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2007 Annual Report
Table of Contents2007 Strategic Plan USDA Secretary's Visit e-Newsletter Launched The Center Website Research Publications Outreach New Attorneys, New Focus Partnership of AgLaw Centers Library Activities The Future Printable Report Report prepared by |
From the DirectorDear Colleagues, In many respects, the past, present, and future of the Center were encapsulated by the visit to the Center of USDA Secretary Mike Johanns in April of 2007 with these words he delivered to a standing-room-only audience: "The decision to create the Center, now more than twenty years ago, was certainly the right decision. As agriculture has evolved over the last quarter century, legal issues have gotten bigger and their impact has gotten broader. . . . Your work can bring predictability and equity in every day dealings in unchartered areas where agriculture is moving." The Secretary's visit and thoughtful remarks not only reflected the Center's significant and continued efforts over the past twenty years but also its utility to the nation's agricultural community for years to come. This year saw the launching of the Center's bimonthly e-Newsletter to better inform the national and international agricultural community of its recent and upcoming research and information activities. The Newsletter has been a resounding success, with the number of subscribers increasing steadily since its inaugural publication in September of 2007. The Center enhanced its research and information activities in several important ways. The compilation of Case Law Indexes has been a tremendous accomplishment and will continue to be so for years to come. Many new publications on timely topics were published on the Center website. This year the Center continued its efforts in cooperation with the USDA National Agricultural Library by digitizing additional farm bill legislation and the legislative histories for all the farm bill legislation previously digitized by the Center. An important source of new research and information for the website stems from the Center's longstanding relationship with the students enrolled in the Graduate Program in Agricultural Law. These lawyers provide a steady stream of research and writing for the website for which special thanks is owed and freely given. I am truly thankful to be surrounded by a talented and devoted professional staff, without whom there would be no Center and no website.
Harrison M. Pittman |
The Center's Mission
The National Agricultural Law Center is
the leading national and international resource
for agricultural and food law research and information.
2007 Strategic Plan
The initiatives for 2007 are a refined version of those set forth in the Master Strategic Plan. Each initiative is a building block for the Center's mission and is designed to develop a product, deliver the product, and disseminate the product. As required by the mission statement, each product must be "scholarly and authoritative food law research and information."
Initiative One: Develop scholarly and authoritative research and information.
Initiative Two: Develop an efficient process by which the website contents are added to, supplemented, and managed in order to deliver the scholarly and authoritative research and information provided by the Center.
Initiative Three: Promote the Center and its Web site as the leading national resource and provider of objective, scholarly, and authoritative agricultural and food law research and information to the nation and the world.
Initiative Four: Build key alliances with government, private industry, university, and other relevant entities to insure that the Center's research and information is easily accessible and relevant.
To accomplish the goals mandated by these initiatives, the Center committed to continually audit and update resources on the Web site, further develop the Center's relationship with the Drake Agricultural Law Center by coordinating projects between the two Centers, coordinate more extensively with the Cooperative Extension Service on the local, state, and national levels, and develop and publish information and research for the upcoming Farm Bill to assist policy makers. In addition, plans were made to network with key members of Congress and their staffs, the agribusiness and legal communities, agriculture producers and associations, and the agricultural law community. The Center also developed plans to more extensively build upon its efforts in the areas of international law, international trade law, international food law, agriculture and energy issues, local food systems, and agriculture and the environment.
Center Hosts Visit from USDA
Secretary Mike Johanns
The decision to create the Center, now more than twenty years ago, was certainly the right decision. As agriculture has evolved over the last quarter century, legal issues have gotten bigger and their impact has gotten broader. . . . Your work can bring predictability and equity in every day dealings in uncharted areas where agriculture is moving.
Excerpted from a speech delivered by Secretary
Mike Johanns at the National Agricultural Law Center
In April 2007, at the invitation of the Center, the Secretary of Agriculture, Mike Johanns, journeyed to Fayetteville to visit the Center, tour agricultural facilities at the University of Arkansas, meet with local agricultural scholars, policymakers, practitioners, and food industry representatives, and deliver remarks to a public forum. The Secretary's visit happened to coincide with the Center's 20th anniversary and was so noted by the Secretary.
