Deana Stroisch indicated this week at the Illinois Farm Bureau homepage that, “From dicamba to trade, America’s farmers could be affected by legal, policy and regulatory proposals pending across the country.
“Speaking at Illinois Farm Bureau’s Governmental Affairs Conference last week, Harrison Pittman, executive director of the National Agricultural Law Center, outlined a number of emerging legal issues farmers need to watch. They include:
“Flooding. A federal judge last week found the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers responsible for persistent flooding to farms in Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri. In the case of Ideker Farms, Inc. et al. v. United States of America, damages could exceed $300 million, he said.
“‘The central piece is the (Corps’) liable and has to pay under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution for what amounts to the taking of their property,’ Pittman said. ‘This is a landmark decision and it has implications in states like Illinois and beyond.'”
“Syngenta settlement. A $1.5 billion settlement agreement was reached last week in the class action lawsuit regarding the company’s modified Viptera and Duracade corn seed strains. It’s believed to be the single largest ag litigation settlement in history, he said.
“The products were put into the U.S. market before being approved for import by China. ‘The theory goes that they turned away shipments, and that depressed the price on the market, and U.S. farmers lost a lot of money on the deal,’ he said.”
Other issues noted in the update included:
- Chlorpyrifos
- 2018 Farm Bill
- International Ag Trade
