Agribusiness & Food

The Agribusiness & Food team can counsel farm and agribusiness clients, both institutional and family-owned, during every stage of farm land and agricultural operations transactions. We have handled numerous purchase/sale agreement negotiations and drafting, due diligence, closing, and post-closing integration and operations. In addition to our farm and timber land experience, our teams have assisted clients in the acquisition and divestiture of fruit and vegetable packing and processing facilities, trucking operations, confined feeding livestock operations, permanent crops, and farm suppliers.

Because these transactions often include implications beyond agribusiness and food, our collective HBS team also has knowledge and experience in water rights and associated regulatory issues, property tax abatements under programs such as Georgia’s Conservation Use Valuation Assessment (CUVA), federal farm programs, agricultural exemptions to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations and the Fair Standards Labor Act, and various food laws such as the Food Safety Modernization Act and the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

Our attorneys have served as outside general counsel for vertically integrated farms, providing extensive counsel on custom farming agreements, marketing agreements, buy/sale agreements, logistics arrangements, hunting leases, and other operational matters. We also assist farm and agribusiness interests in establishing a variety of corporate entities and structures that address the concerns of our clients – including federal farm support and succession planning.

HBS attorneys also negotiate appropriate leases and ensure compliance with the warning requirements of Georgia’s agritourism, hunting, and fishing immunity statutes.

Our attorneys have helped guide numerous clients through determining whether their land qualifies under Georgia’s Conservation Use Valuation Assessment (CUVA). Our holistic approach includes developing strategies to minimize breach penalties should they occur and — when necessary — negotiate with and challenge local taxing authorities regarding decisions under CUVA. Our team provides similar services for clients seeking to take advantage of the Forest Land Protection Act (FLPA).

HBS’s Food & Agriculture team has many decades of civil litigation and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) experience. While valuable at the negotiation table, our experience is even more critical when our farm and agribusiness clients find themselves in a courtroom or encounter formal dispute proceedings.

Our attorneys represent a variety of clients in civil and administrative proceedings involving the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA), Packers and Stockyards Act (PSA), food adulteration, seed and input warranties, farm partitions, wrongful farm foreclosure, and contract disputes.

We have extensive knowledge of agronomic principles, commodity markets, and overall industry practices, which gives us an edge in creating favorable outcomes for clients in a variety of settings. HBS attorneys are well-versed on Georgia’s “Right to Farm” law and our agricultural attorneys can defend landowner interests in cases of an invitee or licensee experiencing personal injury during agritourism, hunting, and fishing activities.

In 1930, Congress enacted the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, 7 U.S.C. § 499e (also known as “PACA”) to promote fair trading practices in the produce industry.

Our attorneys are experienced in defending and prosecuting statutory Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, 7 U.S.C. § 499e (PACA) trust claims and working with the USDA through the administrative PACA process. Additionally, our team has provided extensive guidance to produce sellers regarding credit terms and credit evaluation processes that assist in the PACA collections process.

The HBS Agribusiness & Food team assists farmers and agribusinesses as they navigate USDA’s alphabet soup of programs. We counsel fruit and vegetable producers, suppliers and buyers about their rights and obligations under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA), and help them understand USDA’s informal dispute resolution program under PACA. We also assist clients in filing or defending against formal PACA complaints pending before USDA and aid clients on a variety of federal farm programs, including appeals of Farm Service Agency (FSA) payment determinations and issues arising out of the Packers and Stockyards Act (PSA).

At the state level, we regularly work with the Georgia Department of Agriculture on a variety of issues, and we have extensive experience under Georgia’s Vidalia Onion Act and the Food Establishment and Manufacturing regulations. Our also attorneys assist clients on a variety of Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) matters, including Land Application System permit transfers and ground and surface water withdrawal permitting issues.

Our attorneys frequently advise clients who are endeavoring to deliver locally grown or organically grown food in urban areas, which involves unique and often complex challenges. We provide guidance to clients on the full spectrum of laws that may impact such businesses, including PACA, state and federal food safety law, product labeling laws, and transportation laws.

We have also provided counsel on custom farming agreements, buy/sale agreements, logistics arrangements, and end-user agreements. Our attorneys also assist these urban agricultural interests in establishing a variety of corporate entities that will best suit the needs and business objectives of our clients.

Our lawyers have years of civil litigation and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) experience. This experience, while valuable at the negotiation table, is even more critical when our farm and agribusiness clients find themselves in a courtroom or formal dispute proceedings.

As an example, when any seed purchaser alleges to have been damaged by the failure any agricultural, flower, tree, shrub, or vegetable seed (with limited exclusions) to conform to or perform as represented by a label or by warranty, as a prerequisite to the purchaser’s right to maintain a legal action against the seller, the purchaser must submit a complaint to the Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Agriculture against the seed seller alleging the damages sustained. Once the Commissioner refers the complaint to the Georgia’s statutorily-created Seed Arbitration Council, HBS attorneys bring the ability to aid farmers or the sellers of the seed in navigating through the Council’s procedural rules.

HBS litigation attorneys are experienced in the litigation of crop insurance claims and casualty claims related to the loss of tractors and farm equipment. Additionally, partnering with out Intellectual Property practice group, our agriculture practice group can assist farmers or seed producers in defending or prosecuting patent infringement and breach of licensing agreement cases related to re-use of advanced seed technology.

Farmers, forest owners, and agribusinesses are inherently tied to the land. Attorneys are often needed when the rights associated with property ownership are implicated by nuisance claims, eminent domain, zoning and comprehensive planning, and environmental regulations. As an example of our expertise in such areas of the law, HBS attorneys recently won a client a defense verdict where a nuisance claim was made arising out of the operation of poultry houses near a new subdivision. HBS attorneys are well-versed on Georgia’s “Right to Farm” law, the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), the federal Clean Water Act, and the federal Clean Air Act.

People often own property together either by choice or as a result of an inheritance or gift. When several people own property as tenants in common or as joint tenants, unique issues regarding property rights arise. Specifically, our firm is experienced in handling partition actions and claims involving an accounting between co-tenants.

In 2008, hunting leases and agritourism accounted for $138 million in farm gate value in Georgia. Increasingly, landowners who lease their property for such recreational use must be concerned with how to limit their liability when people use their property. HBS attorneys will negotiate appropriate leases and ensure compliance with the warning requirements of Georgia’s agri-tourism immunity statute. Our agricultural attorneys defend landowner interests in cases of an invitee’s or licensees’ personal injury during agri-tourism, hunting, and fishing activities.

The Agriculture & Food Service Grup also helps large land owners create conservation easements to gain select tax benefits and assist taxpayers in defense of Conservation Use Valuation Assessment (CUVA) and Georgia Forest Land Protection of Act (FLPA) disputes with local tax assessors.

Increasingly, water is a scarce resource in the Southeastern United States. Already, areas of Georgia have experienced moratoriums on new water withdrawal permits, and residential uses have been limited during period of droughts. Attorneys at HBS work with farmers and agribusinesses to determine if water withdrawal permits are needed and then, if needed, coordinate with the Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division (EPD) to expedite the issuance of ground and surface water withdrawal permits for agricultural uses.

Our attorneys have been involved in the development and applications by EPD of all major water legislation passed since 2000 and have drafted regulations for the Georgia Soil and Water Conservation Commission. Our agricultural attorneys have also represented the Flint River Water Policy Center and Flint River Water Council, Inc.

Working with our International Trade group, HBS attorneys are able to help our agricultural clients export commodities throughout the world. Our team is knowledgeable about the United States Department of Agriculture unique export and import requirements and financing opportunities available for the exporting of agricultural commodities.