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      Subjects

      This handbook

      Subject

      Agricultural & Food Law

      Farm program payments and eligibility, commodity checkoff assessments, right-to-farm protection and its limits, produce safety and preventive controls, organic certification, labeling claims, and agricultural liens and credit.

      01
      Agricultural & Food Law

      Commodity Checkoff Assessments and When a Refund Is Available

      Commodity research and promotion programs impose an assessment collected by the first purchaser or handler and remitted to a board that funds generic promotion, research and information. Funds may not be used to influence legislation or to disparage another commodity, and board budgets require departmental approval. Refund rights exist only where the enabling statute creates them. A producer or handler dealing solely in certified organic products may obtain an exemption.

      5 min readFederal law

      02
      Agricultural & Food Law

      Produce Safety: Covered Farms, Exemptions and Water Testing

      A farm is covered by the produce safety rule if its average annual produce sales exceed the monetary threshold. A farm below a higher food sales threshold that sells the majority of its food directly to qualified end-users has a qualified exemption with modified requirements. Produce rarely consumed raw, produce for personal consumption, and produce receiving commercial processing that adequately reduces pathogens are excluded. Agricultural water requirements differ before and after harvest.

      6 min readFederal law

      03
      Agricultural & Food Law

      Organic Certification and Who Is Excluded From It

      An operation that produces or handles agricultural products sold as organic must be certified by a USDA-accredited certifying agent unless an exclusion applies. Certification requires an organic system plan, an on-site inspection, and annual update and inspection thereafter. Land must have had no prohibited substance applied for three years before harvest. Four labeling categories exist, with the seal available to the top two. Records are retained for five years.

      5 min readFederal law

      04
      Agricultural & Food Law

      Preventive Controls and the Written Food Safety Plan

      A facility required to register as a food facility must prepare and implement a written food safety plan containing a hazard analysis, preventive controls, a supply-chain program where required, a recall plan, and procedures for monitoring, corrective action and verification. The plan is prepared by or under the oversight of a preventive controls qualified individual, reanalyzed at least every three years, and supported by records retained for two years.

      6 min readFederal law

      05
      Agricultural & Food Law

      Agritourism Statutes and the Liability They Shift

      Most states have enacted agritourism statutes limiting the liability of an operator for injury resulting from the inherent risks of an agritourism activity. The protection is conditioned on posting a warning notice in the statutory language at defined locations, and on including it in written contracts. It does not reach negligence in maintaining land or equipment, failure to warn of known dangerous conditions, willful conduct, or injury to employees.

      5 min readState law

      06
      Agricultural & Food Law

      Conservation Compliance: The Condition Attached to Every Benefit

      A person who produces an agricultural commodity on highly erodible land without applying an approved conservation system, or who converts a wetland to make production possible, becomes ineligible for most federal farm program benefits. Eligibility is certified on a single form, technical determinations are made by the conservation agency, and relief depends on exemptions, good faith findings, restoration or mitigation rather than on the merits of the farming decision.

      6 min readFederal law

      07
      Agricultural & Food Law

      Nutrient Content and Health Claims: What May Be Said

      A nutrient content claim characterizes the level of a nutrient and may be used only where the food meets the definition established by regulation for that term. A health claim describes a relationship between a substance and a disease and requires either an authorizing regulation, an authoritative statement notification, or enforcement discretion for a qualified claim with disclosing language. A structure or function claim requires no preapproval but may not mention a disease.

      6 min readFederal law

      08
      Agricultural & Food Law

      Marketing Orders and the Obligations They Place on Handlers

      A marketing order is issued by the Secretary of Agriculture after a hearing and a producer referendum, and binds every handler of the regulated commodity in the defined area. Orders may impose grade, size, quality and maturity requirements, volume controls, container and pack rules, reporting and assessments, and research and promotion. Handlers may challenge an order or an obligation under it by petition to the Secretary, followed by review in district court.

      5 min readFederal law

      09
      Agricultural & Food Law

      Payment Limits and the Actively Engaged Test

      A person or legal entity is limited in covered commodity program payments received in a crop year, with peanuts limited separately. Payments are attributed directly to the individuals behind an entity through several levels of ownership. To be eligible, a person must be actively engaged in farming, which requires a contribution of capital, equipment or land together with a contribution of personal labor or active personal management that is significant and commensurate with the share claimed.

      6 min readFederal law

      10
      Agricultural & Food Law

      Grain Warehouse Licensing and Depositor Protection

      Grain warehouses may be licensed federally under the United States Warehouse Act or under a state system. Licensing requires financial standards, insurance, bonding or other financial assurance, and periodic examination. A warehouse receipt evidences a bailment and gives the holder rights in the stored grain. Open storage and deferred pricing arrangements are treated differently on failure, and state indemnity funds cover defined claim classes on short deadlines.

      6 min readFederal and state

      11
      Agricultural & Food Law

      Food Labels: Identity, Net Quantity and Ingredient Order

      A packaged food label must bear a statement of identity and a net quantity declaration on the principal display panel, and the ingredient list, the name and place of business of the responsible firm, and nutrition labeling on the principal display or information panel. Ingredients are listed in descending order of predominance by weight under their common or usual names. The nine major food allergens must be declared in a defined form.

      6 min readFederal law