Hello and Happy New Year!  We’re back with our first Ag Law Weekly Round Up of 2024.  Here are some of the biggest ag law stories in the news over the past few weeks.

Texas A&M AgriLife Marketing and Communications

*State of Texas responds in Tofurkey lawsuit challenging meat labeling law.  You may recall our Thanksgiving blog post highlighted a lawsuit challenging Texas’ new labeling law requiring analogue, plant based, and cell-cultured meat to be labeled in the Lone Star State.  The State of Texas has now filed a Motion to Dismiss in that lawsuit, arguing the Plaintiffs have not alleged a valid claim.  [Read article here and Motion to Dismiss.]

*Most common DIY contract mistakes.  My friend, Cari Rincker, recently published a blog post highlighting some of the most common do-it-yourself contract mistakes that people make.  It offers good pointers to anyone working on drafting a contract and also explains why having an attorney review contracts prior to signing is a good idea.  [Read article here.]

*Practical Endangered Species Act guide published.  My friends at the National Agricultural Law Center recently published a practical guide on the ins and outs of the Endangered Species Act.  [Read Guide here and article here.]

*Article lists tax considerations after death of a farmer.  I am certainly not a tax lawyer, but I thought a recent Farm Progress article addressing tax considerations after the death of a farmer was really useful and flagged issues I had not thought of previously.  [Read article here.]

*Article looks at data behind foreign agricultural land investment in Iowa.  The Gazette recently published an interesting article looking at foreign land investment in Iowa. As we’ve previously discussed on this blog and on the Ag Law in the Field Podcast, laws restricting foreign agricultural and ownership have been popular in the past several years, with nearly half of states having some sort of legal restriction in place.  This article broke down foreign land investment in Iowa, and found that the vast majority of acres with foreign investment (90%) are not owned by foreign companies but are in long-term wind leases with foreign-owned companies. The Gazette also reports that it is Canadians who own or lease more Iowa agricultural land than any other foreign citizens, accounting for 38% of acres with foreign investment. [Read article here.]

*Estate planning article.  Yahoo! Finance recently published a great article by a California-based attorney looking at the financial consequences that can come from failure to have a comprehensive estate plan and common mistakes people make in the estate planning process.  [Read article here.]

*Texas Agriculture Law YouTube channel.  This week, we launched our brand new Texas Agriculture Law You Tube channel.  We are excited to add another communications platform to our delivery methods for news and information related to agricultural law.  If you want to check out the video content we are working on, please subscribe to the channel to follow along.  [Click here.]

Upcoming Presentations

I’ve published my list of upcoming programs for 2024.  It is going to be a busy year, and I am excited to see many of you on the road!  To view my schedule, click here.