Agricultural Law

The body of law governing the cultivation of various crops and the raising and management of livestock to provide a food and fabric supply for human and animal consumption.

Jones v. Gale

The family farm in the United States has an enduring place in American history and culture, both as a means of agricultural production and as a way of life. The rise of corporate farming after World War II worried many people, for the connection between the individual and the land was replaced with a faceless business entity. The state of Nebraska expressed its opposition to corporate and absentee ownership agriculture when its citizens in 1982 passed a state constitutional amendment that prohibited corporations or syndicates (non-family-owned limited partnerships) from acquiring an interest in "real estate used for farming or ranching" in Nebraska or "engage[ing] in farming or ranching." Almost 25 years later a group of Nebraska farmers filed a federal lawsuit, alleging that the amendment, known as Initiative 300, violated the U.S. Constitution's Commerce Clause. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals in Jones v. Gale, 470 F.3d(8th Cir. 2006), agreed with the plaintiffs and struck down the amendment as unconstitutional.

Initiative 300 clearly addressed the issue of corporate farming. An explanatory statement presented with the initiative stated that a vote for it would "create a constitutional prohibition against further purchase of Nebraska farm and ranch lands by any corporation or syndicate other than a Nebraska family farm corporation." The initiative defined a family farm or ranch corporation as one "engaged in farming or ranching or the ownership of agricultural land, in which the majority of the voting stock is held by members of a family … at least one of whom is a person residing on or actively engaged in the day to day labor and management of the farm or ranch."

Jim Jones and five other people with interests in Nebraska farm and ranch land operations filed a lawsuit against the state, alleging that the amendment violated their constitutional rights. One plaintiff who lived in Colorado but who had an ownership interest in several parcels of Nebraska farmland wanted to transfer his land to a limited liability entity so he could improve his fiscal planning and management of the farms. The amendment prevented him from creating this entity, which had led to economic losses. Another plaintiff operated a cattle feedlot that provided for the daily care and feeding of cattle owned by customers, some of whom did not live in Nebraska. The feedlot operator could not contract with non-exempt out-of-state corporations for the purpose of raising and feeding livestock for slaughter. This had hurt his business and prevented him from gaining free access to the national cattle market.

The Nebraska federal district court agreed with the plaintiffs and ruled the amendment unconstitutional. The state appealed but a three-judge panel of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously affirmed the decision. Judge Morris Arnold, writing for the court, first ruled that the plaintiffs had standing to bring the law-suit. To demonstrate standing to bring a lawsuit the plaintiffs must show they suffered an actual injury that was traceable to the defendant's challenged actions. They also had to show that if they prevailed their injuries would be redressed. Judge Arnold noted the economic harm visited upon the plaintiffs because of the legal restrictions on nonresidents and corporations owning farmland and concluded that these were actual injuries that could be cured if they were successful in having the constitutional amendment struck down.

The substantive issue before the Eighth Circuit was whether the amendment violated the U.S. Constitution's Commerce Clause. The plaintiffs alleged a violation of the "dormant" commerce clause, which refers to the negative implications of the constitutional provision. The Commerce Clause gives Congress the power to enact laws effecting interstate commerce. The dormant commerce clause is the other side of the issue, prohibiting a state from passing legislation that discriminates or improperly burdens interstate commerce. In this context discrimination refers to differential treatment of in-state and out-of-state economic interests, with the in-state interests treated more favorably than the out-of-state interests. Judge Arnold concluded that the amendment was discriminatory on its face because its "prohibition against farming by corporations and syndicates does not apply to family farm corporations and limited partnerships in which at least one family member resides or engages in the daily labor and management of the farm." The amendment favored Nebraska residents and those nonresidents who live close to Nebraska and who could commute daily to the farm. The 1982 ballot language that accompanied the initiative clearly stated this point. In addition, the Nebraska Supreme Court had read the language of the amendment to mean that it prohibited "absentee ownership and operation of farm and ranch land by a corporate entity." The appeals court also found discriminatory intent in the amendment. The 1982 advertising campaign supporting Initiative 300 demonstrated this fact. In the court's view it was "clear beyond cavil that these ads bristle with an animus against out-of-state corporations." Therefore, the court ruled the entire amendment unconstitutional.

