Agriculture Law Commons^™

A Hard Pill To Swallow: The Abysmal Mental Health Standards Of Detained Immigrant Children In The United States, Rama Bankesly

Seattle University Law Review

After setting foot into the U.S., unaccompanied children must learn to navigate academic and legal systems while receiving little support and carrying the heavy burden of effects of trauma on their mental health. They need access to mental health care from qualified professionals, but as this Comment will explain, they systematically fail to receive care, as can be seen in cases like Doe v. Shenandoah Valley Juv. Ctr. Comm’n. In Shenandoah, an unaccompanied child arrived in the U.S. and was placed in a facility that failed to provide remotely adequate mental health care and in fact was subjected …

A First Amendment Failure: Surrendering To Science Misinformation For Bioengineered Foods, Casey J. Nelson

University of Colorado Law Review

Government-compelled commercial disclosures are not unfamiliar to consumers. Common labels include nutrition facts and ingredient information. The National Bioengineered Food Disclosure Standard, which took full force at the start of 2022, is of a different nature. The new law requires all manufacturers, all importers, and certain retailers of bioengineered foods to disclose on the food’s packaging that it has been produced with bioengineering technology. Even so, a large swath of the public is ignorant of “bioengineering’s” true meaning and bioengineering technology’s true quality. The politically charged and fact-lacking debate on bioengineered foods renders this standard an impermissible coercion of speech …

The New Frontier For Bankruptcy: Crypto, Lindy Lofton

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

The note examines the regulatory challenges posed by the rise of cryptocurrency platforms like Celsius and FTX, which have faced significant financial difficulties and bankruptcy. These platforms operate similarly to traditional banks and brokerages but lack the same regulatory oversight, leaving customers vulnerable without protections like FDIC insurance. The note argues that adopting legislation akin to the Banking Act of 1933 or the Securities Investor Protection Act (SIPA) could provide necessary safeguards, such as insurance mechanisms similar to FDIC or SIPC. However, the decentralized nature of cryptocurrency and opposition from the crypto community pose challenges to implementing such regulations. The …

Incentivizing Innovation In The Realm Of Social Goods: Patent Law's Unintended Inhibiting Effect On Environmental Technological Advancement, Ethan Graham

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

The note argues that while Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology holds significant potential to address climate change by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, its development and deployment are hindered by the gatekeeping mechanism of patents. These patents, though intended to incentivize innovation, often stifle progress by restricting access to critical technologies. The analysis highlights the urgency of climate action, the limitations of current legal frameworks, and the need for policy reforms to accelerate DAC innovation and mitigate global warming.

Transitioning To Regenerative Agriculture One French Fry At A Time, Alexia Brunet Marks

Publications

Regenerative agriculture—a farming practice that sequesters atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) into the soil—has potential to turn into big business in this climate crisis. If farmers can accurately measure the amount of trapped carbon in their soil, they can sell that stored carbon as a “carbon credit,” a tradeable certificate representing the right to emit one metric ton of carbon dioxide (CO2) or the equivalent amount of another greenhouse gas. As more than seventy countries race to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 in order to meet Paris Agreement1 goals, carbon credits are becoming the “new currency” to meet or exceed …

Corn War: A Trade Fight Between The United States And Mexico, Ernesto Hernández-López

Cardozo Law Review de•novo

An international fight grows over corn. The United States claims that México’s ban on genetically modified (GMO) corn violates the United StatesMexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). México prohibits GMO corn for human consumption. American arguments focus on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures, covered in Chapter 9 of the USMCA. A trade panel will review these.

