Agriculture Law Commons^™

Scale Economies, Scale Externalities: Hog Farming And The Changing American Agricultural Industry, Shi-Ling Hsu

Scholarly Publications

American agriculture is inexorably concentrating into the hands of a small number of large conglomerates. Expanding farms pursuing scale economies would normally have to abide by a system of environmental and other laws that would, in theory, require farms to account for negative externalities. If those laws were observed and enforced, they would help strike a balance between the greater profitability and the larger externalities of scaling up. But these laws are not widely observed nor rigorously enforced, which upsets this balance and gives large-scale farms a cost advantage while insulating them from corresponding responsibilities.

Perhaps nowhere in agriculture is …

Navigating A Pathway Toward Colorado's Water Future: A Review And Recommendations On Colorado's Draft Water Plan, Lawrence J. Macdonnell, Colorado Water Working Group

Books, Reports, and Studies

40 pages (includes color illustrations).

Mexico, T. Matthew Hansen, Eduardo Isaias Riviera Rodriguez, Alonso Gonzalez-Villalobos, Paulina Aguilar Cervantes, Michell Nader, Jose Sifuentes, Garardo Calderon-Villegas, Isaac Shefer, Stefano De Luca, Maria Cadelaria Pelayo Torres, Evangelina Flores Preciado, Alicia Vicente Rodriguez, Maria Erika Cardenas Briseno, Juan Pablo Venegas Contreras

The International Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Living With Monsanto, 2015 Mich. St. L. Rev. 559 (2015), Daryl Lim

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

Bowman v. Monsanto Co. signaled the end of an era of seed saving. Farmers must buy new seed for replanting or risk patent infringement. The familiar rhetoric of oppressed farmers belies the fact that Monsanto’s success rests in part on farmers prizing its innovations. Current trends indicate that this reliance on Monsanto will continue. The Supreme Court correctly found for Monsanto. However, future cases must iron out the kinks in the Bowman decision. Despite the Court’s best intentions, inadvertence cannot shield farmers from patent infringement. The Court must also make it clear that patentees cannot use licensing restrictions to claw …

Calibrating Liquefied Natural Gas Export Life Cycle Assessment: Accounting For Legal Boundaries And Post-Export Markets, James W. Coleman, Adebola Kasumu, Jeanne Liendo, Vivian Li, Sarah Marie Jordaan

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

The climate impact of liquefied natural gas (LNG) export from North America is one of the most pressing questions for Canadian and world energy policy today. This paper performs the first life cycle assessment (LCA) of the greenhouse gas emissions from LNG exports from Canada, assuming that importing countries use the natural gas for electricity generation. It shows that the climate impact of LNG depends on where it is sent. If LNG from Canada displaces electricity in coal-dependent countries, it will likely lower global greenhouse gas emissions. If it displaces electricity from countries that rely on low carbon sources such …

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 …

Weed And Water Law: Regulating Legal Marijuana, Ryan Stoa

Faculty Publications

Marijuana is nearing the end of its prohibition in the United States. Arguably the country’s largest cash crop, marijuana is already legal for recreational use in Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Washington DC. Between now and election day 2016, an additional 14 states may place marijuana legalization initiatives on their ballots. In addition, 23 states and Washington DC have legalized medical marijuana, with up to seven states pending legislation. The era of marijuana prohibition is rapidly coming to a close.

At the same time, traditional doctrines of water law are struggling to cope with the modern realities of water scarcity. …

Sickeningly Sweet: Analysis And Solutions For Adverse Dietary Consequences Of European Agricultural Law, Emilie K. Aguirre

Faculty Scholarship

Sixty-nine percent of adults in the United States, sixty-four percent in the United Kingdom, and over one-third worldwide are overweight or obese. These staggering figures continue to grow, with accompanying emotional, physical, and economic consequences, both for individuals and society as a whole. The role law plays in facilitating this global trend is significant, and yet puzzlingly, little recognized or understood. The current food system is profoundly structurally flawed: it establishes unhealthy dietary behaviors as the default option for consumers. This Article is the first to examine how agricultural law has facilitated these unhealthier diets for the past fifty years, …

Does The 2014 Farm Bill's New Acep Program Really Benefit America, Or Does A Lack Of Funding Stymie Any Good Works?, Brian Wood

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

The Sky's The Limit: Uas Regulation And Changing Applications In Agriculture, Lindsey T. Anderson

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Can Conservation Easements Preserve Agriculture In Kentucky Without Expressly Protecting Water Rights?, Rebecca Price

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

2014 Federal Legislative Review, Jessica Brockway

Animal Law Review

The 113th Congress escaped the designation of "least productive Congress in modern history" thanks to a particularly active lame duck session. During its session, the 113th Congress enacted 296 laws, 212 of which were "categorized ... as substantive " by the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan "fact tank." This legislative activity, however, did not benefit animals. Of the pieces of proposed legislation discussed in this Review, none passed and, unless otherwise specified, all died in Committee.

