Constructing a new hog barn (or expanding an existing barn) in Minnesota requires pork producers to navigate a maze of requirements across several layers of government.  The facility may require a feedlot permit from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency or the county where the ...Read More

On April 26, 2018, a jury in North Carolina awarded a judgment against Murphy-Brown LLC (an affiliate of Smithfield Foods) for more than $50 million in a nuisance lawsuit arising from the operation of a hog confinement facility. This judgment was later reduced by ...Read More

Co-authored by Dean Zimmerli

Benjamin Franklin once stated that “if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” Planning is an integral part of every farming operation. Farmers must regularly engage in advance planning to determine the crops they will plant ...Read More

Thomas Jefferson famously advised, “[n]ever spend your money before you have it.”  But as Mr. Jefferson (who was substantially indebted throughout much of his life) himself discovered, this advice is far easier for most people to give than to heed.  Recent studies indicate that ...Read More

The last issue of Pork Bits described air emission reporting requirements that were scheduled to become effective against farmers for the first time (as a result of a court ruling) and would have required many livestock farmers to report emissions of ammonia and ...Read More

Many businesses, including many farm businesses, organize and operate their businesses through separate business entities (e.g., corporations or limited liability companies).  When properly structured, these entities can provide numerous management, succession, and liability protection benefits for farmers and other business owners.

But merely creating a ...Read More