This Essay first describes SPS arguments and relevant trade rules. The United States’ complaints emphasize that México’s ban is excessive, is not consistent with international standards, and mishandles risks. Second, the Essay identifies the obstacles American positions face: weak mandates and deference to México. Chapter 9 of …

Students For Fair Admissions: Affirming Affirmative Action And Shapeshifting Towards Cognitive Diversity?, Steven A. Ramirez

Seattle University Law Review

The Roberts Court holds a well-earned reputation for overturning Supreme Court precedent regardless of the long-standing nature of the case. The Roberts Court knows how to overrule precedent. In Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (SFFA), the Court’s majority opinion never intimates that it overrules Grutter v. Bollinger, the Court’s leading opinion permitting race-based affirmative action in college admissions. Instead, the Roberts Court applied Grutter as authoritative to hold certain affirmative action programs entailing racial preferences violative of the Constitution. These programs did not provide an end point, nor did they require assessment, review, periodic expiration, or revision for greater …

Antisocial Innovation, Christopher Buccafusco, Samuel N. Weinstein

Articles

Innovation is a form of civic religion in the United States. In the popular imagination, innovators are heroic figures. Thomas Edison, Steve Jobs, and (for a while) Elizabeth Holmes were lauded for their vision and drive, and seen to embody the American spirit of invention and improvement. For their part, politicians rarely miss a chance to trumpet their vision for boosting innovative activity. Popular and political culture alike treat innovation as an unalloyed good. And the law is deeply committed to fostering innovation, spending billions of dollars a year to make sure society has enough of it. But this sunny …

Open Hunting Season: Black Bodies As A Threatened Species, Mark C. Grafenreed

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

Tracing the Endangered Species Act of 1973 provides striking parallels with the historical, legal, and cultural aspects of bondage mapped upon Black bodies. The United States Congress promulgated the Endangered Species Act to protect and conserve threatened and endangered wildlife species. However, this gives rise to a serious moral dilemma and cognitive dissonance in that nearly 1,500 wildlife species benefit from the Endangered Species Act's protections. At the same time, Black bodies disproportionately suffer without similar federal protections. Congress has strengthened the Endangered Species Act's force through four amendments since its inception, even while there have been mounting threats to …

Reducing Food Scarcity: The Benefits Of Urban Farming, S.A. Claudell, Emilio Mejia

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Urban farming can enhance the lives of communities and help reduce food scarcity. This paper presents a conceptual prototype of an efficient urban farming community that can be scaled for a single apartment building or an entire community across all global geoeconomics regions, including densely populated cities and rural, developing towns and communities. When deployed in coordination with smart crop choices, local farm support, and efficient transportation then the result isn’t just sustainability, but also increasing fresh produce accessibility, optimizing nutritional value, eliminating the use of ‘forever chemicals’, reducing transportation costs, and fostering global environmental benefits.

Imagine Doris, who is …

Asumsi Dasar Pembentukan Lingkungan Peradilan Agraria Dalam Pendekatan Sistem Hukum, Any Andjarwati

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

The resolution of land and natural resource disputes through litigation encounters a complex set of issues, including protracted and convoluted processes, high costs, overlapping judgments for the same dispute object, and difficulties in executing verdicts. These unresolved issues can be partly attributed to the characteristics of judicial institutions in Indonesia, where constraints within the Constitution on the formulation of judicial authority for the establishment of an agrarian judiciary are a contributing factor. The aforementioned scenario is also associated with the nature of agrarian disputes, encompassing both public and private legal domains, thereby necessitating the resolution of such conflicts through specific …

“I’Ll Have The Fish, Please” – Why Wild, Sustainable Fisheries In The United States Need Permanent Federal Protection, And Fast, Renee Larson

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

No abstract provided.

Journal Of Food Law & Policy - Fall 2023, Journal Editors

Journal of Food Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Tribal Cannabis Agriculture Law, Ryan B. Stoa

Utah Law Review

Indian tribes have some freedom to develop their own approach to cannabis agriculture, but what is the nature of that freedom, and how have tribes acted upon it?

