By Drew Viguet
National Agricultural Law Center
U of A System Division of Agriculture
May 7, 2025
Fast facts:
- NALC’s Elizabeth Rumley, Brigit Rollins will lead conference “Early Bird” session
- Presentation will recap recent legal developments in ag law and policy
- Conference registration is online
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A wave of legal developments — from foreign ownership of agricultural land to animal confinement laws and pesticide legislation — is shaping agriculture, and the Mid-South conference’s online “Early Bird” program will offer insight into these key issues.
“We’ve seen significant developments over the last couple of years, at both the state and federal level, that impact agricultural producers,” said Elizabeth Rumley, senior staff attorney at the National Agricultural Law Center, or NALC. “2024 was one of the busiest years in agricultural law in a long time, and things haven’t slowed down in 2025.”
Rumley and NALC Staff Attorney Brigit Rollins will co-present the session, “Halfway There: Mid-Year Mid-South Review of Legal Developments,” during the 12th Annual Mid-South Agricultural and Environmental Law Conference “Early Bird” online event. The presentation will be the closing session on Wednesday, May 14. The “Early Bird” offers bonus continuing legal education credit ahead of the main Mid-South conference on June 5-6 in Memphis, Tennessee. The main conference is also available to livestream.
The 2025 Mid-South conference — along with the 2025 Western Water, Agricultural, and Environmental Law Conference — is hosted by the NALC and the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture Foundation, or NASDA Foundation. Attendees who register for the Mid-South by May 13 are eligible to attend the “Early Bird.”
Registration for the conference is available online at nationalaglawcenter.org/midsouth2025.
During their session, Rumley and Rollins will discuss topics including:
- Foreign ownership of agricultural land: A topic that has increased in attention in recent years, foreign ownershipis one of the most active issues at both the state and federal level. Last year, 14 states enacted a foreign ownership law or amended an existing one. There is ongoing federal activity on the subject, and nearly three dozen states have proposed legislation in 2025. Kentucky, Idaho and Utah have enacted or amended statutes relating to foreign ownership this year, with other states likely to follow suit.
- Proposition 12: Otherwise known as “Prop 12,” which was passed by California voters in 2018 and bans the sale of all pork products from pigs that were not produced according to certain confinement standards. The National Pork Producers Council challenged Prop 12 all the way up to the Supreme Court, which upheld the law in 2023. Senator Joni Ernst (R- Iowa) has introduceda bill intended to prevent states from passing Prop 12-type laws.
- Pesticides: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released its final insecticide strategy on April 29. Similar to the final herbicide strategy released in 2024, the final insecticide strategy focuses on reducing pesticide spray drift and runoff to better protect species listed as “threatened” or “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act. Meanwhile, in 2025, numerous states have introduced pesticide liability limitation bills, which are designed to protect pesticide companies in injury and product liability lawsuits.
To read the full news release, click here.