American Ag Law Conference Recap

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Todd and Brianna attended the annual American Agricultural Law Association (AALA) symposium in Charlotte, North Carolina. The conference includes three days of continuing legal education and an opportunity for ag lawyers across the country (and Canada and Brazil!) to discuss current legal issues. Here are three takeaways from the symposium.

  1. The Supreme Court of the United States issued two decisions in 2023 with major impact to farmers and agricultural land owners: Sackett (the Clean Water Act case that decided federal jurisdiction over wetlands) and National Pork Producers Council v. Ross (where the Court refused to block California’s Prop 12 livestock law). In some years, agriculture is all but ignored by the high court, but ag was in the hot spot this year, for better or worse. Several of the attorneys who argued Sackett and Ross before the Supreme Court gave detailed presentations at AALA in Charlotte. We discussed how some lawsuits are destined for the Supreme Court from the day the case is filed—designed to test a new law (like Prop 12) or agency overreach in the context of unclear precedent (Sackett). These two Supreme Court decisions now will change the way landowners, livestock farmers, consumers, and the entire general public live their lives. Expect continued litigation over federal wetlands and a state’s ability to make laws which have significant adverse impacts on interstate commerce.

  2. Government-caused flooding cases are in the spotlight. Here in Indiana, we’ve seen several decisions addressing when and how government-induced flooding constitutes a “taking” under the constitution (state and federal). See the Birge Indiana Supreme Court case and Houin Court of Appeals decision. At AALA, we learned more about a Federal Circuit Court of Appeals case involving the Missouri River. In Ideker Farms, the Court ruled the Army Corps’ actions caused permanent recurrent flooding which constituted a per se “taking” and held immature lost crops were recoverable damages under the Fifth Amendment. Ideker Farms reinforces the idea that the government must compensate owners for the damage caused when it floods private property, specifically including agricultural damages such as lost crops. This case helps farmers and landowners.

  3. Technology is everywhere. Across various presentations, we heard about the use of artificial intelligence in litigation (lots of caution flags!), improving solar panel and battery storage technology, and the opportunities and challenges facing modern pipelines for oil, gas, and carbon. We have access to technology—and the accompanying legal issues—which would make a 20th-century lawyer’s head spin. One thing is sure: technology will continue to play an outsized role in the field and the courtroom.

There were countless other sessions from AALA 2023 in Charlotte which deserve full discussion of their own here, but time and space limit this review. Catch us next year in Memphis for the 2024 AALA symposium.