California adopts landmark Cap-and-Trade Stoel Rives LLP by Allison C. Smith After a marathon 10-hour public hearing, the California Air Resources Board voted 9-to-1 to adopt the state’s landmark Cap-and-Trade Program. My colleague, Lee Smith, and I spent the day at the packed California EPA auditorium, monitoring the hearing. Over […]

NCBA Opposes Nomination of Federal Judge with Ties to Animal Activists National Cattlemen’s Beef Association The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) sent a letter to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) opposing the nomination of Judge Benita Pearson to the United States District […]

By Cyndie Sirekis American Farm Bureau Federation As 2010 fades away, Farm Bureau and its farmer and rancher members around the nation are reflecting on some hard-fought victories. One of these is reform of estate taxes. With passage of the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of […]

News Note: This week the Wall Street Journal did an editorial on the Agriculture Department’s mixing of politics with the science of government regulation. The problems involves the decision of Ag. Secretary Tom Vilsak bringing in activist and biotech opponents to assist in crafting the agency’s biotech regulation. The WSJ […]

Dying wheat fields hit E. Oregon By Natural Resource News Note: Investigators are looking into why over 40,000 acres of wheat fields in Eastern Oregon have died prematurely in the fall. The area impacted areas are 16 wheat fields near Pendleton Oregon and other fields in Morrow County. The symptoms […]

Agriculture remains a key provider to the Oregon Food Bank By Oregon Dept. of Agriculture, Oregon farmers and ranchers continue putting food on the plate for many of the state’s most vulnerable citizens, even as the need for hunger assistance reaches unprecedented levels. Donations from such organizations as Farmers Ending […]

By American Farm Bureau Federation, It will come as no surprise that America’s Christmas tree farmers are a giving lot. You need to look no further than the Christmas SPIRIT Foundation, a charitable organization created by the National Christmas Tree Association in 2005. Since its inception, America’s Christmas tree farmers […]

Thermal Imagery Sheds Light on Wolf Disease By U.S. Interior Dept., U.S. Geological Survey Psychedelically colored wolves depicted by thermal imaging will shed light on how mange affects the survival, reproduction and social behavior of wolves in Yellowstone National Park. About a quarter of the wolf packs in the park […]

By Oregon Farm Bureau On Friday, Dec. 17, Majority Leader Reid (D-Nev.) introduced an omnibus public lands and water bill, the America Great Outdoors Act (S. 303), in the Senate. The bill is a package of 110 separate public lands and water and wildlife bills. The package includes the Chesapeake […]

NW Law FirmCan Business Lawyers Afford to Practice “Defensively”? Stoel Rives LLP By Kenneth Odza For years, a debate has raged on the merits of vesting the FDA with mandatory recall powers. Mandatory recall is part of the food safety legislation that may or may not pass in this Congress, […]