Agribusiness

Our team counsels producers, processors, integrators, cooperatives, input suppliers, lenders, and food manufacturers across the agricultural value chain, with particular depth in the poultry, livestock, and row-crop industries. We pair hands-on knowledge of how agricultural operations actually work with the full resources of a national firm in litigation, antitrust, regulatory, transactional, finance, and labor and employment matters.

How We Help

Grower and Production Relationships. We draft, negotiate, and defend broiler, breeder, egg-production, livestock, and crop production agreements. We also represent integrators and processors in disputes over grower compensation, flock placements, performance standards, and contract termination.

Packers and Stockyards Act and USDA Matters. We advise clients on Packers and Stockyards Act compliance. We also represent them in United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) investigations, audits, enforcement actions, and related litigation.

Antitrust and Competition. We defend agricultural and food companies in government investigations, class actions, and multidistrict litigation. These matters have involved allegations about grower compensation, benchmarking, information sharing, and labor-market competition.

Supply Chain, Inputs, and PACA. We negotiate supply, procurement, and distribution agreements. We also handle disputes involving produce, commodities, seed, feed, fertilizer, and crop protection products, including claims under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) and warranty claims.

Food Safety and Product Contamination. Working with our Food Safety and Regulation team, we help clients respond to contamination events, recalls, adulteration claims, and upstream supplier disputes.

Agricultural Finance and Transactions. We structure grower financing and incentive programs and represent clients in agricultural credit matters. We also advise on acquisitions, joint ventures, and expansion projects.

Cooperatives, Environmental, and Land Use. We advise cooperatives and producer organizations on governance, membership, and competition issues. We also defend agricultural operations against environmental and nuisance claims.

One Team, Every Stage

Whether a client is negotiating a grower program, responding to a government investigation, managing a contamination event, or financing its next expansion, our team works across the Firm's Food and Beverage, Food Safety and Regulation, antitrust, finance, and litigation practices to deliver coordinated, practical counsel that keeps agricultural operations moving.

Results may vary depending on your particular facts and legal circumstances.

• Antitrust, Packers and Stockyards Act, and Government Investigations

• Defended poultry processors in nationwide grower antitrust litigation and class actions involving allegations of compensation suppression, compensation-fixing, no-poach agreements, benchmarking, information sharing, and violations of the Packers and Stockyards Act.

• Advised clients responding to U.S. Department of Justice investigations involving agricultural market data and industry information-sharing practices

• Represented processors in USDA Agricultural Marketing Service and Packers and Stockyards Division investigations and regulatory proceedings arising from grower complaints and alleged unfair trade practices.

• Grower Litigation

• Compelled arbitration and secured the dismissal of claims by more than 30 poultry growers asserting breach of contract and Packers and Stockyards Act claims.

• Obtained summary judgment for a poultry processor in litigation alleging Packers and Stockyards Act violations, fraud, and breach of contract.

• Defended and resolved grower disputes involving growing agreements, production contracts, flock placements, farm financing, foreclosures, and alleged discrimination.

• Agricultural Finance and Transactions

• Counseled agricultural input suppliers and agribusiness companies on financing, collections, grower credit, and regulatory matters, including complex lender, collateral, and farming-operation disputes.

• Handled acquisitions, financing transactions, and expansion projects for agribusiness and food companies, from agricultural service providers to national food brands.

• Designed and implemented breeder-house financing and grower incentive programs for a large poultry producer, including loan documentation, real estate collateral, and title work for growers across the Southeast.

• Served as lead transaction counsel to a large, privately held agricultural chemical company in more than fifteen strategic acquisitions throughout the country.

• Food Safety, Contamination, and Regulatory

• Represented a national beef producer in an investigation into alleged E. coli contamination in products supplied to restaurants and helped resolve it after testing confirmed the product was not contaminated.

• Represented a food manufacturer in a nationwide FDA recall of egg products due to alleged bacterial contamination. Also handled related insurance coverage issues for client to recover maximum insurance payments and defended multiple suits by customers.

• Defended food manufacturers, producers, and distributors in matters involving contaminated ingredients, adulterated products, labeling issues, supplier indemnity claims, and production disruptions.

• Advised food manufacturers and agribusiness clients on trade, tariff, food and agriculture policy, FDA, and regulatory compliance matters.