The Oklahoma Bar Journal February 2024

A gricultural L aw Oklahoma’s Agricultural Law By Brendon S. Atkinson

“T HERE’S NO SUCH THING as a gricultural law.” It has been 15 or 20 years ago now, but I can still hear those words as though they were spoken earlier today. “It’s contract law and torts, the same as anything else,” scoffed the attorney regarded by many, including myself, as the attorney for all things agricul ture. It was a position I halfheart edly adopted as my own for some time thereafter. After all, as usual, he wasn’t wrong. The elements of liability for negligence are the same, regardless of whether the fact pattern involves a Corvette or a com bine; a grain contract requires an offer, acceptance and consideration – just like a contract to sell a house or an employment agreement. At this point, you may be ask ing, what about the Plant Variety Protection Act, the Packers and Stockyard Act, Chapter 12 of the Bankruptcy Code, etc. – aren’t those agricultural law? There is no question that each was devel oped and has evolved to deal with issues in agriculture. I would not begin to argue against those who choose to place those areas of law under the umbrella of “agricul tural law.” However, you would be hard-pressed to find an Oklahoma farmer or rancher looking for legal services to patent a new plant species they’ve developed. I don’t

know of any “family farmers” who want representation in search of relief under the Bankruptcy Code. I think our position that “agricultural law” didn’t exist was founded upon a mindset or belief that neither these nor any other special laws affected average, day-to-day agricultural operations. However, representing farmers, ranchers and agricultural entities in those 15 or 20 years since, I real ized somewhere along the way that maybe we weren’t entirely correct. As recent as 2015, Oklahoma was the third-largest producing state in the United States for win ter wheat and the second-largest producing state for beef cattle. 1 During the same time period, 76% of Oklahoma’s land area was used for agricultural purposes, and one in every eight jobs in Oklahoma had a direct tie to agriculture. 2 With these statistics in mind, it should come as no surprise that over time, law has arisen that directly affects Oklahoma’s agricultural industry on a regular basis. In fact, these “agricultural laws” are not only not typical “contract law” or “tort law,” but in some cases, Oklahoma’s agricultural law alters the appli cability of other areas of law to the state’s agricultural industry. Though not an exhaustive list, this article will discuss a few of

Oklahoma’s agricultural laws that practitioners should keep in mind if they represent clients involved in and/or affected by agriculture in Oklahoma. AGRICULTURAL ENTITIES A good place to start this dis cussion is the agricultural law that dictates who can or, maybe more precisely, who cannot engage in farming and ranching in the state of Oklahoma. Over the last several years, entities, especially corpora tions and limited liability compa nies, have become popular tools in farming and ranching operations as a means to limit liability, transi tion management and ownership, etc. However, “corporate” farming has not always been permitted in Oklahoma. In fact, though rarely scrutinized, there are limitations on which entities may engage in farm ing and ranching in Oklahoma. Article 22, §2 of the Oklahoma Constitution explicitly prohib its corporations from “buying, acquiring, trading, or dealing in” rural real estate. For a time, this prohibition was understood to also be a prohibition on farming and ranching by a corporate entity. However, in LeForce v. Bullard , 3 the Oklahoma Supreme Court stated, “The intention of the framers of the Constitution was not to prevent

Statements or opinions expressed in the Oklahoma Bar Journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Oklahoma Bar Association, its officers, Board of Governors, Board of Editors or staff.

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THE OKLAHOMA BAR JOURNAL