WHAT IS AGRICULTURAL LAW?

The study of agricultural law is, in a sense, industry oriented. However, it involves far more than an advanced study of specialized problems in the field of contracts, torts, land use, commercial transactions, taxation, or other traditional areas of legal study. Agricultural law is a complex and fascinating area of the law unto itself. It includes the study of a vast number of local, state and federal statutes and administrative regulations aimed solely at agriculture. Further, the unique problems of American agriculture in the areas of credit, financing, marketing, labor, and resource allocation require an understanding of the workings of the industry. The graduate agricultural law program seeks to provide this understanding. Thus, one of the principal aims of the graduate program is to search for and identify underlying themes and policy considerations that unite the seemingly diverse, traditional law school curricular structure.

Among the common threads that tie the graduate curriculum together are issues associated with the present and future structure of American agriculture, with the allocation of agricultural resources, and with farm commodity prices, production costs, land values, debt, foreclosure, and bankruptcy.

The search for synthesis is a vital part of the study of agricultural law and allows us to deal more meaningfully and effectively with the concerns of agricultural clients, whether in the law office, the courts, or legislative halls. In short, the objective of the graduate program is to offer comprehensive studies designed to provide
students with the ability to deal at the highest professional level with both the particular and the broad legal issues
facing American agriculture.