Tainted Spinach Leads to Sickness and Death

An outbreak of Escherichia coli (widely known by its abbreviation, E. coli) contamination in prepackaged spinach led to three deaths and left nearly 200 others sickened during the fall of 2006. Several months after the outbreak occurred, state and federal official determined that the source was a small cattle ranch about 30 miles from the central coastline in California.

Ingesting E. coli generally causes diarrhea and often results in bloody stools. Most healthy adult victims can recover after about a week. However, E. coli can cause hemolytic uremic syndrome, which is a condition that can lead to kidney failure, especially in cases involving those who are very young or very old. The bacteria reside in the intestines of cattle and other animals, and an outbreak of E. coli is often associated with contamination by fecal matter. The Centers for the Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 73,000 cases of infection occur each year and that an average of 61 deaths result from these infections. According to the CDC, major sources for the bacteria include meat (especially undercooked or raw hamburger), uncooked produce, raw milk, unpasteurized juice, and contaminated water.

The packaged lettuce and spinach industry, which has annual revenues of about $4 billion per year, has adopted safety measures to kill bacteria. This process involves washing lettuce and spinach in chlorinated water. However, this process kills only 90 to 99 percent of the bacteria, assuming that the process is conducted properly. Moreover, there are no means of completely killing all of the microbes on leafy greens that would be as effective as pasteurizing milk or juice without seriously damaging the lettuce or spinach product.

The outbreak in 2006 first surfaced on August 23, according to the Food and Drug Administration. However, the agency did not identify spinach as the cause of the outbreak until September 13. By that time, 50 people from eight states had become ill. Twenty of those who had become ill were from Wisconsin, including the first person to die as a result of tainted spinach. Consumers from Connecticut, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, New Mexico, Oregon, and Utah also became ill after eating spinach. Most of the victims were older women. Federal health officials at that point warned consumers not to each bagged fresh spinach.

California was targeted as the likely source of the outbreak. About 75 percent of the nation's spinach supply comes from Salinas Valley in California, which produces a crop worth an estimated $200 million a year. Two of the largest companies that produce spinach include Natural Selection Foods and River Ranch. These com-panies supply their spinach to brands that package it. As news of the outbreak became widely known, a total of 37 of these brands of bagged spinach were recalled. The recall involved both organic and conventionally grown spinach products. Natural Selection is the larger of the two companies, and federal officials acknowledged that the company's production of spinach was the focal point of the investigation.

Less than a week after the report of the first death, the number of cases increased to 114 in 21 states. The FDA expanded its warning to consumers that they should not consume any fresh spinach. According to Dr. Robert Brackett, the director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, "That's because we learned that some of the companies that produced the consumer bag spinach also produced larger food-service size. We want to make sure consumers are aware that they don't consume any of the fresh spinach. We don't know whether it came from the bag or another state. We just don't have the focus down that much yet."

Spinach remained off the shelves until early October. CDC statistics indicate that a total of 199 cases arose in 26 states. Nearly 47 percent of the individual outbreaks occurred in three states, including Wisconsin (49 victims), Ohio (25 victims), and Utah (19 victims). Somewhat ironically, only two individuals from California were infected with the outbreak strain.

In March 2007, health officials announced that they had determined that the source of the outbreak was a small cattle ranch in San Benito County in California. The ranch is located near a field leached to spinach grower Mission Organics. Officials determined that E. coli found in river water and cattle and pig feces were "indistinguishable from the outbreak strain," though they were unable to determine how the bacteria contaminated the spinach that was sold. The ranch, which breeds cattle and horses, indicated that it was not under investigation at the outbreak. Mission Organics also indicated that although wild animals are present on the property, the company had not found animal tracks near the spinach fields.

Previous outbreaks have resulted from such sources as a Washington dairy that had distributed raw milk, pre-packaged salads, and undercooked Jack in the Box hamburgers. Between 1998 and 2004, the FDA inspected 36 domestic and foreign produce farms and determined that one-third of those used insufficient cleaning methods. The outbreak in 2006, along with previous outbreaks, has led to calls for improved measures for cleaning produce.