the influence of “Big Corn” is not as ubiquitously known as that of “Big Oil” or pharmaceuticals, the agricultural sector is consistently ranked among the top sectors for lobbying expenditures. This political clout is well demonstrated by the extent of the former subsidy. The ethanol subsidy has been in existence for the last thirty years and cost taxpayers roughly six billion dollars in each recent year.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 …

Seeds Of Distrust: Federal Regulation Of Genetically Modified Foods, Thomas O. Mcgarity

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article describes and evaluates the existing federal regulatory regime for protecting public health from risks posed by foods derived from GM plants. Part I briefly describes the technology involved in genetically modifying plants and relates the ongoing debates over the risks and benefits of GM food plants. Part II examines in detail the regulatory regime that has evolved in the United States to regulate the safety of GM foods, focusing in particular upon the pervasive role that the substantial equivalence doctrine has played in that regime. Finally, Part III suggests a more precautionary approach toward regulating GM foods that …

The Tension Between The Need And Exploitation Of Migrant Workers: Using Msawpa's Legislative Intent To Find A Balanced Remedy, Mark J. Russo

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

This Comment concludes that the recent Maine federal district cases represent an irreconcilable spike in a national and international trend to afford more protection to a vulnerable class whose resources are the object of urgent demand. However, the search for a proper remedial weight in the balance between migrant worker protection and the provision of competitive farm labor is not a new problem.

The New "Pick-Your-Own" Statutes: Delineating Limited Immunity From Tort Liability, Terence J. Centner

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Over the past several years, state legislatures have been asked to provide immunity from liability for members of certain interest groups including providers of horses, risky sport activities, and "pick-your-own" produce. This Article reports on statutory provisions providing tort immunity for producers who allow the public to come onto their property to harvest crops. Provisions allowing profit-making businesses to qualify for tort immunity are not new, but the expansion to cover pick-your-own operators signifies a significant policy change regarding personal liability. The pick-your-own provisions may indicate a policy shift imposing greater responsibility for persons engaging in activities to use care …

Down And Out In Weslaco, Texas And Washington, D.C.: Race-Based Discrimination Against Farm Workers Under Federal Unemployment Insurance, Laurence E. Norton Ii, Marc Linder

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article explains how federal law excludes half of the nation's farm workers from the unemployment insurance (UI) system. It describes how even those fortunate enough to work in covered employment often lose their benefits when employers use crew leaders who fail to report wages and pay unemployemnt insurance taxes. This discriminatory treatment of farm workers is then shown to be racially motivated and to have a disproportionate impact on the non-White majority of agricultural workers. Today's partial exclusion of these workers from UI isa legacy of Congress's complete exclusion of farm workers from all New Deal legislation intended to …

Of Seeds And Shamans: The Appropriation Of The Scientific And Technical Knowledge Of Indigenous And Local Communities, Naomi Roht-Arriaza

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article recasts the debates over access to, and control over, genetic and biological knowledge and resources in terms of the appropriation of indigenous and local communities' knowledge and resources. It first discusses recent examples of appropriation as currently conducted by global biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and agribusiness corporations and their associates in Northern universities, seed and gene banks, and research centers. Second, it describes and exposes the mechanisms of appropriation by focusing on the limited and culturally determined definitions of what is "wild" as opposed to "cultivated," what is "knowledge" and who can possess it, and what are "innovations" and "inventions." …

An End To Race-Based Discrimination Against Farm Workers Under Federal Unemployment Insurance, Larry Norton, Marc Linder

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Abstract for a piece in the 1995 Unemployment Compensation: Continuity and Change symposium presented by the Advisory Council on Unemployment Compensation and the University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform.

The Hunger Trap: Women, Food, And Self-Determination, Christine Chinkin, Shelley Wright

Michigan Journal of International Law

The authors examine the relationship of international law and food to women by first presenting seven stories of women from different situations, geographical locations, and conditions of affluence or poverty. These individual stories illustrate in a concrete way the circumstances of individual women's lives and their relationship to food and hunger. They are, to some extent, representative of women generally. We then examine the international legal framework and the provisions of international law that might be relevant to relieving the reality of hunger and women's vulnerability to food deprivation.

