I recently presented at the Indiana Farm Bureau’s first-ever zoning school. I was asked to discuss three “hot topics” faced by zoning boards, land owners, and others involved in zoning administration for Indiana counties and towns. Three issues came to
Schroeder Ag Law Blog
The Schroeder Ag Law Blog, published by Janzen Agricultural Law LLC, focuses on legal issues affecting agriculture, agribusiness, and ag technology. It covers topics such as regulatory compliance for farms, environmental law, land use and zoning, eminent domain related to renewable energy projects, agricultural data privacy, and contract law for agricultural operations. The blog also addresses emerging challenges in agricultural technology, including AI's role in contract drafting and data management. It discusses federal and state regulatory developments impacting livestock, crop production, and agribusinesses, as well as litigation and policy trends relevant to farmers, agribusiness companies, and agricultural service providers.
Latest from Schroeder Ag Law Blog - Page 5
Sharing the Sun: Agrivoltaics
Put simply, agrivoltaics means the simultaneous use of land for solar power production and some kind of agriculture. In other words, one space sharing the sun for two or more uses. Agrivoltaics solves the problem of either/or and zero-sum thinking…
New Plan for Meat and Poultry Supply Chain
On January 3, 2022, President Biden announced his plan to create a fairer, more competitive, and more resilient meat and poultry supply chain. How will this plan impact integrators and farmers in the midwest? The Plan is intended to address…
Is a Zoning Moratorium Legal?
Agriculture, it seems, has a zoning problem. On top of the various state or federal permits a farm or agribusiness may be required to obtain, local zoning ordinances can create yet another layer of red tape. This is particularly true…
New Roadmap to Address PFAS
This month, the Biden Administration announced a new plan to combat PFAS (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances) contamination. PFAS are a class of chemicals frequently used in fire-fighting tools and packing materials. As part of this plan, the EPA launched a…
Court Rejects Novel Air Emissions Argument Against CFO
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…
Federal Court Rules on Iowa and Arkansas "Ag Gag" Laws
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…
Five Keys to a Successful Feed Contamination Case
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…
Methane Gas and Livestock Farms — a Win for Agriculture
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…
Mississippi Court Protects Farmers' Deer Cannon Use
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…