An invitation-only informal luncheon preceded the Secretary's speech and was attended by the Center staff, students enrolled in the Graduate Program in Agricultural Law, and invited guests that included John White (Chancellor), Dick Bond (CEO, Tyson Foods, Inc.), Milo Shult (VP for Agriculture), Bill Reed (VP, Riceland Foods, Inc.), Ivory W. Lyles (Associate VP for Agriculture-Extension), John Tyson (former President/CEO, Tyson Foods, Inc.), Greg Weidemann (Dean, Bumpers College of Agriculture, Food & Life Sciences), Archie Schaffer (Senior VP, Tyson Foods, Inc.), Stanley Reed (President, Arkansas Farm Bureau), Mark J. Cochran (Associate VP for Agriculture-Research), Ron McCormick (Executive, Producer Division, Wal-Mart, Inc.), Nancy S. Bryson (Partner, Venable LLC), Randy Veach (VP, American Farm Bureau), Mike French (Associate Director, Cooperative Extension Service), Chuck Culver (Director of Development, Div. of Agriculture), Christine Dougherty (Corporate Counsel, Tyson Foods, Inc.), and Rick Roeder (Associate Director, Agriculture Experiment Station).
After introductions from Center Director Harrison Pittman and Chancellor John White, the Secretary delivered remarks to a standing room only audience in the Law School's new E.J. Ball Courtroom. The Secretary spoke extensively on several aspects of the upcoming 2007 Farm Bill, significant challenges facing U.S. agriculture in the years ahead, and the role that the Center plays in enhancing U.S. agriculture. The presentation was covered by a UPI reporter, and the subsequent news release was carried in over 150 newspapers and television and radio broadcasts.
Center Launches Bi-Monthly e-Newsletter
Critical issues and challenges face the agricultural and food law communities of this nation and the world, and for two decades it has been an integral part of the Center's mission to make researching and understanding those issues and challenges as effortless as possible. The purpose of our e-Newsletter is to inform our subscribers of new research and information posted on our website, apprise them of important events occurring within the agricultural and food law communities, keep them informed of agricultural and food law developments in the nation and the world, and to foster a dialogue between our subscribers and the Center on needed areas for research and information.
Each issue begins with a letter of welcome from the Director that outlines research and information areas slated for special attention in the weeks and months to come. Several short articles follow that have covered such topics as USDA Secretary Mike Johanns's visit to the Center in April 2007, introduction of a newly published article on Chinese food law, a celebration and acknowledgment of the Agricultural Law Bibliography, and an introduction of new staff members with special research focuses. A column entitled "Making Legal Research Faster and Easier" has focused on the Center website's Farm Bill resources, introduced the new Case Law Indexes, and announced that work had begun on a new cooperative agreement to do further digitizing and publishing of historical Farm Bill legislation. Each newsletter ends with a list of publications, Congressional Research Service reports, case summaries, and case law indexes posted to the website during the two-month period. The response to the newsletter has been gratifying, with the number of subscribers nearly doubling since the first issue was distributed.
To review the first two issues in the series, please follow these links:
Volume 1, Number 2 (November 2007)
The Center Website
In the summer of 2003, the Center determined its website was the best vehicle for disseminating the scholarly and authoritative agricultural and food law research and information produced by the Center. To better serve and reach the Center's growing national and international audience, it was deemed imperative that the website be re-designed, re-structured and expanded. To accomplish that end, a major portion of the Center's resources and activities for eight months were directed toward design, research and production for the new site, which was finally launched on November 11, 2003. The three years since the launching of the website have seen myriad changes and additions, keeping with the Center's conviction that the site should be a living, growing, constantly improving entity. A few of those changes and additions are listed in the section below.
