The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture completed its markup of the Farm, Food and National Security Act of 2024 (Farm Bill) on May 24, 2024, and passed the proposed legislation 33-21, with four Democrats –...more
Citing the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), and recognizing the role of the district court in reviewing a final agency determination under the act, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California granted...more
Winter, spring, summer, fire season, and fall – as Californians, we have all become accustomed to a fifth season – fire season. Even worse, fire season was once confined to just a few months, but now is a threat for most of...more
Smoke taint has dominated the worries of the California wine industry recent years. With unsettled climate conditions and continued droughts, there is no reason to think that smoke taint will not continue to be a significant...more
California is at the start of another dry year, with increased likelihood that the North Bay will experience another active fire season. Fires are always a risk and they are always unpredictable — preparing in advance can...more
The Whole-Farm Revenue Protection (WFRP) policy was introduced in 2014 to provide farmers a new, more flexible risk management tool. Unlike traditional multi-peril crop insurance (MPCI) policies, the WFRP policy provides...more
Recent wildfires in California Wine Country, particularly those that devastated parts of Napa and Sonoma counties in October 2017, have focused attention on whether insurance covers smoke taint damage to grapes and wine. ...more
The Eighth Circuit reversed a district court decision vacating an arbitration award relating to a federal crop insurance policy issued through a standard reinsurance agreement with the Federal Crop Insurance Corp. (FCIC). The...more
A farmer who lost a crop insurance dispute at arbitration took his insurance company to federal district court, filing a motion to vacate the arbitration award. When the lower court split the baby, the farmer and the insurer...more
In early August, hemp farmers in central Oregon confronted a dilemma that every crop farmer fears. Severe thunderstorms – showering golf ball-sized hail – rolled through nearly five hundred acres of farmland, severely...more
The Environmental Defense Fund and National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (collectively, “NASDA”) released a joint report titled: Innovative State-Led Efforts to Finance Agricultural Conservation...more
In a News Release published on August 27, 2019, the Risk Management Agency (“RMA”) of the United States Department of Agriculture (the “USDA”) announced that certain hemp growers and producers will be eligible for hemp crop...more
The unavailability of crop insurance for hemp has long been a source of frustration and risk for growers in North Carolina, especially in the wake of recent disaster events like Hurricane Florence....more
Williamson Farm challenged the district court’s decision to vacate an arbitration award that Williamson won against Diversified Crop Insurance, a private insurance company that sold a federal crop insurance policy to...more
This week, we attended the Industrial Hemp Summit in Danville, VA. The quality of the event, the information shared, and the people in attendance were incredible. Although the topics of discussion and educational materials...more
On December 20, 2018, President Trump signed into law the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 (commonly known as the Farm Bill)....more
In a recent dispute involving a crop insurance policy, the Texas Supreme Court held that an independent insurance agency could not compel arbitration of certain claims brought against it in state court by an insured (JJ...more
The legalization of cannabis in many states is helping the industry to become mainstream and gain access to insurance products taken for granted in other economic sectors. But there is still a long way to go until the...more
The plaintiff, a farming company, demanded arbitration against Diversified Crop Insurance Services over the nonpayment of federally reinsured claims....more
The Business Insider discussed McDonald’s focus on chicken. USAgNet discussed a study on the impacts of air pollution on behavior....more
Sonny Perdue, secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), released the Trump Administration's 2018 Farm Bill and Legislative Principles on Jan. 24, 2018. "These principles will be used as a road map. They are our...more
CBC News discussed a national plan in Canada to reduce antibiotic use in farm animals....more
Some guiding principles, taken from decades of experience representing insurance policyholders in California and around the globe - The Wine Country fires, and the uncertainty of their cause, may complicate insurance...more
TOP NEWS - FDA Proposes New Compliance Dates for the Water Provisions of the Produce Safety Final Rule - On September 13, 2017, the Food and Drug Administration issued a proposed rule to extend, for covered produce...more
On September 20, a federal district court in the District of Columbia dismissed a lawsuit brought by reinsurers of the federal crop insurance program. The plaintiffs-reinsurers alleged that the Federal Crop Insurance...more