In the past two years, I have reviewed more contracts related to construction of anaerobic digesters than in prior two decades of my career. For years, the financial case for building these mini power plants did not exist. The upfront
Continue Reading Using Midwestern Dairy Cows to Power California Trucks
An Indiana court recently rejected a new argument advanced by opponents of a CFO. The opponents appealed a CFO’s state permit. They claimed a subsurface perimeter tile drain at a proposed hog farm constituted a “point source” of pollutants into
Continue Reading Court Rejects Novel Air Emissions Argument Against CFO
To generate a carbon credit, a producer must demonstrate a metric ton of C02 (or its equivalent in greenhouse gases (GHG)) was sequestered in soil because of the farmers’ efforts. Seems simple enough, but there is usually another requirement called “additionality”
Continue Reading Rethinking Carbon's "Additionality" Requirement
The First Amendment does not protect all speech. A federal appeals court just ruled it does give a person the right to gain access to a farm by “false pretenses.” On the other hand, the court held that the First
Continue Reading Federal Court Rules on Iowa and Arkansas "Ag Gag" Laws
I was recently interviewed by Tim Roy, ASA Capitale Analytics, for The Journal of the International Machinery & Technical Specialties Committee of the American Society of Appraisers (The MTS Journal). The interview focused on ag tech in row crop machinery
Continue Reading An Interview about Row Crop Machinery Technology
Most of a livestock farmer’s resources are walking around on two or four legs out in the barns or the pasture. Animals are crucial to our food supply and the focus of the show world. To give livestock the best
Continue Reading Five Keys to a Successful Feed Contamination Case
For years, farmers have asked, “Who owns my ag data after I share it with an ag tech company?” This has not been an easy question to answer as a lawyer because: (a) data is intangible; (b) data can be
Continue Reading Are NFTs the Answer to the Ag Data Ownership Question?
Dairy farms—and other livestock operations—can be a leader in the battle against climate change. Farmers have always been conservationists. Farmers take care of their land, in part because they rely on the land. Livestock farms are no different. Methane gas
Continue Reading Methane Gas and Livestock Farms — a Win for Agriculture
Farmers are given many reasons to collect ag data about their farming practices, but using that data in court rarely one of them. However, at a recent trial about crop damage, we proved just how useful ag data can be
Continue Reading Using Ag Data to Prove Crop Damage in Court
The Supreme Court of Mississippi ruled in May 2021 that the state’s Right to Farm Act protected farmers’ use of cannons to scare deer away from fields where the farms had been in operation for more than one year. The
Continue Reading Mississippi Court Protects Farmers' Deer Cannon Use
