Agribusiness

Dean Mead’s Agribusiness Team has a long history of representing businesses and individuals engaged in agribusiness operations throughout the State of Florida. Our Team includes attorneys from every department and office throughout the firm so we are able to provide our clients with comprehensive legal counsel that addresses every aspect of their operations.

We actively represent agribusiness clients involved in citrus, cattle, timber, vegetables, turf, sod ornamentals and aquaculture.

Notable Work:

Citrus Canker Task Force

As a proactive response to the impact of citrus canker upon the Florida citrus industry, Dean Mead established the Citrus Canker Task Force (the “Task Force”). The Task Force devoted research and guidance to Florida citrus growers and their advisors (such as attorneys and accountants) on a variety of legal issues, including tax consequences and planning opportunities related to receipt of compensation payment under the Citrus Canker Eradication Program (CCEP); protecting property rights and preserving claims for compensation; and a variety of contract issues related to insurance claims, loan covenants, and marketing and fruit purchase agreements.

FSA Refund

Dean Mead’s Agribusiness Team enlisted the assistance of the Florida delegation in Washington, D.C. to aid Florida growers facing repayment of disaster funds they received after the 2004 hurricanes. More than 3,300 letters were sent out to growers across Florida, requiring recipients of the disaster aid to prove they had crop insurance for the next year or face the repayment of all disaster assistance plus interest. There was considerable confusion about whether or not crop insurance was required to be eligible to receive assistance, resulting in almost two-thirds of the recipients failing to meet Farm Service Agency (“FSA”) requirements.

Dean Mead’s Agribusiness Team, with the aid of counsel in Washington, D.C. with whom we have a long-standing and successful working relationship, contacted the Florida delegation and secured a joint letter addressed to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA”) on this subject. Subsequently, the USDA issued Notice DAP-262 informing Florida FSA offices to grant additional relief to the growers from the effects of the regulation.

Additional Information on Agribusiness:

Industries

Additional Information on Agribusiness

The needs of agribusiness vary widely, and change constantly. Agribusiness must follow changes in the laws governing food production, the environment, taxation, transportation, the environment and land development. Dean Mead’s Agribusiness Team is made up of attorneys from many different disciplines within the law for exactly this reason.

Currently, Agribusiness Team members are monitoring an ongoing dispute between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) and Florida over new EPA regulations regarding water quality commonly referred to as Numeric Nutrient Standards. Estimates of the statewide cost of compliance with the new rules vary from the EPA estimate of $135-236 million statewide to $1.6 Billion for Florida agriculture alone, as estimated by Florida’s Department of Agriculture. Several lawsuits challenging the rules have been filed in federal court by plaintiffs varying from the Florida Commissioner of Agriculture and the Florida Cattlemen’s Association to the Florida Stormwater Association. Currently, Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection is engaged in rulemaking to develop rules it would recommend be implemented instead of the EPA standards. The EPA has not committed to accepting any proposed Florida rule.

Dean Mead’s Agribusiness Team has been following developments in the central agricultural regions of Florida after the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service implemented a new protocol for addressing the presence of the threatened Sand Skink and the Bluetail Mole Skink. With no apparent public input or peer review, USF&WS guidelines now call for significantly more intense investigation to overcome a presumption that the threatened species are present on a landowner’s property. The protocol is required whenever activities are contemplated which would “disturb the soil,” and a finding of no skinks is only conclusive when conducted within a 6-week window in the spring. Finding a single specimen can require mitigation of a significant amount of habitat.

For more information, please contact Dennis G. Corrick, Shareholder, at dcorrick@deanmead.com.