By former USDA Secretary John R. Block
From my perspective, our government has been getting some good things done.
Remember a year ago when hundreds of out-of-towners blocked the construction of the North Dakota pipeline? The government spent mill…
By former USDA Secretary John R. Block
Last week on Saturday, it was Earth Day. I always thought of Earth Day as a celebration of the earth with its natural beauty and, of course, the food and crops it provides to feed everything living – especia…
Tags: Agriculture, Bill Nye, Biotechnology, Climate Change, Earth Day, Environment, Food, Genetically Engineered, GMO, John R. Block, Science, Sonny Perdue
Peat miners, golfers, and landowners with real property containing or adjacent to Waters of the United States will benefit greatly from the Supreme Court’s May 31st decision in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers v. Hawkes Co., Inc. Hawkes resolved whet…
Tags: Administrative Procedure Act, Appeal, Approved Jurisdictional Determination, Army Corps of Engineers, Clean Water Act, Environment, Hawkes, Landowner, Law Firm, Lawyer, Litigation, Stewart D. Fried, Supreme Court, Water, Waters of the US, Wetland
By former USDA Secretary John R. Block
There they go again. The EPA has threatened to impose a fine of $37,500 per day on farmer Andy Johnson of Fort Bridger, Wyoming. Mr. Johnson’s offense is that he built a pond for his horses and cattle on his…
Tags: Andy Johnson, Clean Water Act, Environment, EPA, Farm, Governor Matt Mead, Green River, John R. Block, Little Six Mile Creek, Pond, Wyoming
By Marshall L. Matz and Nathaniel B. Fretz, as published by Agri-Pulse
There is a new question surrounding the Dietary Guidelines for Americans now being drafted for release in 2015. The question is whether the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committe…
Tags: Congress, Dietary Guidelines, Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, Environment, Food, Food Safety, Food Sustainability, HHS, Marshall L. Matz, Nathan Fretz, Nutrition
A District Court judge in West Virginia is forcing EPA to defend a challenge to a now-withdrawn Administrative Compliance Order (“ACO”) related to “dust and feather” discharges from a broiler facility. In one of the first post-Sackett chall…
Today, the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) released its Report to the President on Agricultural Preparedness and the Agriculture Research Enterprise. The report outlines the importance of agricultural research as…
On October 9, 2012, a federal judge in Elkins, West Virginia, issued an order allowing the American Farm Bureau Federation and the West Virginia Farm Bureau (Farm Bureau) to intervene in a lawsuit filed by a West Virginia poultry producer against th…
It’s a busy day here and I’m wishing for an IV espresso drip and a neural Twitter implant. I’m following the Federal Trade Commision (FTC) Pet Meds webcast and the Food and Drug Law Institute (FDLI) Advertising and Promotion Workshop while my…
Tags: Advertising, Drug, Eco-friendly Claims, Environment, Food, Food and Drug Law Institute, FTC, FTC Enforcement, Green Guides, Katie Balmford, National Organic Program, Natural, Organic, Pet Medication, Social Media, Tish Eggleston Pahl
A federal judge in the Eastern District of California recently held that certain crop and forage operations that utilize subsurface drain tiles may be required to obtain a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. In Pacific C…
Tags: Agriculture, CAFO, California, Clean Water Act, Drainage, Environment, EPA Compliance, Food, John G. Dillard, Litigation, NPDES, Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman’s Associations v. Glaser, Stewart D. Fried
