Happy May!  We are back with a number of ag law stories in the news over the past couple of weeks.

Photo by Marcus Neto

*Notices of Appraised value being sent to Texas landowners.  County Appraisal Districts around the state are sending out Notices of Appraised Value to landowners.  Be sure that you carefully review your Notice and timely file any protest you may have.  It is critical the property owners understand that while their property tax bill will not arrive until October, any protest regarding the taxable value of property must be filed now.  We recorded a short video about how to read your Notice of Appraised Value and what you should be looking for here.

*Mental Health Awareness Month podcast.  May is Mental Health Awareness Month.  If you have been here for a while, you know that mental health (especially for farmers, ranchers, and those in rural areas) is a topic that is very important to me.  Each year, we do a podcast episode on this topic. This year, we talked about the importance of sharing your story with Grant Heinrich and Miquela Smith.  You can listen here.  To hear all of our mental health conversations, click here.

*Unintended impacts of Farm Bill payment limitations on farm and ranch estate planning.  Shannon Ferrell, Dr. Bart Fischer, and I recently published a law review article looking at the potential unintended negative consequences certain payment limit rules have on farm and ranch estate planning.  We argue that in order to ensure both that government payments are not being abused and that producers can effectively plan for the succession of their operation, Congress should take an “entity agnostic” approach to payment limits.  We wrote a short summary of our article this week in Southern Ag Today.   You can read that here.  To read the full article click here.

*Awards for our direct beef sales program.  We recently won two awards for our “Where’s the Beef? Legal and Economic Considerations for Direct Beef Sales” program.  The Southern Extension Risk Management Education Center named our project one of the “Projects of Excellence” and we were named the 1st place outstanding project for the region.  Read more about our project and our awards here.

*Formal complaint filed against Aqua Texas involving groundwater pumping.  The Trinity Edwards Springs Protection Association (TESPA) has filed a formal complaint with the Public Utility Commission claiming that Aqua Texas serves its customers in the Wimberley area with an illegal groundwater supply.  Allegations in the Complaint include claims of violating production limits, wasting groundwater, inadequate infrastructure, and misrepresentation about its number of connections.  Read more here.

*Florida passes law banning lab-grown meat.  Florida has passed a law banning lab-grown meat. The bill, signed last week by Governor DeSantis, bans and criminalizes the manufacturing and sale of lab-grown meat in the State of Florida.  Similar bills exist in AL, AZ, and TN. [Read article here.]

*Federal rules related to HPAI go into effect.  As of April 29, 2024, all dairy cattle will be required to have a negative HPAI test from an approved laboratory before crossing state lines.  Veterinarians and laboratories are also now required to report all positive HPAI tests to APHIS.  Read more here and here.

Upcoming Programs

Next week, I’ll be headed to Lubbock to speak at one of my favorite events of the year, the State Bar of Texas John Huffaker Ag Law CLE.  If you are coming to Lubbock, be sure to find me and say hi!

To see my complete list of upcoming presentations, click here.