Overview For more than a decade, few federal environmental regulations have generated more uncertainty – and more frustration – for farmers, ranchers and rural landowners than the federal definition of “waters of the United States,” or WOTUS, under the Clean Water Act. The latest development suggests that the federal government […]Read more »
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14 posts
Overview Agricultural law rarely produces a single headline that captures everything farmers and ranchers need to know. Instead, the most important developments often appear in seemingly unrelated areas such as farm-program eligibility, water rights, agricultural data, secured lending, and neighboring-land disputes. Several recent developments illustrate an important common theme: farmers […]Read more »
Overview Most judges know contract law. Most judges know property law. Most judges know tax law. But relatively few judges truly understand agricultural law – and that matters. Agriculture is one of the few areas of American law where legislatures have repeatedly rejected general legal rules in favor of industry-specific […]Read more »
Overview As America marked its 250th Independence Day, public debate continued over an idea gaining traction internationally: the claim that people possess a fundamental “right to a healthy environment.” At first glance, the concept sounds difficult to oppose. Everyone wants clean air, clean water, and responsible stewardship of natural resources. […]Read more »
Incentivizing Legal Experts to Stay in Rural Communities Overview For years, the “legal desert” in rural Kansas has been a growing concern for farmers, ranchers, and agribusinesses. When a multi-generational farm needs a complex succession plan, or a rancher faces a water rights dispute, the lack of local legal expertise […]Read more »
Overview Many farmers and ranchers are reaching retirement age for Social Security benefit purposes. That raises numerous questions involving such things as benefits, earnings, what counts as “wages” and the cash renting of farmland. These are all important questions for farmers and ranchers to have answers to so that appropriate […]Read more »
Overview Economic conditions swing back and forth for agricultural producers. Grain farmers in the Midwest have benefitted from high grain and oilseed prices during the Spring of 2022. New crop prices are presently very high. However, the conflict in Ukraine has had global impacts, including a significant increase in fertilizer […]Read more »
Overview It’s been a while since I did a post on tax developments from the Tax Court. Today is the day to provide that update on some recent Tax Court decisions that bear on various aspects of taxation that impact tax planning and tax preparation. I will do this again […]Read more »
Overview Today’s article is the fourth in a series discussing what I view of significant developments in 2021 that weren’t quite big enough to make my “Top Ten” list. This time I discuss for tax four tax developments that occurred in 2021 that weren’t quite big enough to make the […]Read more »
Note: This article is an update to my blog article of May 4, 2020 that can be accessed here: https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/agriculturallaw/2020/05/farm-bankruptcy-stripping-claw-back-and-the-tax-collecting-authorities.html Overview As originally enacted, Chapter 12 did not create a separate tax entity for Chapter 12 bankruptcy estates for purposes of federal income taxation. That shortcoming precludes debtor avoidance of […]Read more »