This Article investigates the current legal framework surrounding tribal cannabis agriculture and tribal participation in legal cannabis markets. It is generally believed that tribes have some authority to determine the legality of cannabis cultivation on their lands, and to create rules and regulations governing that practice. However, this freedom is nascent and inconsistently granted by the federal government. In addition, the legal frameworks tribes are developing with respect to cannabis agriculture are …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Prioritizing Regional Wildlife Conservation By Rejuvenating The Western Hemisphere Convention On Nature Protection, Shade Streeter, David Hunter, William Snape Iii

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

Last year, parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (“CBD”), representing nearly every nation, signed a milestone agreement committing, among other things, to conserve thirty percent of Earth’s lands and oceans to stave off the rapid diminution of the planet’s biodiversity. Implementing these global commitments will require not only strong domestic measures, but also enhanced regional cooperation targeting the conservation of the region’s migratory wildlife and shared resources. Although the United States is the sole major holdout from the CBD, it can still reassert its leadership in regional wildlife conservation by rejuvenating the Convention on Nature Protection and Wildlife Preservation …

Unclos, Undrip & Tartupaluk: The Grim Tale Of Hans Isle And Graense, Christopher Mark Macneill

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

“Inuit have lived in the Arctic from time immemorial.” The Arctic, in the face of climate change, has become a hot spot for exploration, resource extraction, and increased shipping and scientific activity. “[The] Inuit . . . have had a common and shared use of the sea area and the adjacent coasts” among their own communities, and contemporaneously with the world. This vast circumpolar Inuit Arctic region includes land, sea, and ice stretching from eastern Russia (Chukotka region) across the Berring Strait, to Alaska, the Canadian Arctic, and Greenland, representing an Inuit homeland known as Nunaat. Hans Isle, a small …

The Great Climate Migration: A Critique Of Global Legal Standards Of Climate-Change Caused Harm, Mariah Stephens

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

Approximately 2.4 billion people, or about forty percent of the global population, live within sixty miles (one hundred kilometers) of a coastline. The United Nations (“U.N.”) determined that “a sea level rise of half a meter could displace 1.2 million people from low-lying islands in the Caribbean Sea and the Indian and Pacific Oceans, with that number almost doubling if the sea level rises by two metres.” The U.N. also reports that “sudden weather-related hazards” have internally displaced an annual average of 21.5 million people since 2008. Within the next few decades, this number is likely to continue to increase. …

The Future Of Crypto-Asset Mining: The Inflation Reduction Act And The Need For Uniform Federal Regulation, Liz Guinan

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

Crypto-asset mining is energy-intensive and environmentally harmful, presenting challenges and opportunities for federal, state and local governments, regulators, and society as a whole. As of December 2021, the United States has thirty-eight percent of the global crypto network hash rate, which is the total amount of computational power used to mine and process crypto transactions, making the United States the world’s largest crypto-asset mining industry. The total electricity consumption of crypto-asset mining in the United States is estimated to be around 121.36 terawatt-hours (“TWh”) per year, which is equivalent to the electricity consumption of approximately 10.9 million households in the …

Editors' Note, Rachel Keylon, Meghen Sullivan

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

For more than two decades, the Sustainable Development Law and Policy Brief (“SDLP”) has published works analyzing emerging legal and policy issues within the fields of environmental, energy, sustainable development, and natural resources law. SDLP has also prioritized making space for law students in the conversation. We are honored to continue this tradition in Volume XXIII.

Smoky Wine Variety: How Federal Crop Insurance Hinders Grape Growers Affected By Wildfire Smoke, London T. Weston

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

This Note comparatively argues that while both Californian and Australian grape growers lose millions of dollars from crops damaged by wildfire smoke taint, the two countries support and insure their farmers very differently. When both areas of the world are susceptible to the damaging effects of climate change, why are the producers not susceptible to the same type of crop relief? After a careful analysis of the types of insurance the United States and Australian governments offer grape growers, the inequity stands between the systematic approach to insuring citizens against wildfires. In America, federal crop insurance only protects crops touched …

Until The Cows Come Home: Ancillary Probate Reform Is Needed Across The Country To Better Serve Farmers And Ranchers, Emily K. Daniel

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

Property law has long established a difference between real and personal property. When an individual dies, if they owned real property in another state, they may be subject to the other state’s probate or estates code. This means that the decedent’s beneficiaries may have to probate the estate again in the secondary state’s courts if the statutes state that is a requirement. This secondary probate proceeding is called ancillary probate. This Article aims to show the negative effects that ancillary probate has on certain people and industries. Specifically, ancillary probate is a problem that negatively affects farmers and ranchers across …

