Overview

On September 30, Washburn Law School with cooperating partner Creighton Law School will conduct the second annual Ag Law Summit.  The Summit will be held on the Creighton University campus in Omaha, Nebraska.  Last September Washburn Law School conducted it’s first “Ag Law Summit” and held it at Mahoney State Park in Nebraska. This year the Summit returns in collaboration with Creighton University School of Law.  The Summit will be held at Creighton University on September 30 and will also be broadcast live online.

The Summit will cover various topics of relevance to agricultural producers and the tax and legal counsel that represent them. 

The 2022 Ag Law Summit – it’s the topic of today’s post.

Agenda

Developments in agricultural law and taxation.  I will start off the day with a session surveying the major recent ag law and tax developments.  This one-hour session will update attendees on the big issues facing ag clients and provide insight concerning the issues that look to be on the horizon in the legal and tax world.  There have been several major developments involving agricultural that have come through the U.S Supreme Court in recent months.  I will discuss those decisions and the implications for the future.  Several of them involve administrative law and could have a substantial impact on the ability of the federal government to micro-manage agricultural activities.  I will also get into the big tax developments of the past year, including the tax provisions included in the recent legislation that declares inflation to be reduced!

Death of a farm business owner.  After my session, Prof. Ed Morse of Creighton Law School will examine the tax issues that arise when a farm business owner dies.  Income tax basis and the impact of various entity structures will be the focus of this session along with the issues that arise upon transitioning ownership to the next generation and various tax elections.  The handling of tax attributes after death will be covered as will some non-tax planning matters when an LLC owner dies.  There are also entity-specific issues that arise when a business owner dies, and Prof. Morse will address those on an entity-by-entity basis.  The transition issue for farmers and ranchers is an important one for many.  This session will be a good one in laying out the major tax and non-tax considerations that need to be laid out up front to help the family achieve its goals post-death.

Governing documents for farm and ranch business entities.  After a morning break Dan Waters with Lamson Dugan & Murray in Omaha will take us up to lunch with a technical session on the drafting of critical documents for farm and ranch entities.  What should be included in the operative agreements?  What is the proper wording?  What provisions should be included and what should be avoided?  This session picks up on Prof. Morse’s presentation and adds in the drafting elements that are key to a successful business succession plan for the farm/ranch operation.

Fence law issues.  After a provided lunch, Colten Venteicher who practices in Gothenburg, NE, will address the issues of fence line issues when ag land changes hands.  This is an issue that seems to come up over and over again in agriculture.  The problems are numerous and varied.  This session provides a survey of applicable law and rules and practical advice for helping clients resolve existing disputes and avoid future ones. 

Farm economics.  Following the afternoon break, a presentation on the current economy and economic situation facing ag producers, ag businesses and consumers will be presented by Darrell Holaday.  Darrell is an ag economist and his firm, Advanced Market Concepts, provides marketing plans for ag producers.   What are the economic projections for the balance of 2022 and into 2023 that bear on tax and estate planning for farmers and ranchers?  How will the war in Ukraine continue to impact agriculture in the U.S.?  This will be a key session, especially with the enactment of legislation that will add fuel to the current inflationary fire – unless of course, the tax increases in the legislation slow the economy enough to offset the additional spending. 

Ethics.  I return to close out the day with a session of ethics focused on asset protection planning.  There’s a right way and a wrong way to do asset protection planning.  This session guides the practitioner through the proper approach to asset protection planning, client identification, and the pitfalls if the “stop signs” are missed.

Online.  The Summit will be broadcast live online and will be interactive to allow you the ability to participate remotely. 

Reception

For those attending in person, a reception will follow in the Harper Center Ballroom on the Creighton Campus. 

Conclusion

If your tax or legal practice involves ag clients, the Ag Law Summit is for you.  As noted, you can also attend online if you can’t be there in person.  If you are a student currently in law school or thinking about it, or are a student in accounting, you will find this seminar beneficial. 

I hope to see you in Omaha on September 30 or see that you are with us online.

