Current Issues in Agricultural Law

This section highlights developing issues in food and agricultural law. Many of these topics have been the subject of articles in the Agricultural Law Brief. Additional links and resources for some of these topics are available on the Resource Areas section of this website.

2008 Farm Bill	Food Policy
Animal Antibiotics	Food Safety
Animal Welfare	H1N1 Influenza
Biofuels Information	Marcellus Shale Resource Area
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (Mad Cow)	National Animal ID System
Chesapeake Bay	Odor Management
Climate Change	Pennsylvania Dog Law
Country of Origin Labeling	Raw Milk
Downer Cows	Urban Chickens
Drinking Water	World Food Security
Emerald Ash Borer	WTO/DOHA Round Trade Talks

2008 Farm Bill

• United States Department of Agriculture — Farm Bill 2008
• United States House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture — Farm Bill
• The National Agricultural Law Center — United States Farm Bills

Animal Antibiotics

• The PEW Charitable Trusts: Human Health and Industrial Farming
• National Pork Board (Pork Check-off): Antibiotic Use in Pork Production
• U.S. Government Accountability Office: Antibiotic Resistance: Federal Agencies Need to Better Focus Efforts to Address Risk to Humans from Antibiotic Use in Animals

Animal Welfare

• Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences Cooperative Extension: Animal Care and Welfare websites
• National Agriculture Library: Farm Animals
• United Nations: Farm Animal Welfare
• Animal Welfare Council
• Food Marketing Institute: Animal Welfare
• American Meat Institute Foundation: Animal Handling

Biofuels Information

• Pennsylvania ’s Energy Independence Strategy website 

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (Mad Cow)

• BSE Feed Regulation: Animal Proteins Prohibited in Ruminant Feed
• Center for Disease Control and Prevention: BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy)
• USDA Food Safety Inspection Service: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy — “Mad Cow Disease”
• Beef Checkoff: Your comprehensive source for BSE facts

Chesapeake Bay

• President Obama’s Executive Order: Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration (May 12, 2009)
• Chesapeake Executive Council Meeting (May 12, 2009)
• PA Department of Environmental Protection: Chesapeake Bay Program
• Maryland Department of Natural Resources: Chesapeake Bay Monitoring Plan
• Chesapeake Bay Foundation: Saving a National Treasure

Climate Change

• Environmental Protection Agency: Climate Change — Agriculture and Food Supply
• Climate and Farming.org: Climate Change and Northeast Agriculture: Promoting Practical and Profitable Responses
• USDA Global Climate Change Program Office: Agriculture, rural and forestry-related global change program and policy issues facing the USDA
• USDA — The Effects of Climate Change on Agriculture, Land Resources, Water Resources and Biodiversity in the United States: Chapter Two: Agriculture

Country of Origin Labeling

• USDA Agricultural Marketing Service: Country of Origin Labeling
• American Meat Industry: Country of Origin Labeling Implementation from A-Z
• Meat & Poultry: Final C.O.O.L Rule to go into Effect as Planned

Downer Cows

• 74 Fed. Reg. 51: Non-ambulatory Disabled Cows
• President Obama’s Weekly Address: Reversing a Troubling Trend in Food Safety (March 14, 2009)
• The Humane Society of the United States: Investigations Expose National Downer Cow Abuses
• Beef: From Pasture to Plate – Animal Welfare 

Drinking Water

• PSU Cooperative Extension: Water Resources
• PSU: PA Water Resources Research Center
• PA Department of Environmental Protection: Drinking Water Information
• Environmental Protection Agency: Drinking Water
• USDA Natural Agriculture Library: Water Quality Information Center
• Center for Disease Control and Prevention: Drinking Water
• Natural Resources Defense Council: Water

Emerald Ash Borer

• Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture: Emerald Ash Borer found in Mercer County (July 2, 2009)
• Penn State Live: Emerald Ash Borer surveys being conducted in Pennsylvania
• PSU Entomology: Emerald Ash Borer
• PA Department of Agriculture: Emerald Ash Borer
• PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources: Emerald Ash Borer

For additional resources and links, please see the Invasive Species Resource Area on the Center website. 

Food Policy

• Robert Kenner’s Film: Food, Inc.
• Industry Response to Food, Inc.

Food Safety

• Food Science at Penn State: Food Safety Throughout the Food System
• President Obama’s Food Safety Working Group
• Food and Drug Administration: Food Safety
• FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition: Gateway to Government Food Safety Information
• Food Safety and Inspection Service: Protecting public health through food safety and defense

H1N1 Influenza

• Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences: H1N1 Influenza A
• Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture: H1N1 Influenza
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu)
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: H1N1 Flu
• World Health Organization: Influenza A (H1N1)

Marcellus Shale Resource Area

• Agricultural Law Resource and Reference Center: Marcellus Shale Resource Area 

National Animal ID System

• USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service: National Animal ID System
• Beef Magazine: Animal Id — NAIS News

Odor Management

• 25 Pa. Code Ch. 83, effective February 27, 2009: Facility Odor Management
• Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture: Odor Management Plan
• Penn State in cooperation with Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture: Odor Management in Agriculture and Food Processing- A Manual of Practice for Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Dog Law

• Recent Legislative Activity in the Pennsylvania General Assembly
  • Act 119
• PA Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement: Dog Laws

For additional legislative activity, please see “Animal/Aquaculture Legislation” within the
Current Legislative Update, located on the Legislation section of the Center website.

Raw Milk

• Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture — Milk Sanitation Program
• Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture: Raw Milk Permit Holders (March 12, 2009)
• Agriculture Secretary Says Raw Milk Sales Legal in Pennsylvania with Permit, Testing (May 5, 2008)
• Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Guidance Document — Permits Allowing the Sale of Raw Milk for Human Consumption (March 20, 2008)
• The Weston Price Foundation: A Campaign for Real Milk
• New Jersey: Proposed Raw Milk Bill
• Connecticut General Assembly: An Act Concerning Raw Milk

For additional legislative activity, please see “Food Legislation” within the Current Legislative Update,
located on the Legislation section of the Center website.

Urban Chickens

• Penn State Department of Poultry Sciences: Poultry Extension
• The City Farms: City Chickens
• Virginia Cooperative Extension: Raising Fowl and Small Animals in Urban Areas
• TheCityChicken.com: website to encourage city folk to take the plunge into poultry
  • Chicken laws all over the United States
• Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service: Bio-security for Birds Campaign
• North Carolina Cooperative Extension: Preventing Avian Flu in Backyard Poultry Flocks 

World Food Security

• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations — High-Level Conference on World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy
• Declaration of the High-Level Conference on World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy (June 5, 2008)

WTO/DOHA Round Trade Talks

• World Trade Organization (WTO): Doha Development Agenda
• Chairperson’s Texts 2008: Agriculture Negotiations