Ag Docket Blog

Financial stress in agriculture creates numerous legal issues.  One of those that may not necessarily be high on the “radar screen” involves the purchasing of machinery and equipment.  Does it matter if the purchase is from a private party or an implement dealer?  It just might.  There are at least a couple of common scenarios to watch out for.

A federal court in Vermont recently denied the request of food manufacturers to enjoin the enforcement of Vermont’s new Genetic Engineering (GE) labeling law set to go into effect next year. The court did, however, also refuse to dismiss the majority of the plaintiffs’ claims. As such, the validity of the law remains unsettled, and more opinions will issue down the road.

April 27, 2015 | Roger A. McEowen

We all know that the deadline for filing the federal income tax return is April 15.

April 24, 2015 | Kristine A. Tidgren

The Iowa Court of Appeals Wednesday reduced a damages award granted to a couple who claimed their neighbor intentionally removed trees along their fence line. The plaintiffs, were self-described “tree people” who lived on a five and one-half acre rural land parcel. Their property adjoined that of the defendant, who was a farmer.

April 23, 2015 | Kristine A. Tidgren

In 2013, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that the Iowa Recreational Use Statute did not bar a negligence action brought by a parent chaperone against dairy farmers giving a gratuitous farm tour to a kindergarten class.

The United States Supreme Court is today hearing oral arguments in a raisin growers’ case raising important Fifth Amendment questions.

A Missouri statute designed to limit the damages recoverable by landowners in nuisance actions against farming operations has survived its first major challenge.

In 2011, Missouri enacted Mo. Rev. Stat. §537.296, a "right to farm" statute designed to supplant the common law of private nuisance where the alleged nuisance stems from an agricultural operation.

April 15, 2015 | Kristine A. Tidgren

The Iowa Court of Appeals again set forth the requirements to prove an easement by prescription as yet another family feud played out in the court system.

April 14, 2015 | Kristine A. Tidgren

The Iowa Court of Appeals recently had the opportunity to interpret Iowa Code §562.5A, which, in the absence of a writing to the contrary, grants tenants the right to harvest corn stalks until the lease terminates. Little has been written about his law, which was enacted in 2010 in response to the growing value of corn stalks.

April 8, 2015 | Roger A. McEowen

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