By Mayhah Suri
Vermont Supermarkets Lose Products Over GMO Labeling Law New Hampshire shouldn’t be surprised to see a rush on its Utz and Wise chips and snacks, as well as drinks from Lipton and Schweppes. Stocks of each are among roughly 3,000 products that have been removed from shelves in Vermont grocery stores, because that approach was easier for the manufacturers than dealing with the state’s new GMO labeling law, which took effect July 1, Vermont’s Channel 3 News reported. Vermont retailers have one year to sell unlabeled inventory. Products thus jettisoned represent almost 10 percent of 35,000 different kinds of items sold at the average Price Chopper, the article says. But Robert Letovsky, a professor of business at St. Michael’s College, tells Channel 3 that consumers now have less choice. “Less choice means less competition, inevitably prices are going to rise,” he said. See the full story at http://www.wcax.com/story/32354485/price-chopper-loses-3000-products-over-gmo-law
Appeal Likely In NE Dairy Settlement Early in June, it was announced that a settlement had been approved in the Northeast Dairy Farmers of America class action suit. The settlement included $50 million in compensation for the class members and other safeguards (more details here http://bit.ly/1SbwCya). A small group of class members are considering appealing the settlement agreement and could delay payments by at least 1 year. For more details on the appeal, check out http://bit.ly/29qIkb9.
Registration is now open for 2016 Crop Insurance Workshop Registration is now online for the 2016 Crop Insurance Workshop on Sept. 13 at the DoubleTree Hotel in Annapolis. The workshop will feature speakers from USDA and private industry discussing changes and challenges with the crop insurance industry and what the issues the next farm bill posses for the industry. The workshop is free and you can register at http://go.umd.edu/MdCropInsWorkshop.
Ag Data Damages Blog Post Issues related to ag data is a hot topic here recently and how to calculate data in a potential ag data breach case is something on the minds of many producers. Dr. Terry Griffin, friend of the blog at Kansas State University, recently published an article on AgManager.info addressing how he would handle calculating damages in a lawsuit. You can check the article out at http://bit.ly/agdatadamages.
New Leasing Publication Available Although not impacting many of you, Texas A&M recently released a farmland leasing guide for Arkansas, Texas and Oklahoma. The guide was developed as part of a grant with the Southern Risk Management Education Center and USDA. We highlight this book because Paul Goeringer helped contribute to the guide. If you are interested or know someone who might be, the booklet is available at http://go.umd.edu/TxLeaseBook.
Solar Leasing Webinar Video Available For those that missed last week’s solar leasing webinar, the video of the webinar is now available online. The video features Shannon Ferrell of Oklahoma State University discussing legal issues landowners should consider before signing a solar lease. The webinar is available at http://go.umd.edu/SolarWebVid.
How to Properly Fire an Employee Firing an employee is not as simple as just saying “You are fired!” There are considerations you need to handle before handling the firing. The Dairy eXtension group (or DaireXNet) recently published an article by Paul Goeringer highlighting the legal considerations before firing your employee. Although focused on the dairy industry, the article has implications for all segments of the ag industry. The article is available at http://go.umd.edu/firing.