A Bibliography Of Key Final Agency Determinations Of The United States Department Of Agriculture Risk Management Agency, Chad Marzen

Texas A&M Journal of Property Law

This Article is the first law review article to comprehensively examine Final Agency Determinations (FADs) of the United States Department of Agriculture. A key part of the administrative process within the Risk Management Agency of USDA, FADs contribute to the interpretation and understanding of the Common Crop Insurance Policy, which is the federally-reinsured multi-peril insurance contract. This Article surveys ten of the most significant recent FADs and emphasizes the importance of FADs to litigated disputes between insurance providers and insureds with regard to the federal crop insurance program. Overall, understanding of FADs is critical for stakeholders with the multi-peril crop …

Minnesota Dep’T Of Nat. Res. V. Manoomin, Anna Belinski

Public Land & Resources Law Review

In 2021 manoomin (wild rice), a legally recognized person in White Earth Band tribal law, brought a case in White Earth Band of Ojibwe Tribal Court against the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Wild rice brought this case against the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ over its issuance of a water permit to Enbridge Inc. for the construction of the Line 3 oil pipeline. Though ultimately ruling that the Tribal Court did not have subject matter jurisdiction because the activity at issue occurred by non-Indians outside of the reservation boundaries, this case still brings a novel consideration in the tribal …

Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo V. Texas, Sawyer J. Connelly

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo and Alabama and Coushatta Indian Tribes. The Court’s decision settles a conflict around bingo stemming from a long series of conflicts between Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Texas gaming officials dating back to the 1980s. The court held the Texas Restoration Act bans only gaming on tribal lands that is also banned in Texas. This decision upholds previous caselaw that states cannot bar tribes from gaming that is not categorically banned in the state.

Environmental Defense Center V. Bureau Of Ocean Energy Management, Eliot M. Thompson

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the district court’s grants of summary judgment and injunctive relief against BOEM for violating the ESA and CZMA. The Ninth Circuit found BOEM violated NEPA, CZMA, and the APA by failing to adequately consider the environmental impacts of well stimulation treatments. The Ninth Circuit also reversed the lower court’s grant of summary judgment against the Environmental Defense Center for their NEPA claims.

Metlakatla Indian Community V. Dunleavy, Elizabeth L. Orvis

Public Land & Resources Law Review

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the District Court of Alaska’s judgment that dismissed the Metlakatla Indian Community’s suit against Alaska’s limited entry program. On appeal, the Ninth Circuit addressed whether and to what extent the 1891 Act preserved an implied off-reservation fishing right for members of the Metlakatla Indian Community. The Ninth Circuit ruled in favor of the Metlakatla Indian Community but remanded to the district court to determine the boundaries of the traditional off-reservation fishing grounds. Motions for rehearing and rehearing en banc were denied.

Vertical Farming: A Bottom-Up Approach, Michael Martinez

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

The twenty-first century will require innovative solutions to address the effects of climate change. Vertical farming is one solution that could help conserve a significant amount of freshwater and reduce the agricultural industry’ s overuse of pesticides and intensive tilling practices, which contributes to soil erosion and pesticide runoff. There has been significant investment in vertical farming in every region of the United States; however, the cost to produce foods with vertical farming remains more costly than traditional farming, which is in large part due to the substantial amount of electricity needed to power all the technology required to grow …

Special Issue: Hunger, Nutrition, And Health, Susan Rice

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Everyday millions of Americans face barriers to accessing food, housing, and other supports–––making the impossible decision of whether to put food on the table or cover other essential needs. Food insecurity and diet-related diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes, affect people of all ages and in all communities. It was for this reason that the Biden-Harris Administration hosted the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in September 2022. As the President said at the Conference, “No child should go to bed hungry. No parent should die of a disease that can be prevented.” It will require all …

Journal Of Food Law & Policy - Spring 2023, Journal Editors

Journal of Food Law & Policy

No abstract provided.