Source: UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA submitted to
EVALUATING LAW AND REGULATORY INSTITUTIONS RELATING TO AGRICULTURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
HATCH
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1011652
Grant No.
(N/A)
Project No.
GEO00821
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Program Code
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Dec 21, 2016
Project End Date
Dec 14, 2018
Grant Year
(N/A)
Project Director
Centner, TE, J..
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
200 D.W. BROOKS DR
ATHENS,GA 30602-5016
Performing Department
Agricultural & Applied Economics
Non Technical Summary
The changing regulatory landscape requires agriculture and agribusiness firms to make adjustments to comply with legal requirements and meet consumer demands. With increased public emphasis on health, safety, and environmental features, new legal requirements affect how crops are grown and marketed. Regulations on air and water quality increase governmental interference with production practices and change how producers and firms proceed with their business operations. For example, consumer demands affect the use of nontherapeutic antibiotics and feed additives in animal production. Producers are concerned about new regulations and consumer demands for the improved treatment of food animals and information on the products they consume. Turning to rural communities, nearby oil and gas production sites present challenges regarding rural infrastructure and environmental contamination. As new regulations are adopted that apply to agricultural production, the manner and timing in which producers and firms adjust to the requirements affect their profitability. To assist producers and firms, research is needed to provide information on ideas, options, economic analyses, and risks so they can make decisions on how and when to respond to new conditions and remain competitive. Producers also need guidance in becoming more involved in the debate of issues affecting production and marketing so they can champion policy objectives that foster their livelihoods and their rural communities. A healthy agricultural sector is dependent upon timely assistance, up-to-date information, and knowledge about the options available to enhance the economic viability of an operation. Although governmental regulations are often seen as interfering with agricultural production, with assistance and planning, producers and firms can develop responses that meet requirements while facilitating continued viable production activities. This project will expand past research on pesticide usage regulation, animal production issues, disease and health measures, and problems accompanying the development of energy resources. It will also expand into timely emerging issues as they become known. Below are several issues that are representative of research that is needed to provide more information and analyses to assist agricultural producers and marketing firms.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
6016110305020%
6015230305010%
6016099305020%
6056099305010%
6056199305020%
6056010305020%
Knowledge Area
601 - Economics of Agricultural Production and Farm Management; 605 - Natural Resource and Environmental Economics;

Subject Of Investigation
6110 - Economy of the United States and sectors thereof; 6199 - Economy, general/other; 5230 - Feed and feed additives; 6010 - Individuals; 6099 - People and communities, general/other;

Field Of Science
3050 - Law;
Goals / Objectives
A rapidly changing world requires responses to help the American agricultural sector in providing abundant foodstuffs and complying with health, safety, and environmental obligations. This project will analyze laws and legal materials that affect agriculture and the environment to develop and extend knowledge about legal and economic institutions impacting agricultural performance and environmental management. The project will (1) help farmers and agribusinesses in understanding complex legal and regulatory issues, (2) provide advice and guidance to agriculture to assist in conforming with new health and safety requirements, (3) construct and test models of policy and regulatory action, (4) assess the implementation and enforcement of agricultural and environmental institutions in terms of efficiency, (5) assist other professionals in becoming cognizant of new developments; and (6) aid in the formation of policy objectives.
Project Methods
1. Describe legislation and interpret information affecting issues for agricultural clienteles and scientists.2. Identify institutional changes and examine response options to delineate preferred responses to agricultural and environmental issues.3. Integrate law and economic theory to address agricultural production and health and safety issues.4. Apply legal requirements to fact situations and integrate law with economic theory.5. Apply economic theory to legal and judicial institutions to analyze efficiency and distributional consequences.6. Analyze policy issues to develop recommendations for legislative and regulatory change.7. Apply legal theory to issues and problems in order to develop solutions and strategies for agricultural producers and firms.

