Cooperation or Compromise? Understanding the Farm Billas Omnibus Legislation

The Farm Bill (the Bill) is the principal driver of U.S. food law and policy. Its substance spans the food system including commodities, conservation, trade, nutrition, credit, rural development, forestry, and energy. These substantive titles command much scholarly analysis yet there is comparatively little review of the law-making process that yields the Bill. Given increased focus on Congress’s ability to use its legislative powers effectively, this essay questions whether the Bill’s traditional treatment as omnibus legislation leads to beneficial coherence or too much compromise in food system policy. Interestingly, disparate stakeholders prioritize maintaining the Bill as omnibus legislation. Some scholars suggest that the omnibus process unifies because it requires producers and rural interests to be understood by consumers and urban priorities. Others suggest that nutrition spending provides powerful incentives to maintain adequate supports for farmers. These theories suggest that lawmakers transcend their interests and consider the larger food system. Viewed in this light, the Bill’s omnibus status may be beneficial. However, it may also lead to compromises and concessions that stymy innovation and progress in the food system at a time when climate change and socio-economic disparities demand new approaches. The essay’s structure follows: first will be a general history of omnibus legislation including the Bill’s omnibus treatment; second, the benefits and burdens placed on the food system by the omnibus process will be explored; and finally, it will conclude with specific ideas about the merits of the Bill as omnibus legislation in 2018 and beyond

Eating for the Environment: The Potential of Dietary Guidelines to Achieve Better Human and Environmental Health Outcomes

Agriculture and food production contribute significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and environmental pollution. Shifting human dietary patterns has the potential to reduce such environmental harms while also promoting human health. Government policy, in the form of the United States Dietary Guidelines (USDG), recommends what Americans should eat and could play an important role in shifting the food system to one that is more sustainable. However, the USDG are an overlooked aspect of U.S. food policy. While many countries have moved to synthesize environmental goals with dietary guidance, the United States has taken the opposite approach. In 2015, despite recommendations from the expert panel appointed under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee), which recommended including sustainability considerations in the 2015 USDG, the Secretaries of Health and Human Services and Agriculture rejected those recommendations reasoning that the sustainability perspective was beyond the scope of the USDG-enabling statute. This Article examines why that decision was wrong and how, based on international examples and sound science, the federal government should see the USDG as a powerful food system policy tool that can be used to promote human and environmental health in the 21st century

Balancing Consumer Protection and Scientific Integrity in the Face of Uncertainty: The Example of Gluten-Free Foods

In 2009, gluten-free foods were not only hot in the marketplace, several countries, including the United States, continued efforts to define gluten-free and appropriate labeling parameters. The regulatory process illuminates how difficult regulations based on safe scientific thresholds can be for regulators, manufacturers and consumers. This article analyzes the gluten-free regulatory landscape, challenges to defining a safe gluten threshold, and how consumers might need more label information beyond the term gluten-free. The article includes an overview of international gluten-free regulations, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rulemaking process, and issues for consumers

Foodshed Foundations: Law\u27s Role in Shaping our Food System\u27s Future

[. . .] This symposium Article analyzes how we can rethink the architecture of law based on a foodshed model to provide a greater role for local, state, and regional government in the American food system. In turn, greater roles for different levels of government may help America achieve greater efficiencies in domestic food safety, nutrition and related public health issues, sustainability, and international trade. Americans need a greater voice in the food system. The foodshed model is a powerful vehicle that allows us to conceptualize change, allowing greater citizen participation and a more nuanced approach to food policy. The model also allows for greater nuance because it forces us to examine what is happening within the foodshed, whether we view that globally, regionally, or locally. A foodshed model requires us to examine our expectations of local agriculture and food production, as well as global trade. Obviously, these are sweeping topics, but the goal of this Article is much more modest: to frame food system reform within a foodshed model that considers the role of local, regional, national, and global government in food production and consumption. This Article contains three sections. First, it provides an overview of the foodshed model\u27s utility to food system reform. Second, it analyzes the various governmental structures that affect the food system, including the example of how the Food Safety Modernization Act illustrates those structures in the American food system. Finally, it presents a foodshed model that integrates local and state, regional, and national food system governance. The Article concludes by suggesting a feasibility study of this model, or similar ones, in the next Farm Bill

Got Controversy - Milk Does

This article analyzes ongoing controversy over how to best label rBST-free milk. Recombinant bovine somatotropin is a genetically engineered drug administered by some farmers to their dairy herds to increase milk production. FDA first approved its use in 1994, despite great controversy. The FDA also issued labeling guidelines that allowed voluntary disclosure of rBST-free milk, so long as it carried the disclaimer that no difference could be detected between milk produced with rBST and rBST-free. The controversy continues today as consumers express a preference for rBST-free milk and many rBST-free producers label their milk this way. Conventional milk (with rBST) is viewed by the FDA as materially the same as rBST-free. So, conventional producers have continually challenged marketing that is meant to convey rBST free milk is superior or more nutritious. This article specifically analyzes the recent activities surrounding rBST - an FTC petition, an FDA petition to withdraw rBST approval, and several states\u27 rulemaking and legislation to tighten rBST-free labeling. One of the state\u27s rules has also spawned federal litigation. The article recommends that stakeholders must generate consumer survey data to understand the effect of rBST labels on consumers, and then use that data to design better milk labels

