News Archive

National agriculture law experts gathered at the Indiana State Library on April 5 for the Indiana Law Review 2019 Symposium to discuss recent legal trends in what keynote speaker Harrison Pittman called an “extremely dynamic environment.”

The symposium, “Harvesting the Future: Issues and Opportunities in Agricultural Law” featured Pittman, J.D., LL.M., director of the National Agricultural Law Center, a unit of the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture and the only agricultural law research and information facility that is independent and national in scope.

Pittman listed his “Top 10 Issues in Agricultural Law” impacting agriculture at the local, state, national and international levels and playing out in all three branches of government. Among them: hemp and the 2018 Farm Bill; regulation of cell-cultured “fake meat”; and international trade negotiations, including a United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

For agriculture, it “kind of feels like we are betting the house,” he said. “Everything is on the line,” Pittman said.

He also called attention to three separate trials in North Carolina that resulted in punitive damages in nuisance lawsuits against hog farmers and the implications for state right-to-farm laws; the legal landscape regarding pesticides; the future of federal jurisdiction above and below ground in regard to the Clean Water Act; why Kisor v. Wilkie is a U.S. Supreme Court case to watch; the fate of the dusky gopher frog and “critical habitat” according to the Endangered Species Act; landmark water quality lawsuits and the “rights of nature” movement.

Also key: free-speech challenges to U.S. Department of Agriculture “checkoff” programs – sometimes referred to as research and promotion programs – that provide a substantial percentage of university ag research budgets, funding that helps advance knowledge in labs, research centers and fields and may be at risk if farmers are successful in arguments that such programs violate their First Amendment rights, according to Pittman.

The symposium also included:

• James Chen, Justin Smith Morrill Chair in Law and Professor of Law at Michigan State College of Law, presented “Agriculture, End to End,”
• Brianna Schroeder, attorney, Janzen Agricultural Law LL.P, on “Sustainability, Environmental Law, and Agriculture”
• A panel discussion, “Lawyering for Agribusiness,” moderated by Melissa Proffitt, Partner-in-Charge of Client Relations, Ice Miller LLP. The panel included Joe Alberts, senior litigation counsel for Corteva Agriscience; Mark Becker, ’93, executive director and associate general counsel for Elanco Animal Health; Ross Johnson, partner, Faegre Baker Daniels LLP; and Adam Kline, associate, Bose McKinney & Evans LLP
• Amy Berg, associate, Ice Miller, presented “Issues in Agriculture Intellectual Property.”

IU McKinney Dean Andrew R. Klein opened the symposium with praise for the Indiana Law Review students who organized the event.

“It’s always very special to see fruition of the very hard work of our talented students,” Dean Klein said, noting that such events promote the “serious dialogue” that is part of IU McKinney’s strong connection to community and Indiana.

“The symposium is an opportunity for us, as a law review, to really focus on an issue. Agricultural law is a timely and important topic, especially in the state of Indiana,” said Sarah Correll, Indiana Law Review Symposium editor. “We were thrilled with our lineup of speakers and look forward to publishing their articles this fall.”

In the photo are (from left) Adam Kline, Amy Berg, Brianna Schroeder, Harrison Pittman, James Chen, and Sarah Correll