Memo To The Obama Administration On The U.S. National Action Plan On Responsible Business Conduct, Kaitlin Y. Cordes, Lisa E. Sachs

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

In January 2015, CCSI sent a memo to President Obama to provide input on the U.S. National Action Plan on responsible business conduct. The memo applauded the U.S. Government’s decision to develop a National Action Plan consistent with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, noting that responsible and rights-respecting outward investment can support sustainable development in host countries, and that the U.S. Government has an important role to play in promoting responsible business operations. The memo urged the government to explore in particular how the National Action Plan can address …

Living With Monsanto, 2015 Mich. St. L. Rev. 559 (2015), Daryl Lim

Faculty Scholarly Works

Bowman v. Monsanto Co. signaled the end of an era of seed saving. Farmers must buy new seed for replanting or risk patent infringement. The familiar rhetoric of oppressed farmers belies the fact that Monsanto’s success rests in part on farmers prizing its innovations. Current trends indicate that this reliance on Monsanto will continue. The Supreme Court correctly found for Monsanto. However, future cases must iron out the kinks in the Bowman decision. Despite the Court’s best intentions, inadvertence cannot shield farmers from patent infringement. The Court must also make it clear that patentees cannot use licensing restrictions to claw …

Living With Monsanto, Daryl Lim

Faculty Scholarly Works

Bowman v. Monsanto Co. signaled the end of an era of seed saving. Farmers must buy new seed for replanting or risk patent infringement. The familiar rhetoric of oppressed farmers belies the fact that Monsanto’s success rests in part on farmers prizing its innovations. Current trends indicate that this reliance on Monsanto will continue. The Supreme Court correctly found for Monsanto. However, future cases must iron out the kinks in the Bowman decision. Despite the Court’s best intentions, inadvertence cannot shield farmers from patent infringement. The Court must also make it clear that patentees cannot use licensing restrictions to claw …

2014 State Legislative Review, Aaron C. Johnson

Animal Law Review

Several state legislatures addressed animal welfare issues in 2014. A young fifth-grader, motivated by a documentary, inspired her community and state legislature to attempt to pass legislation protect­ing orcas. Two states decided to blaze a new trail when they deter­mined that the federal government was not going far enough to stop the ivory and rhino horn trade. The battle between freedom of speech and property rights reared its ugly head as several states took on the polemical issue of 'ag-gag.' Lastly, we witnessed breed-specific legisla­tion become illegal in three more states, with science trumping the availability heuristic.

The 2014 Farm Bill And Snap: Improving The Diets Of Low-Income Americans?, Mathew Swinburne

University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class

No abstract provided.

An Examination Of El Niño's And Agricultural Runoff's Effect On Harmful Algal Blooms And California Sea Lion (Zalophus Californianus) Health In Monterey Bay, Nadine Lafeber

Scripps Senior Theses

An increase in marine mammal stranding and die-off events has been observed along the California coast. The exact cause to explain for these recent events is unknown, but El Niño and harmful algal blooms are established sources for temporary decreases in marine mammal health. To determine whether El Niño could be causing and amplifying harmful algal blooms, particularly in Monterey Bay where they occur frequently, data was analyzed from the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito, California. Data analysis focused on California sea lions (Zalophus californianus), because they have the largest data set and are directly affected by harmful …

Agricultural Biotechnology: Drawing On International Law To Promote Progress, J. Janewa Osei-Tutu

Articles

In Bowman v. Monsanto, the Supreme Court declined to apply the principle of exhaustion to limit the patentee's ability to control the reproduction of self-replicating inventions. This decision was justified from a patent law perspective on the basis that a patent holder has a right to prevent others from making the invention. But what happens when we take other perspectives into account? For instance, a farmer might have human rights or other rights that may need to be balanced against the patentee's right. Since globalized intellectual property standards were established through international agreements and much of the resistance to …

The Importance Of The Right To Food For Achieving Global Health, Emilie K. Aguirre

Faculty Scholarship

The Framework Convention on Global Health (FCGH) represents a significant opportunity to realize the right to health globally. However, in order to succeed the FCGH must be carefully considered: it must take a new evidence-based approach that departs meaningfully from past shortcomings in realizing the right to health. Central to this approach is recognizing, formally incorporating, and operationalizing the right to adequate food. This right should be correctly interpreted as a right to a standard of nutritional quality and not as a right to a minimum number of calories. Because nutrition is critical to the achievement and maintenance of good …