Blog - Page 7 of 18 - Agricultural Legal Counsel

Cannabis

Secret Fudge, Hemp Farmers Barred from Cannabis and More

Bitter Mess Over Chocolate Trade Secret Turns Out Sweet for Fudge Maker A recent jury trial over a secret fudge recipe found that the ex-wife of the fudge maker had misappropriated the recipe and owed royalties for its use. In 1988, Chris Warman purchased a fudge recipe from another fudge maker and made various changes and improvements to the recipe and the fudge-making process. Warman shared the recipe with his then-wife, Christine Falvo, and it was used for a time in their joint business for fudge. The parties’ early business ventures in the fudge-making world didn’t pan out, resulting in defaults, bankruptcies, and a general shuffling of assets (including the

joelcape December 18, 2023

Agriculture

Ag Economy Insights , and other Legal News

Ag Economy Insights from Dan Basse This week we attended the American Seed Trade Association’s Field Crop Seed Convention, the updated format of ASTA’s traditional Corn, Soybean, and Sorghum Expo. One of the highlights of the Convention is a keynote presentation by Dan Basse of AgResource Company, a research and risk advisory firm for agricultural markets. Some of the take-aways from Dan’s presentation are below. As the U.S.’s largest customer for Ag products, China remains an important trading partner, but at the same time it is a dilemma in many other areas of domestic and global policy. As tension in the U.S.-China relationship intensifies, it will impact the U.S.’s largest export market for

joelcape December 8, 2023

Agriculture

Happy Almost Thanksgiving! | Ultra-Processed Convenience

HAPPY ALMOST THANKSGIVING! We hope you’re looking forward to a little rest and relaxation next week, and giving thanks for friends, family, and being alive another day on earth. We would like to give a Big THANKS to our friends, clients, and acquaintances, both new and old. Ultra-Processed Convenience While it may be rarely discussed among Ag interest groups, on occasion we catch an inkling that should make us ponder whether the American Ag sector is producing products consumers want or need. That was the case with Andrea Petersen’s recent Wall Street Journal report describing growing concern with ultra-processed foods. The concern is that ultra-processed foods are unhealthy and make people fat and

joelcape November 17, 2023

Agriculture

One Insecticide with Two Court Decisions and Other Legal News

Chlorpyrifos Back in the Game The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals recently vacated the Environmental Protection Agency’s revocation of all residue tolerances for the insecticide chlorpyrifos which effectively banned the product. The ruling has been welcomed by numerous ag interests since chlorpyrifos has long been one of the primary tools for controlling insect pests in crop production. The EPA’s ban on chlorpyrifos stems from litigation going back to at least 2012 when several environmental and other interest groups petitioned the Agency to revoke residue tolerances for the insecticide. Over the course of 14 years of evaluations by the EPA and several trips through the courts, in 2021 the Ninth Circuit

joelcape November 10, 2023

Agriculture

Beware the Livestock Show Rules, EPA to Examine Treated Seed

Junior Livestock Show Taken to Court The age-old traditions of junior livestock shows have become the fodder for a lawsuit as reported by Tiffany Lashmet of Texas A&M in her recent post. The suit concerns a junior goat exhibitor who had become deeply attached to her show goat and did not want to sell the goat at the junior livestock auction which occurs after the livestock exhibition competition. This case is also great example of the absence of reason and common sense in modern America. Like many junior livestock shows, the Shasta District Fair conducts a premium auction of the animals following the competition, allowing the exhibitors to reap a

joelcape November 3, 2023

Agriculture

Next Round of Seed Wars and Other Legal News

Corteva Launches Next Round of Seed Wars Corteva has sued crop technology start-up Inari, accusing Inari of illegally accessing Corteva’s public deposits of protected seed, gene-editing the seed in Belgium, and then seeking to commercialize the newly edited varieties so they can be used and sold to U.S. farmers. Corteva’s complaint, filed in Delaware federal court, asserts claims for Plant Variety Protection infringement, patent infringement, and state law claims for unfair trade practices. The case raises a host of interesting and novel issues in the intellectual property realm for plants and crops, some of which are foundational I.P. principles. The Patent Bargain – in exchange for disclosing a new invention

joelcape October 20, 2023