A comprehensive summary of today’s judicial, legislative, and regulatory developments in agriculture and food. Email important additions to: camarigg at uark.edu

JUDICIAL: Includes real property, estate planning, zoning and CWA issues.

LONE JACK RANCH, LP, Plaintiff, Cross-defendant & Respondent, v. VIRGINIA PERKINS, Defendant, Cross-complainant & Appellant., No. D066920, 2016 WL 4367209 (Cal. Ct. App. Aug. 16, 2016) involved a dispute between two property owners regarding the use of a road for access to defendant’s property. Defendant asserted, among other contentions, that the trial court “improperly granted Lone Jack Ranch (plaintiff) a directed verdict on her prescriptive easement claims.” Court observed that a “prescriptive easement is established by use of land that is (1) open and notorious, (2) continuous and uninterrupted, and (3) adverse to the true owner, and that is all of these things (4) for a period of five years.” Court found evidence of “permissive use” as plaintiff regularly accessed and utilized road in question. Judgment for plaintiff affirmed.

Layfield v. Insley, No. 0177 SEPT. TERM 2015, 2016 WL 4379230 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. Aug. 17, 2016) involved widows arguing about division of assets and liabilities of a family farm. Circuit court ruled assets should be split equally at time of plaintiff’s husband’s death. Plaintiff’s widow argued her late husband’s estate should have received more from the split of the farm and that his personal property was “improperly included as farm assets.” Appellate court reasoned that under common law and the UPA, it is a “general principle of partnership law that, in the absence of an agreement to the contrary, the death of one partner will cause the dissolution of the partnership.” The court found that once plaintiff’s husband died, “there was no surviving partner left to continue running the business and it was then appropriate to wind up the partnership.”  Defendant’s estate was entitled to the value of his share of the partnership “as of the time of his death plus either interest or attributable profits for the time that Reggie (plaintiff’s husband) ran Layfield Farms as a sole proprietorship.” Decision for defendant affirmed.

In Wedel v. Beadle Cty. Comm’n, 2016 S.D. 59 South Dakota In March 2014, plaintiff argued county board lacked authority to issue conditional use permit (CUP) for an animal feeding operation based on zoning ordinances. Circuit court ruled for plaintiff and defendant appealed. Appellate court considered whether circuit court properly considered the validity of the zoning law in question and noted that the “Legislature has established the proper procedure for authorizing a body to approve CUPs and has emphasized the necessity of complying with the requirements for valid enactment of ordinances.” Affirming for plaintiff, appellate court ruled, “If the county does not adopt the ordinance in accordance with this chapter, the body charged with granting the CUP lacks the jurisdiction to grant a CUP.”

In Georgia ex. rel. Olens v. McCarthy, No. 15-14035-EE, 2016 WL 4363130 (11th Cir. Aug. 16, 2016), eleven states challenged EPA rule defining “Waters of the United States” under Clean Water Act (CWA). States appealed lower court’s denial of preliminary injunction against enforcement. Appellate court observed that the Sixth Circuit “has already decided the district court versus court of appeals jurisdictional issue, it has denied rehearing en banc of that decision, it has set a briefing schedule on the merits issues, and it is in the process of winnowing down the massive administrative record to its most relevant parts.” Accordingly, it surmised, “There is no good reason not to stay our hand in the present case until the Sixth Circuit decides the case before it.” Appeal held in abeyance “pending a decision of the Sixth Circuit on the issue involving the validity of the Clean Water Rule.”

REGULATORY: Includes AMS, USDA, FS, ITA, NOAA, NRCS, and RHS rules and notices. 

AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE: Notice USDA will submit information collection requirement(s) to OMB for review and clearance. Title: Export Fruit Regulations—Export Apple Act and Export Grape and Plum Act. Info here.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE: Notice announcing meeting of the Council for Native American Farming and Ranching, a public advisory committee of the Office of Tribal Relations. Info here.

FOREST SERVICE:

Notice the Missoula Resource Advisory Committee will meet in Missoula, Montana. Info here.

Notice the Black Hills National Forest Advisory Board will meet in Rapid City, South Dakota. Details here.

INTERNATIONAL TRADE ADMINISTRATION: Notice the Department of Commerce finds that the sale made by Inner Mongolia Jianlong Biochemical Co., Ltd. is a non-bona fide sale. Info here.

NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION:

Rule revising the regulations requiring persons implanting or affixing archival tags on Atlantic highly migratory species to obtain written authorization from NMFS, and that require fishermen to report their catches of Atlantic HMS with such tags to NMFS. Info here.

Rule proposing to implement Amendment 101 to the Fishery Management Plan for Groundfish of the Gulf of Alaska for the sablefish individual fishing quota fisheries in the Gulf of Alaska. Info here.

Rule that NMFS announces states of Florida and Delaware and the Commonwealth of Virginia are transferring portions of their 2016 commercial bluefish quota to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Details here.

Notice the SEDAR 49 assessment of the Gulf of Mexico Data-limited Species will consist of a data workshop, a review workshop, and a series of assessment webinars. Info here.

Notice the Pacific Fishery Management Council’s Highly Migratory Species Management Team will hold a webinar. Info here.

NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE:

Notice NRCS will issue a series of revised conservation practice standards in the National Handbook of Conservation Practices. Info here.

Notice USDA Agricultural Air Quality Task Force will meet for discussions on air quality issues relating to agriculture. Details here.

RURAL HOUSING SERVICE: Notice USDA has submitted information collection requirement(s) to OMB for review and clearance. Title: Form RD 410-8, Application Reference Letter. Details here.