The Center's primary focus for the past few years has been to promote the website and expand its audience. The success of these efforts is reflected in the growing number of entities with direct links from their websites to ours: USDA Economic Research Service, Royal Agricultural College at Cirencester UK, USDA Judicial Officer, National Agricultural Library, USDA Laws and Regulations, Illinois Beef Association, American Bar Association's Agricultural Management Committee, USDA - Cooperative State Research Education & Extension Service (CSREES), Florida State University College of Law, Mississippi State University, Law Library at Cargill, Inc., Leopold Center at Iowa State University, University of California at Berkeley, University of Missouri Extension, Farmers' Legal Action Group, Inc. (FLAG, Inc.), Hoard's Dairyman, several state farm bureaus, and numerous agricultural and law libraries throughout the United States. This list does not include the hundreds of links to specific sections or individual publications posted on our website.
Web Page Updates
Agricultural Law Bibliography: Professor Drew L. Kershen's Agricultural Law Bliography, a comprehensive, fully searchable compilation of scholarly articles and books on 48 agricultural and food law topics, has been updated quarterly and now houses over 7,000 entries. The Bibliography is consistently one of the most visited points on the site. Visit the AgLaw Bibliography.
Glossary of Agricultural Production, Programs, and Policy: Over 800 acronyms and numerous new and updated terms were added to Chuck Culver's detailed compilation of agricultural terms, programs, and policies. Visit the Glossary.
Congressional Research Service Reports: The Congressional Research Service is the public policy research arm of the United States Congress and solely serves Congress as a source of nonpartisan, objective analysis and research on all legislative issues. The Center is pleased and honored to be given the opportunity, through the Congress, to periodically receive and publish to its website new and updated reports related to agriculture and food issues. There are currently 469 CRS reports on the website. The CRS page is also one of the most visited pages on the site. Visit the CRS Reports page.
The AgLaw Reporter
Case Law Indexes - The case law indexes provide comprehensive, though not necessarily exhaustive, subject-based compilations of reported and unreported federal and state court decisions that were decided on or after January 1, 2002. For those cases that have been summarized by the National Agricultural Law Center, links are provided to the summaries. The indexes are also included in their respective reading rooms.
Summaries of Recent Judicial Developments - The case summaries are researched and prepared by a staff attorney and the Graduate Assistants under the direction of the staff attorney. During this reporting period, 51 summaries were added, for a total of 498 case summaries currently posted to the website.
Agricultural Law Update - The Center is honored to have been chosen by the American Agricultural Law Association (AALA), to publish archive issues of its professional newsletter, Agricultural Law Update. The website now contains issues for January 1998 through December 2006.
USDA Judicial Officer Decisions - The Office of the USDA Judicial Officer provides all its decisions to the Center for exclusive publication on the Center's Web site. A link on the JO home page directs visitors to the Center's Web site for access to their decisions. During this reporting period, 32 decisions were added, for a total of 195 decision currently on the Web site.
Federal Register Digest - The Federal Register is searched daily by a staff attorney for rules and notices that are relevant to and impact on agriculture. Summaries of those rules and notices are published weekly.
The Farm Bill Page
Following up on the successful cooperative agreement with NAL in 2004-2005 to digitize historical farm bills, the Center applied for and was awarded a second cooperative agreement for 2007-2008. Under the new agreement, the Center digitized additional historical farm legislation, primarily dealing with commodity policy, and legislative history for statutes digitized in both projects. The digitization work is nearing completion, with the documents' posting to the Center website scheduled for early 2008. The purpose of both cooperative agreements was to enhance content for the AgNIC Alliance cooperative reference service and, in so doing, add valuable content to the Center website.
