Insights

Carbon Contract Basics
Carbon markets (either voluntary or mandatory through government regulation) have emerged in recent years as a practical means to use free-market economic principles to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate global climate change. In carbon markets, businesses or individuals who reduce greenhouse gas emissions ...Read More

Public Drainage Projects: Navigating the Legal, Environmental, and Political Challenges
The success of cash crop farming in Minnesota is due in large part to the work our ancestors in this state did to convert wet and even flooded property into dry farmland. Through systems of open ditches and buried pipe, land was made farmable ...Read More

Terms to Consider as You Renegotiate Your Farm Lease
Anumber of recent economic developments will likely impact the negotiation of farmland leases following the 2022 crop year. For example, landlords may want to increase rent because commodity prices are generally rising, and farmland values are going up across the Midwest. On the other ...Read More

Insurance Basics: Moving Toward a Greater Understanding of the Role of Commercial Insurance in the Agricutural Industry
Throughout my nearly 15 years of practicing law, I have observed a wide range of perspectives, understandings, and tolerances from agricultural producers and other businesses regarding the topic of insurance. Some find insurance a combination of overwhelming, confusing, and boring. If given the choice, ...Read More

Case Law Update: Securing Grain Bins
At its September 9, 2021 Agricultural Lending Conference, Gislason & Hunter LLP provided a case law and legislative update regarding new legal developments pertinent to the lending industry. One of the cases presented was Lighthouse Management, Inc. v. Oberg Family Farms et al., which ...Read More

Enforceability Of A Lender’s Security Interest In A Borrower’s Machinery And Equipment
Over the last two years, the world has grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic. In an effort to address the economic crisis following the arrival of COVID-19, the United States took a number of significant actions, including, among other things, infusing cash into the national ...Read More

General Partnership: The Catch- All Relationship To Avoid
Here’s a common story: Farmer A gets a good deal on a neighboring farm that includes 16 acres of marginal hay ground in a low, wet area. Farmer A has no use for hay and no haying equipment. It’s been a dry spring with ...Read More

What Preserves the Integrity of the Derivatives Market?
Agricultural producers are no strangers to risk. They grow, buy, and sell commodities in a global economy subject to the unpredictability of floods, droughts, and trades disputes, the whims of governments and politicians, and the devastations caused by pandemics and disease. Many if not ...Read More

California’s Proposition 12: What Does It Mean and What Comes Next?
In November 2018, California voters passed Proposition 12. This ballot initiative was pushed by animal rights extremists and seeks to regulate the production of pork, eggs, and veal throughout the United States (and beyond). This law has been subject to multiple court challenges over ...Read More

Choosing a Business Structure For Your Family Farm
Farming isn’t just a business, it’s a commitment to family values and a different way of life. You work hard to feed your family and others, raise your children, and earn a reasonable living at the same time. And if you’re reading this article, ...Read More