Blogger Report From the AALA Conference

The American Agricultural Law Association Annual Symposium was held October 7-9, 2010 in Omaha, Nebraska. It was a very successful conference, with record attendance of 295 participants.

Over fifty law students attended, and I was pleased to accompany sixteen of our current class of LL.M. candidates. Fellow AgLaw blogger, Anthony Schutz and I both presented to the general session, with Anthony presenting the Update on Environmental Law and Agriculture. I presented the Food Law Update. And, I am delighted to report that we each received awards.

Anthony's excellent article, Grassland Governance and Common-Interest Communities received the Professional Scholarship Award. This article suggests a model for collective action among ranch owners to create common-interest communities in order to enhance opportunities for marketing “nature-based experiences” to customers. It illustrates the use of private law to create and support environmentally beneficial use beyond the scope of what one individual landowner could accomplish. It is a creative and well-articulated proposal published in Environmental Law & Sustainability. Anthony also presented the article at the recent University of Oregon Journal of Environmental Law & Litigation seminar, Cultivating our Future: New Landscapes in Food and Agricultural Law and Policy. The award was well deserved.

I was very honored to receive the AALA Distinguished Service Award. The Distinguished Service Award is given to a member of the AALA who demonstrates “sustained excellence” in contributing to the development of agricultural law. Making the award to Anthony in the picture above and to me in the lower photo is Jesse Richardson, practicing attorney and Associate Professor, Virginia Tech, Chair of the AALA Awards Committee and recently elected AALA Board of Directors member.