I. Legislative History of Farm Bills Digitized in 2004-2005 Project
Conference Report to Accompany Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933
Senate Report to Accompany Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933
House Report to Accompany Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933
Senate Report to Accompany Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933
Conference Report to Accompany Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938
Conference Report to Accompany Agricultural Act of 1948
House Report to Accompany Agricultural Act of 1948
Conference Report to Accompany Agricultural Act of 1949
Conference Report to Accompany Agricultural Act of 1954
Senate Report to Accompany Agricultural Act of 1954
Conference Report to Accompany Agricultural Act of 1956
Senate Report to Accompany Agricultural Act of 1956
Senate Report to Accompany Agricultural Act of 1956
Conference Report to Accompany Food and Agricultural Act of 1965
Conference Report to Accompany Agricultural Act of 1970
Conference Report to Accompany Agriculture & Consumer Protection Act of 1973
Conference Report to Accompany Agriculture and Food Act of 1981
Conference Report to Accompany Food and Agriculture Act of 1977
Conference Report to Accompany Food Security Act of 1985
Conference Report to Accompany Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990
II. Legislation and Legislative History Digitized in 2007-2008 Project
Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act (1935)
Senate Report to Accompany Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act (1935)
House Report to Accompany Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act (1935)
Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act of 1936
Conference Report to Accompany Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act of 1936
Steagall Amendment of 1941 (also called Steagall Commodity Credit Act)
Conference Report to Accompany Steagall Amendment of 1941
Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act (1948)
Conference Report to Accompany Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act (1948)
Food and Agricultural Act of 1962
Conference Report to Accompany Food and Agricultural Act of 1962
Agricultural Act of 1964
Senate Report to Accompany Agricultural Act of 1964
House Report to Accompany Agricultural Act of 1964
Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1982 (selected provisions)
Extra-Long Staple Cotton Act of 1983
Dairy and Tobacco Adjustment Act of 1983
Agricultural Programs Adjustment Act of 1984
Technical Corrections to Food Security Act of 1985 Amendments
Food Security Improvements Act of 1986
Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 (selected provisions)
Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989 (selected provisions)
Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990 (selected provisions)
Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (selected provisions)
Amendments to the National Wool Act (1993)
Reading Rooms
The subject-based reading rooms form the heart of the Center Web site. Each reading room contains a comprehensive list of current electronic resources for an agricultural or food law topic. Links are provided to statutes, regulations, case law, Federal Register digest reports, Center research articles, and government and Congressional publications. Each room also contains an overview article written by a staff attorney that sketches the history and development of that subject. A total of 33 rooms have now been posted, with the Food Labeling Reading Room added since our last report.
Rooms under various stages of construction that are planned for posting in the next year include:
Web Page and Center Brochure Translations
To make the Center's valuable research and information more accessible to our growing international audience, rough translations of the website and expert translations of the Center brochure were made and posted on the website. The brochure was translated into Chinese, French, German, Portuguese, and Russian. The website is available in Arabic, Chinese (S) and Chinese (T), French, German, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.
Research Publications
The Center research articles are in-depth, analytical, and scholarly articles on agricultural and food law subjects. The articles are researched and written by Center staff, leading agricultural and food law scholars and qualified practicing attorneys throughout the country and the world. Each article is closely edited to insure its objectivity, its authoritativeness, and its strict adherence to legal citation conventions. Eleven articles were accepted and posted to the Center Web site during the reporting period for a total of 90 reports on the Web site.
