agriculture

agricultural lien

As established in UCC §9 102-5, an agricultural lien is a lien placed on farm products like farm equipment or livestock that secures payment or performance in exchange for a loan of land, goods, or money. These loans allow farmers to produce...

agriculture

Agriculture refers to the acts of farming and raising livestock. Activities that fall within agriculture include soil preparation, seed planting, crop harvesting, gardening, viticulture (growing grapes), apiculture (bee-raising), dairying,...

Chapter 12 bankruptcy

In 1986, Congress enacted chapter 12 of the Bankruptcy Code to allow farmer debtors with regular annual income to achieve debt relief. Accordingly, chapter 12 bankruptcy provides relief to debtors who qualify as family farmers and family...

commerce

Commerce refers generally to the activity of exchanging products, goods, and services for financial gain. The word commerce usually is used to mean economic activity broadly on a national or other large scale. Commerce can be used in many...

Commerce Clause

The Commerce Clause refers to Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution, which gives Congress the power “to regulate commerce with foreign nations, among states, and with the Indian tribes.”

Congress has often...

cooperative

A cooperative, often called a co-op, is any association of members of a similar profession or industry that work together to process, prepare, market, handle products and supplies. A cooperative operates for the benefits of its members by...

Department of Agriculture (USDA)

The United States Department of Agriculture ("USDA") is the United States federal executive agency responsible for the execution of U.S. federal government policy regarding farming, agriculture, and food. President Abraham Lincoln signed into...

food and drug law

Food production has been regulated in the United States since the mid–1800s. But it was not until 1906, when both the Food and Drug Act (21 U.S.C. 1 et seq.) and the Meat Inspection Act (21 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) were enacted, that the...

Lacey Act

The Lacey Act (1900) prohibits the transportation of endangered species or banned animal and plant species into the United States and across state borders. The purpose of the act is to combat trafficking of illegal wildlife and plants. The...

prior appropriation doctrine

The prior appropriation doctrine grants rights over surface water and groundwater in order of seniority, where the first person to divert water away from its natural source and apply it for some beneficial use acquires a priority right to...