Agricultural law and policy refer to the legal framework and regulations that govern the agricultural sector. These laws and policies are designed to address various aspects of agriculture, including land use, environmental protection, food safety, labor rights, trade, and financial matters. They play a crucial role in shaping the practices and operations of farmers, ranchers, agribusinesses, and other stakeholders involved in agriculture. Agricultural law encompasses a wide range of legal issues, such as land ownership and tenure, water rights, agricultural contracts, agricultural finance an ..read more

On August 16, 2022, President Joseph Biden enacted the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) repealed Section 1005 and Section 1006 of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), reallocated the 5 billion dollars that had been designated to assist socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers of color, and created two new United States Department of Agriculture financial assistance programs, one for distressed borrowers and another for borrowers who experienced discrimination in lending. On July 7, 2023, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the open ..read more

Plants play a vital role in human society. People use plants for food, medicine, clothing, and even for spiritual purposes. Since the 1990s, the international community has been engulfed in debates about the commercialization of plant genetic resources and traditional knowledge of the uses of plants. Pharmaceutical companies have developed an intense interest in drug development from plants, particularly those from the Neotropics, which has naturally brought to the surface a number of problems regarding intellectual property rights. The controversy is centered on the legal ownership and contr ..read more