Terence J. Centner
Michael T. Roberts
Eric Pendergrass
Sally J. Kelley
Eric Pendergrass
Terence J. Centner
Michael T. Roberts
Eric Pendergrass
Eric Pendergrass
Nicole Coutrelis
Michael T. Roberts
Outreach
Presentations
"Role of the National Agricultural Law Center on the Practice of Agricultural Law," Annual Meeting of the Kansas Bar Association Agricultural Law Institute, Manhattan, KS
"Agritourism and American Farmers," Drake University Agricultural Law Center Symposium on the Role of Law in Promoting Sustainable Farming and Rural Development, Des Moines, IA
"Legal Challenges and Opportunities in Direct Marketing," Carolina Farm Stewardship Association's Annual Sustainable Agriculture Conference on the Changing Face of Local Food, Durham, NC
"Role of Forestry in Rural Development and in the Provision of Energy: A German Perspective," Drake University Agricultural Law Center Symposium on the Role of Law in Promoting Sustainable Farming and Rural Development, Des Moines, Iowa
"Farm Bill 101," presentation to staff and aides serving on the Senate Agricultural Committee, Washington, DC
"Legal and Policy Issues in Agritourism," Governor's Annual Tourism Conference, Little Rock, AR
"States' Recreational Use Statutes and Their Application to Agricultural Landowners and Recreational Users of Land," Joint Meeting of Agricultural Law and Environmental Law section, Arkansas Bar Association, Little Rock, AR
"Hunger, Access, and Our Food Supply – Tapping Into Sustainable Agriculture to Support Healthier Eating: Future Trends, Possibilities, and Challenges," Portland, ME
"A National Review of Food Policy Councils and Their Application to Arkansas Efforts in Addressing Hunger Issues," Little Rock, AR
"The National Agricultural Law Center: Legal Resources and Ongoing Activities and Initiatives," presentation to Tyson Foods Discovery Center, Springdale, AR
"Legal Issues Associated with Operation of Wildlife Enterprises," University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service, Little Rock, AR
"Status Update and Future of Title I of Farm Bill," Marvell, AR
"Understanding Agricultural Law," Collegiate Farm Bureau, Fayetteville, AR
"Legal Issues Associated with the National Organic Program, University of Arkansas Food Science Department
Conferences and Meetings
American Agricultural Law Association's 18th Annual Law Symposium
Meeting with Winrock International and Heifer International - Food Policy Councils, Farm-to-School Programs, Nutrition and Agricultural Matters
Teleconference to plan annual meeting of the Association of State and Territorial Public Health and Nutrition Directors (ASTPHND)
Teleconference with USDA CSREES personnel for participation in USDA-sponsored U.S.-India Agricultural Knowledge Initiative Meeting with Cooperative Extension Service personnel to discuss collaborative research objectives
National teleconference with land grant university faculty to discuss development of eXtension Community of Practice for Agricultural Law
New Attorneys Bring Specialized Focus to Research
Erimar von der Osten
Erimar von der Osten focuses his work and research on International Agricultural Law and Trade, Biotechnology, Rural Development, and Forestry. He has examined legal issues with respect to International Agriculture and Trade in the context of Globalization, Population Growth, and Climate Change, areas that have received significant public attention since market conditions changed favorably for U.S. farmers and in light of the WTO Doha trade talks.
Erimar spearheads the Center's development of a Forestry Reading Room. The legal implications of forests are manifold: Private Property Rights, Water Rights, Conservation, Environmental, Commercial, Liability, International and Trade Law, and Sustainability Standards. In addition, state laws and regulations can address multiple forest procedures promoting sound management practices. As more than half of all surface water in the U.S. originates from forestland and with the increasing water scarcity and dwindling supplies of clean water, forests and forestry will draw even more interest as a guarantor of ecological balance. The renaissance of wood as a renewable energy source is another very important area in forestry.
Under Erimar's supervision, the Biotechnology, International Agricultural Law and International Agricultural Trade reading rooms are being revamped and updated, and he has taken the preliminary steps toward the development of an International and Comparative Food Law Reading Room.
Throughout the year, Erimar has been the Center's contact person for sustainability issues and has participated in meetings and workshops at the newly created University of Arkansas Applied Sustainability Center. He also participated in the U.S. – India Knowledge Transfer Initiative on Agricultural Education, Teaching, Research, Service, and Commercial Linkages (AKI). A critical component of this project has been and will continue to be cooperation in the development of effective policy, regulatory, and institutional frameworks.
Marne Coit
Marne Coit began working for the Center as a graduate assistant during the 2006-2007 academic year while a student in the Graduate Program of Agricultural Law. She joined the Center staff as a Research Fellow in August of 2007. Her primary area of research is alternative agricultural systems, such as sustainable and organic agriculture. She also conducts research and answers public inquiries on local food systems, which includes farmers' markets, farm stands, pick your own operations and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) projects. Marne has developed a Local Food Systems Reading Room, with Case Law Index and case summaries, that will be published on the Center website in early 2008. She represents the Center on the Steering Committee of the Arkansas Food Policy Council.