Practice Writing: Responding to the Needs of the Bench and Bar in First-Year Writing Programs

Do first year legal writing programs really prepare law students for the rigors of practice writing? This article begins to answer this question based on attorney and judge survey results, as well as interviews with judges who had also read student work in preparation for their interview. We found that while legal writing programs do provide a good foundation for legal writing skills, improvement can be made. Important changes that we have made at Pierce Law include shorter, more frequent assignments, variation/flexibility in choice of organizational paradigm, understanding the difference between settled and unsettled areas of law, and increased emphasis on grammar, punctuation, and style

The New England Food System in 2060: Envisioning Tomorrow\u27s Policy through Today\u27s Assessments

This Essay analyzes how the New England states\u27 planning processes are envisioning revitalized local, state, and regional food systems. This Essay has five parts. First, it begins with examining compelling reasons for promoting more sustainable food systems based on national and global trends, and identifies strategies for promoting regional food systems approaches with a brief introduction to the major influences on the national and New England food system. Second, it describes the states\u27 planning efforts and their enabling legislation or source of authority. The Essay then introduces the New England Food Vision 2060 (the Vision) an emerging discussion of food system possibilities that models potential food production options for the region based on different food based scenarios. The Vision is not a plan or prescription for each state, but rather serves to generate critical thought regarding the direction and aspirations for regional food systems. Likewise, given the goal to have ongoing updates of the Vision, this project will likewise be influenced by individual state plans and strategies. Thus, the Vision represents an opportunity for continuous dynamic interchange among those committed to designing and developing a New England food system Learning Action Network. By applying “collective impact” strategies to food system advancement, the network will be poised to advance regional food justice, food policy access, and system sustainability (i.e., good food). Next, the Essay analyzes the key policy challenges that are presented by a desire for a more self-sufficient regional food system, such as local ordinances, land use and zoning laws, institutional procurement policy, and food access issues. This section offers a brief overview of how the Federal commerce clause (including the dormant commerce clause), and compact clause influence the scope of local, state, and regional policy. Finally, the paper concludes by identifying how the Vision can assist in identifying legal issues that researchers and scholars should focus on when engaging in food system planning now and in the future. This interdisciplinary Essay challenges readers to think critically, and across traditional doctrinal and disciplinary barriers, about the possibilities for New England\u27s “good food” future

The Battle of the Bulge: Evaluating Law as a Weapon Against Obesity

Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids. Since the 1970s, kids have gotten to know the silly rabbit created to promote sugary, fruit-flavored cereal in television ads. Today, i\u27m lovin\u27 it is the McDonald\u27s slogan, but to millions of children the more recognizable symbol is Ronald McDonald. Ronald McDonald is so recognizable that one study pegged recognition of Ronald among American children at 96% and another at 80% by children in nine other countries. Giventhe obesity crisis, many question whether these ads should be permitted, with some questioning whether such products are even safe for children\u27s consumption. The Trix Rabbit and Ronald McDonald are just two pop culture examples of how pervasive the marketing of highly processed foods is, and has been, in America

Reconsidering Federalism and the Farm: Toward Including Local, State and Regional Voices in America\u27s Food System

Why is the relationship between our food system and federalism important to American law and health? It is important simply because federal law controls the American food system. This essay considers how federal law came to structure our food system, and suggests that though food is an essential part of our national economy, the dominating role of the federal government alienates citizens from their food system. It does so by characterizing food as a primarily economic issue, rather than one that has ethical, health, and cultural components. However, state and local governments have much to offer in terms of broadening the scope of food system considerations. This essay first provides a simplified overview of American food system influences. It also touches on the major legal principals affecting the system. Finally, it highlights three examples of how to include local, state, and regional voices in food system reforms. These examples are: the food system indicator tool, farm to school programs, and food policy councils. These solutions illustrate that the best food system reforms require the exercise of federal, state, and local powers in ways that maximize the individual\u27s ability to influence and participate in the food system

Team-Based Learning in Law

Used for over thirty years in a wide variety of fields, Team-Based Learning is a powerful teaching strategy that improves student learning. Used effectively, it enables students to actively engage in applying legal concepts in every class -- without sacrificing coverage. Because this teaching strategy has been used in classes with over 200 students, it also provides an efficient and affordable way to provide significant learning. Based on the principles of instructional design, Team-Based Learning has built-in student accountability, promotes independent student preparation, and fosters professional skills. This article provides an overview of Team-Based Learning, reasons to adopt this teaching strategy in light of Best Practices for Legal Education and the Carnegie and MacCrate reports, concrete methods to use Team-Based Learning in Law School, and ways to address challenges to this teaching strategy. Co-authors Sophie M. Sparrow and Margaret Sova McCabe provide examples from their years of teaching a variety of courses using Team-Based Learning