Blog Subscriptions

The Farm Office is Open!

As you may know, Ohio State's campuses and offices are closed. But we are all working away at home, and our virtual offices are still open for business. Starting today, April 6th, the OSU Extension Farm Office Team will open our offices online and offer weekly live office hours from 8:00-9:30 pm EST. We'll provide you with short updates on emerging topics and help answer your questions about the farm economy. Each evening will start off with a quick 10-15-minute summary of select farm management topics from our experts and then we'll open it up for questions and answer

The CARES Act's Paycheck Protection Program for small businesses

We love blogging about agricultural law, but sometimes we don’t feel the need to interpret a law that one of our colleagues has already explained perfectly. Such is the case with an article about the new Paycheck Protection Program recently enacted by Congress in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. Our colleague Kristine Tidgren at Iowa State’s Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation has written an excellent explanation of

The Ag Law Harvest

Hello, readers! We hope you are all staying safe and healthy. Understandably, news related to agricultural law seems to have slowed down a little bit over the last few weeks as both the federal and state governments have focused mainly on addressing the unfolding COVID-19 outbreak. That being said, there have been a few notable ag law developments you might be interested in.

Ohio's Coronavirus-19 Stay at Home Order and agricultural businesses

It’s been a quiet few weeks here at the Farm Office as we adjust to life with Coronavirus-19, but it’s time to get back to the Ohio Ag Law Blog. We hope our readers are safe and healthy.

What's the "dirt" on organic hydroponics?

The Center for Food Safety (CFC), along with other groups and a number of organic farms, filed a lawsuit early this month claiming that USDA violated the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) when it allowed hydroponically-grown crops to bear the “Certified Organic” label. In January 2019, CFC filed a legal petition asking USDA to create regulations which would ban hydroponic operations from using the organic label. USDA denied the petitio

The Ag Law Harvest

In Ohio and around the country, farmers are gearing up for a new planting season. Spring is (almost) here! Before we leave winter totally behind, we wanted to keep you up to date on some notable ag law news from the past few months.

Here’s a look at what’s going on in ag law across the country…

Case watch: the Lake Erie Bill of Rights battle ends

Written by Peggy Kirk Hall and Ellen Essman

In the not-too-surprising news category, a federal court has invalidated the Lake Erie Bill of Rights (LEBOR) that Toledo residents passed last year to recognize and protect legal rights for Lake Erie. What is surprising, however, is how the court reached its decision to strike down LEBOR, even in the wake of a law passed by the Ohio legislature in July of 2019 that denies legal standing to nature and prevents a person from bringing a court action on behalf of nature or any ecosystem.

Live from the Ohio Department of Ag, it's hemp applications!

For months, would-be hemp cultivators and processors in Ohio have been waiting for the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) to announce when applications for licenses would be released. Well, the wait is over—hemp applications became available online at 12:00 p.m. on March 3, 2020. Normally, the application window for hemp cultivation would run from November 1-March 31. Since the program is just getting off the ground this year, the cultivation application window has been extended to May 1, 2020. Hemp processing applications are accepted at any time.

Ohio legislation on the move

The year is still fairly new, and 2020 has brought with it some newly-introduced legislation in the Ohio General Assembly. That being said, in 2020 the General Assembly also continues to consider legislation first introduced in 2019. From tax exemptions to CAUV changes, to watershed programs and local referendums on wind turbines, here is some notable ag-related legislation making its way through the state house.

New legislation

Ohio tackles “TMDL” for Lake Erie’s Western Basin

For the last several years, the state of Ohio and the U.S. EPA have been plagued with objections and lawsuits—from states, local governments, and environmental groups—concerning Ohio’s list of impaired waters and development of total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for the Western Basin of Lake Erie.

Search form

Pages