Marne is uniquely situated to work in the areas of food law and sustainable agriculture. She has apprenticed on two small organic farms, and completed an externship with the Fulton County Extension Service in Atlanta, Georgia. She later earned both her Master of Studies in Environmental Law (cum laude) and her Juris Doctor from Vermont Law School, one of the nation's leading environmental law schools. She took specialized courses in Biotechnology, Conservation Easements, Land Use, and Pesticide Law. After law school Marne completed her clerkship with a private practitioner in Vermont who specializes in agricultural law. She contributed to the SARE-funded publication, "A Legal Guide to the Business of Farming in Vermont," and is currently under contract to publish an article in the Journal of Food Law & Policy on the legal implication of the local food movement.
A Partnership of Agricultural Law Centers
In early 2003, pursuant to Congressional directive, the National Agricultural Law Center established a close cooperative relationship with the Agricultural Law Center at Drake University School of Law in Des Moines, Iowa. The blend of the Center's national agricultural and food law focus and Drake's concentration on state and local food policy issues formed a creative environment of sharing that generates many mutual projects designed to reach all members of the agricultural and food law communities.
A list of projects shared by the two Centers is long and varied and includes sponsorship of Harkin Summer Service Learning Internships for eight Drake law students, who worked with a variety of organizations: USDA-Rural Development, renewable energy and community facilities; the Iowa Food Policy Council, farm to school programs; the Agricultural Law Center, renewable energy, local food promotion, and conservation initiatives; the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation, sustainable funding for resource protection; the ISU Beginning Farmer Center, farm transition planning; and the International Food Policy Research Institute, land titles and national law in Africa.
Conferences co-sponsored by the two Centers include:
1. "Intellectual Property, Regulatory, Business, Academic and Government Perspectives of Alternative Energy Fuels," in partnership with the Association of Patent Law Firms, convened international experts, renowned scholars and officials to discuss renewable energy and alternative fuels. The symposium, attended by over 80 people, presented a cross-section of perspectives on intellectual property, business law, legislation, and international issues.
2. Drake's annual conference, "Rural Lands Rural Livelihoods: Using Land and Natural Resources to Revitalize Rural Areas," examined how Iowa landowners are using natural resource amenities to create economic opportunities and the role of public policy in supporting these initiatives.
3. A two-day international workshop on "The Role of Law in Promoting Sustainable Farming and Rural Development," co-sponsored by the National Agricultural Law Center, University of Arkansas School of Law; International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, D.C.; the Centre for Rural Economy, University of Newcastle-on-Tyne, U.K.; the Beginning Farmer Center, Iowa State University; and the University of Arkansas' Graduate Program in Agricultural Law. Scholars representing eleven countries and many US states discussed perspectives on sustainable farming and rural development. National Center staff and students from the graduate program in agricultural law participated in workshop.
Center staff worked to continue the coordination of joint initiatives between Drake and the National Center. These included the director teaching courses at the University of Arkansas on Legal Issues in Biotechnology and an Introduction to Food and Agricultural Law; meetings with National Center staff and director Harrison Pittman to coordinate and design research and education initiatives utilizing the resources of both Centers; and co-sponsorship of Drake conferences by the National Center.
2007 Drake Agricultural Law Center Annual Report
Library Activities
The USDA National Agricultural Library - The Center receives its federal grant funding through the National Agricultural Library (NAL), which is one of four national federal libraries and an institution within the USDA Agricultural Research Service. The Center participates in two programs supported by NAL: AgNIC and AGRICOLA.
Cooperative Agreement to Digitize Farm Bills - The historical farm bills digitized under a 2005 cooperative agreement with NAL and loaded onto the website continued to receive heavy use. A new 2007-2008 cooperative agreement was awarded to the Center by NAL to digitize additional historical farm legislation, primarily dealing with commodity policy, and legislative history for statutes digitized in both projects. The digitization work is nearing completion, with the documents' posting to the Center website scheduled for early 2008. The purpose of both cooperative agreements was to enhance content for the AgNIC Alliance cooperative reference service and, in so doing, add valuable content to the Center website.
