Agriculture & Agricultural Law: Updates

Agriculture & Agricultural Law

Introduction

What is Agricultural Law?

Agricultural Law was first recognized in the U.S. as a separate discipline in the 1940s, with law schools including Harvard, Yale, Texas, and Iowa all reporting early (but short-lived) studies in this area. The real beginning of the discipline is more accurately traced to the late 1970s and 1980s when there was significant activity in law schools and among practicing attorneys who specialized their services. The LL.M. Program in Agricultural Law at the University of Arkansas and the American Agricultural Law Association were both founded during this time period. Since that time, agricultural law has been recognized as a specialized discipline.

For citations as well as additional history and discussion, see Susan A. Schneider, A Reconsideration of Agricultural Law: A Call for the Law of Food, Farming, and Sustainability, W'm & Mary Envtl. L. Rev. (2010).

For a history of agricultural law and the role of the University of Arkansas's LL.M. Program in advancing the discipline, see Susan A. Schneider, The Arkansas LL.M. Program: Forty Years of Leadership, 18 J. Food L. & Pol'y 1 (2022).

Agricultural Law has been defined as the study of the network of laws and policies that apply to the production, marketing, and sale of agricultural products - most signicantly, the food we eat, but also the natural fibers we wear or the bio-products we create, including the bio-fuels that run our vehicles. Some agricultural law attorneys represent farmers, but others represent the many other interests involved in the sector: agri-business, financial institutions lending to the sector, farm workers, cooperatives, and others. Many advocacy groups that seek policy solutions to challenges posed by agricultural production practices also need agricultural law expertise - environmental groups, animal welfare groups, public health interests, food policy, etc.

How does Agricultural Law Compare to Food Law & Policy?

Food Law & Policy is the study of the legal framework of our food system, from production through consumption. It includes many agricultural law issues that relate to food production but also incorporates more traditional elements of food law such as nutrition labeling and food safety in processing. It also looks at important policy issues that impact our food system such as food justice, food waste, climate change, food assistance, farmed animal welfare, environmental factors to name just a few. The two fields can best be viewed as concentric circles, with a large overlap in the middle.

For more discussion of the interplay between agricultural law, food law, and the new field of food law & policy, see Baylen Linnekin and Emily Broad Leib, Food Law & Policy: The Fertile Field's Origins and First Decade, Wisc. L. Rev. 557 (2014).

In order to clearly cover both disciplines, the LL.M. Program in Agricultural Law became the LL.M. Program in Agricultural & Food Law in 2009. And, the AALS Agricultural Law section followed suit, changing its name to Agricultural & Food Law.

Documents and Resources: 2025 Updates

Updates for this chapter may overlap with a number of other pages. Please refer to those pages for specific resources. For example, Trump administration Executive Orders and related executive department actions are posted on the Trump Administration Actions page. Farm bill and farm program resources are found on the Economic Support to Agriculture page.

Reference Trump Administration Actions for links to changes at USDA including reduction in staff and services

Farm Sector Income & Finances: Farm sector Income Forecast USDA, ERS (Feb. 6, 2025)

2024 Year in Review, Amber Waves, USDA, ERS (Dec. 31, 2024)

Organic Situation Report, 2025 Edition, EIB-281, USDA ERS (Feb. 5, 2025)

California State Board of Food and Agriculture Recommendation: Definition of Regenerative Agriculture (Jan. 2025)

Farm Sector Income & Finances - Highlights from the Farm Income Forecast, USDA, ERS (Dec. 24, 2024)

- A new critical look at agriculture and our food system is generating a lot of media attention: Austin Frerick, Barons: Money, Power, and the Corruption of America's Food Industry (2024).