Agriculture

A district court held that litter and manure washed from a farmyard into navigable waters due to a precipitation event is an agricultural stormwater discharge and not a point source discharge,…

A California appellate court upheld a county's certification of an environmental impact report (EIR) regarding a proposed solar power development. A citizens group argued that the county…

The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the Ninth Circuit's decision that it lacked jurisdiction to hear a raisin grower's claim that a marketing order under the Agricultural Marketing Agreement…

The Federal Circuit held that organic farmers lack standing to seek a declaratory judgment of non-infringement with respect to 23 patents owned by a large seed manufacturer. The farmers do not…

The Ninth Circuit upheld the Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service's (APHIS') unconditional deregulation of Roundup Ready Alfalfa (RRA), a genetically modified plant that allows…

The U.S. Supreme Court held that patent exhaustion does not permit a farmer to reproduce patented seeds through planting and harvesting without the patent holder’s permission. A seed manufacturer…

The Supreme Court of Wisconsin held that under state law, a town may not impose conditions on a livestock siting permit to protect surface and groundwater. The state legislature has strictly…

The Federal Circuit affirmed a lower court decision that a farmer committed patent infringement when he planted second-generation "commodity seeds" that contained genetically altered…

A district court issued a preliminary injunction ordering genetically modified sugar beet seedlings—called stecklings—that were planted by four seed companies pursuant to permits issued by the…

A California appellate court affirmed a lower court decision denying a petition challenging a city's approval of a project to build 560 residential units on a 200-acre site long used for…