Reference Services and AgNIC - Center staff provides reference assistance to Center staff attorneys, agricultural and regular law faculty, and students in the Graduate Program in Agricultural Law and on the editorial board of the Journal of Food Law and Policy. Reference assistance is also available to the public by phone and e-mail. AgNIC (Agriculture Network Information Center at http://www.agnic.org) is an Internet-based cooperative reference service coordinated by the NAL. AgNIC participants, most of which are land-grant universities, develop Web sites and provide reference assistance in their area of specialization. The Center's librarian coordinates Center participation in AgNIC, serves on the AgNIC Coordinating Committee, and does metadata cataloging of Center resources to make them accessible through the AgNIC search engine.
AGRICOLA (AGRICultural OnLine Access) - NAL maintains a database of resources related to agriculture known as AGRICOLA, to which the Center adds cataloging through the National Agricultural Cooperative Cataloging Program. The Center's contribution provides this database with well-rounded coverage of agricultural law materials and facilitates the availability of Center materials through interlibrary loan.
Agricultural and Food Law Library Collection - The Agricultural and Food Law Collection of the Young Law Library contains books, journals, loose-leaf services, and government publications on many aspects of agricultural and food law. Since its inception in 1988, the National Agricultural Law Center has largely funded the Collection.
The Future
Continuing the Center's Mission
The National Agricultural Law Center remains committed to its mission as the leading national resource and provider of scholarly and authoritative agricultural and food law research and information. The Center's website is a reflection of the substantive work of the Center, and the Center has taken steps to explore different avenues for introducing the website to new national and international audiences. Research articles will be solicited throughout the year for publication on the website, audits of the substantive content of the site will be conducted, the Center as the leading national and international resource and provider of agricultural and food law research and information will be promoted, and more key alliances with government, private industry, university, and other relevant entities will be built. The collaborative partnership the Center enjoys with Drake University Agricultural Law Center will be strengthened through the numerous activities and projects planned by the two centers, a partial listing of which is contained in the Partnership of Agricultural Law Centers section above.
The Center will continue its emphasis on networking with policy makers and the agricultural community through speaking engagements, conferences and meetings in an effort to determine the primary issues of concern. Once those priority issues are identified, the Center will structure its research projects and publications to reflect those priorities.
Expanding the Center's International Presence
With the increasing importance of international trade in agriculture, the Center has been elevating its coverage of legal implications in this area. We will continue to examine how WTO disputes influence the U.S. domestic support measures the Congress provides to its farmers. We will also follow the legal issues in agricultural law and trade aimed at the global trends towards the privatization of public goods.
Planned Additions to the Website
Digitization - The Center will significantly increase its digitization activities by compiling, digitizing, and publishing state laws covering recreational use statutes, animal cruelty laws, farmers' market laws, and statutory agricultural liens.
Farm Bills - In an effort to aid policy makers in making timely and informed decisions on the upcoming 2007 Farm Bill and to help provide a clearer understanding of the upcoming and past farm bills, the Center will continue posting more research and information on past farm bills and events which have either shaped past farm bills or have the potential to shape future farm bills. Products from the latest Farm Bill digitization project will be posted to the website the first quarter of 2008.
Reading Rooms Under Construction or Reconstruction - Four reading rooms with attendant overview articles are in varying stages of development and scheduled to be published on the website in 2008: International Food Law, Environment and Agriculture, Energy and Agriculture, and Local Food Systems. The Biotechnology Reading Room, the most frequently visited of the reading rooms on the site, will receive a concentrated effort to expand the resources in the room and to update existing resources.
Presentation Power Points and Podcasts - To make the many resources and discussions embodied in the Center's numerous outreach presentations available to a larger audience and for additional applications, the Center plans to publish a selection of its power point presentations on the website and to augment those presentations with audio podcasts.