Protecting Biodiversity: Recognizing International Intellectual Property Rights In Plant Genetic Resources, Rebecca L. Margulies

Michigan Journal of International Law

Accelerating deforestation in many tropical countries with the concomitant loss of plant species diversity incites increasing international concern. Until very recently, international environmental law tended to regard natural plant species as a "common heritage," a universal resource immune to private property claims. This common heritage approach to the problem of biodiversity loss has left the majority of plant species in a jurisprudential void, unprotected by property rights and subject to conflicting claims by countries with divergent goals. Unrelieved economic pressures force impoverished peoples in species-rich developing nations to resort to activities that ravage the forests, and the tragedy of biodiversity …

Federal Regulation Of Agricultural Biotechnologies, Thomas O. Mcgarity

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Part I of this Article describes some of the risks and benefits of newly emerging agricultural biotechnologies. After discussing, in Part II, the role of federal agencies in regulating agricultural biotechnologies, Part III of the Article proposes elements for an adequate regulatory regime. Part IV then measures the existing legal authorities, as implemented by the USDA and the EPA, against the ideal elements. Part V examines the willingness of these agencies to regulate. Finally, Part VI suggests changes that can be made in the current regulatory regime to bring about more effective regulation and to enhance public trust in regulatory …

Mediation In Debtor/Creditor Relationships, Edward A. Morse

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Two states that have substantial interests in agricultural debtor/creditor relationships have attempted to limit the social and economic costs of prematurely terminating the debtor/creditor relationship. Iowa and Minnesota have adopted a statutory requirement that the creditor offer to submit to mediation prior to taking any debt collection action against an agricultural borrower. This Note argues that requiring creditors to offer mediation as a statutory prerequisite to debt collection is an effective means of reducing the social and economic costs of the premature termination of a debtor/creditor relationship in business contexts. Part I examines the conceptual foundations of the mediation process …

Applying Antidumping Law To Perishable Agricultural Goods, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that the general sort of econometric test relied on by the Commerce Department in Mexican Vegetables represents a clear improvement over traditional price comparison methodology. Part I outlines important procedural and substantive aspects of the antidumping enforcement scheme and identifies several features of the traditional methodology that increase the likelihood of a less-than-fair-value finding in cases involving substantial price variation. Part II analyzes the economic characteristics of perishable agricultural goods that often produce wide variations in their prices. Part III finds that both the legislative history of the antidumping statute and economic theory proscribe only predatory pricing …

New York Minimum Wage Act For Migrant Workers, Karen E. Kuntz

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The abject state in which most migrant workers in this country exist has recently become a matter of national concern. The increasing stridency of the migrants, personified by César Chavez in California, has resulted in recognition of the need for legislative assistance to rescue them from their plight. The migrant worker is unable to help himself, being burdened by a low annual income and an education level of only eight and a half years in school. In New York, the migrant's situation is aggravated by the powerful position of the crew leader or "farm labor contractor," who often determines workers' …

Selling Reclamation Water Rights: A Case Study In Federal Subsidy Policy, Joseph L. Sax

Michigan Law Review

This situation raises some interesting questions about federal reclamation policy and about subsidy policy in general. Why should a program designed to give a needed service at reasonable rates evolve into one where the original recipients, at the end of their time of need, are also rewarded by the gift of a large capital asset? Moreover, why should that reward be given at the expense of their successors on the project, who, one would think, are equally the concern of the reclamation program? These are the questions ·with which this article will be concerned.

Patents--Prior Publication-Application Of Section 102(B) To Plant Patents, Ira J. Jaffe S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Appellant applied for a plant patent on two roses which he had developed. The Patent Office Board of Appeals affirmed the final rejection of the application on the basis of section 102(b) of the patent statute. Pictures and classifications of the varieties of roses sought to be patented had appeared in printed publications more than one year before appellant's application. On appeal, held, reversed. In order to bar issuance of a plant patent, a description in a printed publication must convey such knowledge as to place the invention within the public domain. In re LeGrice, 301 F.2d 929 …

Regulation Of Business - Antitrust Laws - Exemption Of Agricultural Cooperative, Dean L. Berry S.Ed.

Michigan Law Review

Defendant agricultural cooperative, organized under the authority of section 6 of the Clayton Act and section I of the Capper- Volstead Act, engaged in alleged predatory practices claimed by the government to constitute an attempt to monopolize and lessen competition within the ban of the Sherman and Clayton Acts. In a civil action by the government setting forth three separate claims for relief from such activities, held, the first cause of action, alleging monopoly, dismissed on the merits. In the absence of a combination or conspiracy with persons who are not within the purview of the Clayton and Capper-Volstead …

Parsons, Penn, Raup: Land Tenure, John C. Payne

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Land Tenure. Edited by Kenneth H. Parsons, Raymond J. Penn and Philip M. Raup.