Section Newsletters

Articles on Agricultural Law

Grain elevator failures: Can farmers and businesses do anything? By Jeffrey A. Mollet Agricultural Law, September 2007 Ty-Walk in Illinois. Creston in Iowa. Grain elevator failures are nothing new, and have occurred throughout the past decades.
A practice pointer for dealing with the Farm Service Agency Power of Attorney By Paul A. Meints Agricultural Law, September 2007 If you have any farming clients then you are aware of the Farm Service Agency’s push for having all “paperwork” in order.
Farmland assessments—Where are we and where are we going? By Lindi Kernan Agricultural Law, July 2007 The following is the second of a two part series addressing farmland assessments.
Farmland assessments—Where are we and where are we going? By Lindi Kernan Agricultural Law, June 2007 The following is the first of a two-part series addressing farmland assessments.
Minimum wage rates Agricultural Law, June 2007 From the clients need to know file...
2007 General Assembly Agricultural Legislative Update By Paul A. Meints Agricultural Law, May 2007 Editor’s Note – the following is as of the end of March, 2007, and gives us a good idea of where things stand as this sessions moves forward.
Agriculture in Congress By Lewis F. Matuszewich Agricultural Law, May 2007 With the restructuring of Congress, some of us may have lost track of the committee assignments and those legislators who are representing us in the areas that touch upon agriculture.
Proposed Illinois legislation of interest to farmers and small rural communities By Paul A. Meints Agricultural Law, April 2007 Resource: Illinois General Assembly— http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/default.asp
2006 Agricultual Law Update By Margaret L. van Dijk Agricultural Law, February 2007 Amends the Open Meetings Act.
Estate and gift tax changes for 2007 By Mike Drone Agricultural Law, February 2007 Only a few changes in the estate and gift tax law go into effect in 2007.
Conservation easements: Smart growth or sprawl promotion? By Jesse J. Richardson, Jr. Agricultural Law, December 2006 This article attempts to briefly summarize some of the land use planning issues arising from perpetual conservation easements.
Coexistence failures and damage control: An initial look at genetically engineered rice By A. Bryan Endres & Justin G. Gardner Agricultural Law, November 2006 Riceland Foods, the nation’s largest rice cooperative, alerted Bayer CropScience (Bayer) in June 2006 of its discovery of genetically engineered rice in the 2005 rice harvest. Shortly thereafter, Bayer confirmed this finding and reported the results to USDA.
IRS revises Form 706 Agricultural Law, November 2006 With thanks to a long time contributor and former Chairman, Paul Meints, we learn of recent action by the Internal Revenue Service that may have an impact on those of us who do estate planning, probate or tax work. —jmollet
Agricultural liens: A comparison of Chinese secured transactions law and UCC Article 9 By Liu Xin International and Immigration Law, September 2006 The American Regulations of secured transactions as they relate to agriculture, set forth under Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code [hereinafter UCC-9], have been deemed the most revolutionary and important article in the entire UCC. One of the most prominent characteristics of UCC-9 is that it unifies many sorts of similar transactions, which otherwise belong to different legal regimes, including agriculture.
Making farm leases compatible with the division of USDA farm program payments between landlord and tenant By Donald L. Uchtmann Agricultural Law, August 2006 This brief note summarizes a two-page article available online from the farmdoc Web site. (http://www.farmdoc.uiuc.edu/legal/articles/ALTBs/ALTB_06-01/ALTB_06-01.pdf).
Selling food in the European Union By Lynne R. Ostfeld Agricultural Law, August 2006 The following article is a summary of a project to provide advice to Illinois farmers wishing to engage in value added work by selling a ready to eat meal in the European Union.
Selling food in the European Union By Lynne R. Ostfeld International and Immigration Law, July 2006 A summary of a project to provide advice to Illinois farmers wishing to engage in value added work by selling a ready-to-eat meal in the European Union.
Federal court strikes down Nebraska corporate farming law By Roger A. McEowen & Neil E. Harl Agricultural Law, April 2006 The following articles originally appeared in the January 2006 issue of the AGRICULTURAL LAW UPDATE published by the American Agricultural Law Association.
The Series LLC: new Illinois law provides avenue for asset protection By Ted M. Niemann & Melinda S. Madison Agricultural Law, January 2006 The following article is reprinted from the ISBA's Real Estate Law Section newsletter, November, 2005 Vol. 51, No. 2.
2005 legislation amends Criminal Trespass and Aggravated Battery statutes By Donald L. Uchtmann Agricultural Law, November 2005 Public Act 94-512, effective January 1, 2006, amends the Criminal Trespass to Property statute, 720 ILCS 5/21-3.
Brief legislation update By Jeffrey A. Mollet Agricultural Law, November 2005 There have been a few recent legislative enactments of note.
Crop insurance: A tool for managing your farmer-clients’ risk By Donald L. Uchtmann Agricultural Law, November 2005 Professor Uchtmann's reference below to the “farmdoc” Web site (http://www.farmdoc.uiuc.edu) can lead you to a vast amount of information from the University of Illinois, Professor Uchtmann and his colleagues.
Estate and gift tax changes for 2006 By Mike Drone Agricultural Law, November 2005 Editor's Note - here is the annual general information update from Mike Drone, a long-time supporter and member of this Section. Always a pleasure to have members who can be counted on to help us all get the new information before we actually have to put it into practice.
Risk management strategies for identity preserved grain exports By A. Bryan Endres Agricultural Law, September 2005 Emerging foreign regulations for imported grain ultimately may result in trace-back liability to U.S. farmers for the commingling of even miniscule amounts of genetically engineered DNA.
New Grain Insurance Fund provisions may affect your clients By Jeffrey A. Mollet Agricultural Law, July 2005 Effective July 1, 2005, certain new provisions of the Illinois Grain Code went into effect which require assessment payments by various parties in or associated with the grain industry here in Illinois.
The Supreme Court plants an idea—All life formpatentable! And farmers get the short end of the stalk. Part I: The decision By Eugene F. Friedman, J.D., Ph.D. Agricultural Law, July 2005 The U.S. Supreme Court, in the case of J.E.M. Ag Supply Inc. v. Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc., 60 USPQ2d 1865 (U.S. 2001), decided that plants constitute proper subject matter for utility patents under 35 U.S.C. § 101.
The snail-paced Doha Round agriculture negotiations By Adrian Zeno Agricultural Law, June 2005 This article is also appearing in The Globe, the newsletter of the ISBA’s International & Immigration Law Section Council. Adrian Zeno is completing his Juris Doctorate at The John Marshall Law School.
Tax-exempt financing and agriculture By Scott D. Wegner Agricultural Law, April 2005 EDITORS NOTE - Charles Farrar Browne once said “Let us all be happy and live within our means, even if we have to borrow the money to do it with.”
Legislative watch list Agricultural Law, March 2005 As you know, each year there are literally thousands of new bills introduced in the Illinois legislature. The 94th General Assembly is no exception.
Fractional interest discount of real estate-An alternative to 2032A Special Use Valuation By Mike Drone Agricultural Law, February 2005 Not all taxable estates with farmland will qualify for 2032A Special Use Valuation. Those that do qualify may not want to commit to material participation for 10 years.

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