Environmental

Recent Posts

What You Need to Know about Farm Data Privacy
Posted on 11 Mar 2015 by Todd Janzen

Here is my presentation to the Indiana Horticultural Congress on January 21, 2015. You can follow along online by clicking below: Farm Data Privacy: What You Need to Know Please check out other articles about the agriculture and technology on this... Read More

Is Your Business Prepared for a Crisis?
Posted on 28 Jan 2015 by Todd Janzen

A crisis can destroy a business’s reputation and bottom line. A crisis can come from anywhere: a surprise EPA, OSHA, or other regulatory inspection, a natural disaster, or a man-made catastrophe like the West, Texas fertilizer plant explosion last... Read More

Defining "Big Data" in Agriculture
Posted on 12 May 2015 by Todd Janzen

A recent comment on one of my articles addressing big data concerns in farm leases asked why I used the term "big data" instead of just "data." This got me thinking about the definition of "big data" and what the term really... Read More

Silage vs. Curtilage: More on the EPA's Flyover Controversy
Posted on 28 Jul 2012 by Todd Janzen

By Todd J. Janzen, Partner, Plews Shadley Racher & Braun LLP The web has been abuzz the last few weeks with articles and editorials about the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) use of aerial flyovers to look for violations of the Clean... Read More

Talking Big Data and Drones on Inside Indiana Business with Gerry Dick
Posted on 18 May 2015 by Todd Janzen

I was recently lucky enough to be interviewed by Gerry Dick for his television show Inside Indiana Business. I was joined by Beck's Hybrid's Jim Shertzer who leads FARMserver , a web-based farm data storage and analysis tool. These are exciting... Read More

Five Agricultural Legal Issues to Watch in 2014
Posted on 30 Jan 2014 by Todd Janzen

What will be the hot topics in ag law for 2014? Here are some predictions for the coming year: 1. Clean Air Act Targets Farmers . Congress passed the Clean Air Act in 1970 to clean up the nation’s air. The low hanging fruit of air pollution—power... Read More

Ag Industry Releases Core Principles for Farm Data Privacy
Posted on 2 Feb 2015 by Todd Janzen

This past year some of America’s leaders in agricultural technology products worked together with American Farm Bureau Federation and industry trade organizations to come up with a set of core principles for data privacy. The principles identified... Read More

The Challenges Facing Liberian Agriculture
Posted on 11 Apr 2014 by Todd Janzen

The last leg of our Indiana Ag Leadership class was to Liberia, West Africa. What we saw was dramatically different than the highly structured and sophisticated agricultural systems of Northern Europe. Liberian agriculture struggles in every area where... Read More

Privacy and Security Principles for Farm Data
Posted on 3 Feb 2015 by Todd Janzen

A few people have asked me for a link to the farm data core principles document released by ag technology providers and industry trade organizations. Below is the entire document, which represents a collaboration of American Farm Bureau Federation, American... Read More

An articulate end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it view from Thomas Friedman
Posted on 10 Jun 2011 by Thomas H. Clarke, Jr.

I am certainly old enough to remember a variety of doomsday scenarios, usually built around decreases in agriculture productivity or population growth (or both). There have also been some modern scholarly papers that posit that things are going to get... Read More

Even the past experienced building and development booms and busts
Posted on 17 Jul 2011 by Thomas H. Clarke, Jr.

The problem with stereotypes is that a) they are often wrong, and b) they prevent appreciating that what we thought was true is, in fact, not. For example, that economic expansion leads to building booms seems to have been as true 6,000 years ago as it... Read More

Indiana Sets Rules for "Satellite" Manure Storage Structures
Posted on 16 Oct 2014 by Todd Janzen

A few years ago, concerned Indiana residents raised complaints with their elected officials about the storage of manure in remote ponds, or “lagoons” that were not sited next to existing livestock farms. There was also concern that poultry... Read More

The Struggle Over the Mississippi River Basin
Posted on 6 Jun 2012 by Todd Janzen

By Todd J. Janzen, Partner, Plews Shadley Racher & Braun LLP While most farmers go quietly about their spring planting this year, a storm is brewing over the Mississippi River Basin of which few are probably aware. I am referring to the legal... Read More

Atrazine Settlement Provides Millions to Water Utilities
Posted on 31 Jan 2013 by Todd Janzen

By Todd J. Janzen, Partner, Plews Shadley Racher & Braun LLP A class action lawsuit alleging that the herbicide Atrazine contaminated various Midwestern water supplies has been settled. As part of the settlement , Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc... Read More

Genetically Modified Food Can Feed The Planet
Posted on 26 Feb 2013 by William A. Ruskin

By William A. Ruskin The publication of " Diet for a Small Planet " in 1971 by Francis Moore Lappé was a conscious-raising event for many Americans. The book makes the case that grain-fed meat production is wasteful and a contributor... Read More