Progress 12/21/16 to 12/14/18

Outputs
Target Audience: Nothing Reported Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? PI is retired

Publications


    Progress 10/01/17 to 09/30/18

    Outputs
    Target Audience:Fellow scientists. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project enabled students to learn how to conduct scientific research and allowed scientists opportunities to develop topical skills for future research projects. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Information from the project was disseminated through courses I taught at the University of Georgia, universities abroad, and at national and international conferences. Presented at the 5th International Conference on Economics, Society and Management, Beijing, China; Innovations and Translational Dimensions: Food, Health and Environmental Biotechnology Conference in Allahabad, India; ETH University in Zurich, Switzerland; University of Lucerne, Switzerland. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?I will be retired.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? (A). Measures to reduce harm to humans from glyphosate-based herbicides can be identified to ameliorate health damages to allow some uses to continue only when the evidence supports the conclusion that "no harm will result from aggregate exposure to the pesticide chemical residue"; (B). Under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, tolerances for chlorpyrifos residues need to be revoked if they do not protect human health; (C) Four mitigation measures are recommended to reduce the risk of harm to pollinator species from uses of sulfoxaflor pesticides; (D) The availability of information and experiences on technologies already available for food animal production may lead to different interpretations of the for food animal production practices in the United States as opposed to the European Union. .

    Publications

    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Centner, T.J., Petetin, L. Divergent Approaches Regulating Beta Agonists and Cloning of Food Animals: United States and European Union. Society & Animals 26(2018):1-20.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Centner, T.J., Differentiating Animal Products Based on Production Technologies and Preventing Fraud, Drake Journal of Agricultural Law 22,2(2017):267-291.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Centner, T.J., L. Russell, and M. Mays, Viewing evidence of harm accompanying uses of glyphosate-based herbicides under US legal requirements, Science of the Total Environment 658(2019):609-617.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Centner, T.J., B. Brewer, and I. Leal, Reducing the risks posed by sulfoxaflor use to increase the protection of pollinator species. Land Use Policy 75(2018):70-76.
    • Type: Books Status: Published Year Published: 20108 Citation: Centner, T.J., Environmental Law and Regulations to Protect People. San Diego, CA: Cognella Publishing (2d ed. 2018) 397 pp.


    Progress 12/21/16 to 09/30/17

    Outputs
    Target Audience:Scientists, students, policymakers. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project enabled students to learn how to conduct scientific research and allowed scientists opportunities to develop topical skills for future research projects. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Information from the project was disseminated through courses I taught at the University of Georgia, universities abroad, and at national and international conferences. Presented at the European Congress of Agricultural Law, Lille, France; Department of Economics, Universidad Publica de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain; International Conference on Management & Behavioural Sciences, Rome, Italy; International Conference on Knowledge, Culture, and Change in Organizations, Darwin, Australia; World Sustainability Forum, Cape Town, South Africa. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Evaluate the regulatory decision not to ban chlorpyrifos, analyze the dangers posed by sulfoxaflor, analyze whether registrations of glphosate should be cancelled, evaluate differentiating animal products based on production technologies.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? (A). A pesticide tolerance for food established after consideration of the pesticide exposure pathways for drinking water and residential settings must be set at a level at which there is reasonable certainty that no harm will result from a person's exposure to the pesticide chemical residues in or on food; (B) three practices used in the production of meat products from large animals have been recognized as offensive: raising veal calves in small enclosures, the confinement of sows in gestation and farrowing crates, and placing laying hens in battery cages; (C) higher prices of specialized meat products lead unscrupulous marketers to fraudulently label products that do not qualify for the marketing claims; (D) in discerning how to manage the development of energy resources, care must be exercised to not allow activities before suitable institutions are in place to address pollution and negative externalities.

    Publications

    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Centner, T.J., and M.R. Grossman, Recent Developments in Rural Law in the United States," Agrarisch Recht 77,10(2017):505-515.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Palardy, N., and T.J. Centner, Improvements in pesticide drift reduction technology (DRT) call for improving liability provisions to offer incentives for adoption, Land Use Policy 69(2017):439-444.
    • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Centner, T.J., and M.R. Grossman, Significant Current Developments in Rural Law: United States, XXIX European Congress and Colloquium of Rural Law Abstracts in Lille, France.
    • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Centner, T.J., Consumer Diversity: Differentiating Animal Products Based on Technology," 17th International Conference on Knowledge, Culture, and Change in Organizations Abstracts in Darwin, Australia.
    • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2018 Citation: Centner, T.J., Cancelling pesticide registrations and revoking tolerances: the case of chlorpyrifos, Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology 56(2018):5361.