School of Law Welcomes USDA Secretary

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns will visit the National Agricultural Law Center at the University of Arkansas School of Law on Thursday, April 12. Following a meeting with faculty, students and key members of the Arkansas agriculture community, Johanns will address the public at 11:45 a.m. in the law school’s E. J. Ball Courtroom, Room 240.

“This is a very significant event for the law school and the center,” said Harrison Pittman, director of the National Agricultural Law Center. “Secretary Johanns’ visit highlights the prominence of the school’s extensive efforts in agricultural and food law through the center, the graduate program in agricultural law, and the recently inaugurated Journal of Food Law & Policy. It is an honor and great pleasure to welcome Secretary Johanns to the University of Arkansas.”

The timing of the secretary’s visit, the first time an agriculture secretary has visited the UA Law School, is particularly appropriate, as this year marks the 25^th anniversary of the graduate program and the 20^th anniversary of the center. It also coincides with ongoing debate over the 2007 Farm Bill, which will shape the future of U.S. agriculture.

Secretary Johanns was born in Iowa and grew up doing chores on his family’s dairy farm. As the son of a dairy farmer, he developed a deep respect for the land and the people who work it. He is a graduate of St. Mary’s University of Minnesota and earned a law degree from Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. Johanns practiced law in Lincoln, Neb., served on Lincoln’s city council and the Lancaster County Board. He also served as Lincoln’s mayor for several years and was later elected governor of Nebraska. In 2005, he was sworn in as the 28th Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture.

In 1987, Congress recognized the University of Arkansas School of Law for its “unique expertise in the area of agricultural law” and called for the creation of the National Agricultural Law Center. Since then, the center has been funded with federal appropriations through the National Agricultural Library, an entity within the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The center is the only agricultural law research and information facility that is independent, national and international in scope and directly connected to the national agricultural information network. The center conducts objective legal research and provides timely, accurate and nonpartisan agricultural information to members of the agricultural community on areas such as renewable fuels, international agricultural trade, and sustainability and agriculture. The center has expanded the scope of its coverage to include food law as it recognizes the expanding scope of agricultural law and its convergence with food law topics.