Category Archives: Extension Publications

Updated Handbooks & Holiday Sale!

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We’ve been working our tails off behind the scenes to get all our handbooks updated to reflect legal changes over the past year.  We’re excited to announce we have those handbooks all up to date and ready for you!  Remember, you can download a free PDF of these handbooks, or we sell hard copies. Owning Your Piece of Texas: Key Laws Texas Landowners Need to Know It’s our award-winning book with a beautiful new cover! This handbook is designed to offer a basic overview of several of the… Read More →

New Fact Sheets

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My student assistant, Karli Kaase, and I have recently published three fact sheets featuring information on which we frequently get questions from landowners.  All are available to download for free. Easements 101 What is an easement?  What different types of easements exist?  What does the law require to recognize various types of easements?  We cover all of these questions and more in our “Easements 101” fact sheet.  Click here to download. Getting End-of-Life Documents in Order Although no one enjoys thinking about death, there are some basic end-of-life… Read More →

New Fact Sheet: Carbon Contract Checklist

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My student assistant, Karli Kaase, and I recently co-authored a fact sheet offering a list of terms for landowners considering entering into a carbon contract.  [View fact sheet here.] It is critical for landowners to understand that every contract is different, and the devil is in the details.  Before signing a contract, landowners should carefully read the entire document, and I recommend contacting an attorney well-versed in carbon contracts to assist with negotiation and evaluation. To learn more about carbon markets, click here for a podcast episode I… Read More →

Direct Beef Sales Handbook Available!

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We’re excited to unveil our newest handbook, “Where’s the Beef? Legal & Economic Considerations for Direct Beef Sales.” Whether you are just considering adding direct beef sales to your operation or you’ve been involved in selling beef directly to the consumer for years, this handbook is for you!  We walk through a number of the legal and economic issues related to selling beef in this manner including necessary permits, selecting a slaughter facility, budgeting, calculating breakeven costs, and more.  We also share insights from numerous interviews with producers… Read More →

Second Edition – Five Strands: A Landowner’s Guide to Fence Law in Texas

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Back in 2017, we published Five Strands: A Landowner’s Guide to Fence Law in Texas.  This handbook was the first resource of its kind to gather together information about Texas fence law in one easy-to-read, landowner-friendly publication.  Thanks to you all, it was extremely popular. Now, five years later, we are releasing our Second Edition.  There have been numerous new cases and opinions issued that landowners and producers need to be aware of, and this new handbook will allow you to do just that. To download your free… Read More →

Overview of Seed Saving Laws

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I recently published a fact sheet focused on what farmers need to know about seed saving laws.  This is both important and complicated, so my hope is that this fact sheet will help farmers understand the different protections that may apply and help them know what questions to ask when purchasing or saving seed. To access the fact sheet, click here. To learn more about the law applicable to saving seed, check out this podcast episode I did with Joel Cape.

Newly Designed Ranchers Agriculture Leasing Handbook Available

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Thanks to the hard work from our Digital Education Team at Texas A&M, we are excited to show you our newly designed Ranchers Agriculture Leasing Handbook.  While the content is almost completely the same as the prior version, this new publication is significantly improved from a design standpoint. This handbook is written for landowners or tenants interested in learning more about lease agreements, including how to set a price, what terms should be considered, and more.  The handbook focuses on grazing, hunting, and livestock leases.  There is also… Read More →

50-State Survey: Liability for Pesticide Drift

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Landowners who apply or contract for the application of pesticide may have concern over their potential liability should pesticide drift occur and cause damage to neighboring crops. Generally, lawsuits related to drift sound in negligence. However, there are two additional potential claims that may arise in these cases of which landowners should be aware.  Hannes Zetzsche, a third-year law student at the University of Nebraska, and I recently co-authored an article on liability for pesticide drift.  In particular, the article looks at two important questions and offers the… Read More →

Eminent Domain in Texas: A Landowner’s Guide

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Eminent domain is one of the most controversial issues facing Texas landowners.  The key to protecting one’s property is to understand a landowner’s rights, to be familiar with the condemnation process, and to know what steps to take when facing a taking of private property. In order to help educate landowners, I am thrilled to announce my latest handbook, Eminent Domain in Texas: A Landowner’s Guide, is now available.  It is my hope that this handbook will help educate and empower landowners to make the best decisions they can… Read More →

Hard Copies of Handbooks Now Available!

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Over the last few years, I have written several handbooks related to agricultural law. Each of these books are available to download for free on the “Published Materials” page of this blog. I’ve had several requests from folks who (like me!) prefer hard copies rather than reading on the computer screen.  We are happy to announce that we now have hard copies of each of these handbooks for sale.  The Owning Your Piece of Texas book is $30 and the Ranchers Leasing Handbook and Petroleum Production on Ag… Read More →