Many landowners might have read the headlines about the Supreme Court’s wetland decision this year – Sackett v Environmental Protection Agency – and breathed a sigh of relief: “Finally, we can fill a little puddle on our own property without the government intruding on ...Read More

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

The Minnesota Court Supreme Court recently issued a decision concerning which watercourses in the state could be treated as “public waters” under various state statutes and regulations. The case arose out of a petition to improve Renville County Ditch 77 by cleaning the outlet ...Read More

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

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

Earlier this year, the Minnesota Legislature updated the statute pertaining to the publication of legal notices in so-called “qualified newspapers,” reflecting the broad national trend of newspapers moving away from physical copies and emphasizing digital editions.

Effective August 1, 2022, qualified newspapers are now required ...Read More

With a view towards closing a deal, legal due diligence occurs when a business attorney collects and analyzes information from a legal perspective and then makes recommendations regarding any action that should be taken.

This typically occurs during the period between signing the transaction (e.g. ...Read More

Section 1031 Like Kind Exchanges are named for Section 1031 of the Internal Revenue Code.  Section 1031 states:  “No gain or loss shall be recognized on the exchange of property held for productive use in a trade or business or for investment if such ...Read More

Minnesota’s Riparian Protection and Water Quality Practices law, the so-called buffer law, was enacted in June 2015. Affecting an estimated 110,000 acres of land, much of it farmland, the law represents one of the most sweeping environmental regulations directly affecting Minnesota’s farmers.

The law requires ...Read More

Commercial real estate investments have long been attractive to investors in Minnesota and around the country. Historically, only a very limited subset of the population was actually able to invest in commercial real estate because of the large buy-ins required to do so.

In 2012, ...Read More