You can learn more about the Summit and get registered at the following link:  https://www.washburnlaw.edu/employers/cle/aglawsummit.html

Photo of Roger McEowen Roger McEowen

Roger A. McEowen is the Professor of Agricultural Law and Taxation at Washburn University School of Law in Topeka, Kansas.

Through 2015, he was the Leonard Dolezal Professor in Agricultural Law at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, where he was also the…

Roger A. McEowen is the Professor of Agricultural Law and Taxation at Washburn University School of Law in Topeka, Kansas.

Through 2015, he was the Leonard Dolezal Professor in Agricultural Law at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, where he was also the Director of the ISU Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation (CALT), which he founded.  Under his leadership, CALT utilized no taxpayer funds in its operations and fully funded staff salaries and benefits, as well as office rent, equipment and supplies, and travel costs from funds generated by seminars and other education-related events and materials.  At ISU he also introduced an agricultural law course into the undergraduate curriculum initially as an experimental course, ultimately building the course from the ground-up to almost 100 students in attendance by the spring semester of 2015.  He was also the highest rated speaker at the annual fall CALT tax schools every year through 2015.  Before joining Iowa State in 2004, he was an associate professor of agricultural law and extension specialist in agricultural law and policy at Kansas State. From 1991-1993, McEowen was in the full-time practice of law with Kelley, Scritsmier and Byrne in North Platte, Nebraska.

McEowen also teaches an undergraduate course in agricultural law at Kansas State University, and has been a visiting professor of law at the University of Arkansas School of Law in Fayetteville, Arkansas, teaching in both the J.D. and L.L.M. programs. He has also previously taught at Washburn Law School and the Drake University School of Law Summer Institute in Agricultural Law.

He has published scholarly articles in the Journal of Agricultural Taxation and Law, Indiana Law Review, Drake Journal of Agricultural Law, North Dakota Law Review, Nebraska Law Review, Monthly Digest of Tax Articles, Tax Notes, West’s Social Security Reporting System, Toledo Law Review, Washburn Law Journal, Creighton Law Review, Agricultural Law Update, and the Agricultural Law Digest. He is the author of Principles of Agricultural Law, an 850-page textbook/casebook that is updated twice annually, and a second 300-page book on agricultural law. His Agricultural Law and Taxation Blog, part of the Law Professor Blogs Network, contains approximately 130 detailed and fully annotated articles annually and is the most widely read agriclultural law and taxation blog online.  In mid-2017, Prof. McEowen’s new book, Agricultural Law in a Nutshell, was published by West Academic Publishing Co.  McEowen also authors the monthly publication, “Kansas Farm and Estate Law.” In addition, he co-authors Bureau of National Affairs (BNA) Tax Management Portfolios on the federal estate tax family-owned business deduction and the reporting of farm income, and is the lead author of a BNA portfolio concerning the income taxation of cooperatives.  He is also the Editor of the Iowa Bar Tax Manual, and Estate Planning for Farmers and Ranchers and Family Business Organizations, both Thomson/West publications.

Prof. McEowen conducts approximately 80-100 seminars annually across the United States for farmers, agricultural business professionals, lawyers, and other tax professionals. He also conducts two radio programs each airing twice monthly heard across the Midwest and on the worldwide web.  In addition,his two-minute radio program, “The Agricultural Law and Tax Report,” is heard each weekday by over 2 million listeners on farm radio stations from NY to CA as well as SiriusXM 147. He also can be seen as a weekly guest on RFD-TV where he discusses various agricultural law and tax topics with the RFD-TV hosts.

In 2003, McEowen was named the recipient of the American Agricultural Law Association (AALA) Distinguished Service Award, becoming the youngest recipient in AALA history.  He is also the recipient of the AALA’s award of excellence for professional scholarship. In 2006, McEowen was named the President-Elect of the AALA.

He received a B.S. with distinction from Purdue University in Management in 1986, an M.S. in Agricultural Economics from Iowa State University in 1990, and a J.D. from the Drake University School of Law in 1991.

He is a member of the Iowa and Kansas Bar Associations and is admitted to practice in Nebraska. He is also a past member of the AALA Board of Directors.

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