Academics
Academics
About the Center
Drake's Agricultural Law Center, founded in 1983, is an internationally recognized center that provides opportunities to study how the legal system shapes our food system and influences the ability of the agricultural sector to produce, market and utilize agricultural products. The Center supports an array of courses, publications, conferences, research initiatives and created a certification program in food and agricultural law. Students learn about legal issues involving the full scope of food and agriculture, including marketing and finance; biotechnology; international trade; tax planning; soil and water conservation; land use and environmental issues; food safety; and federal farm programs. The Center also hosts international law scholars to study food and agricultural law and policy in the U.S. through the Lorvellec International Food Law Scholar program.
About the Director
The director of the Center is Neil Hamilton, Dwight D. Opperman Distinguished Professor of Law. As one of the nation’s leading authorities on the role of law in shaping agriculture and the food system, Professor Hamilton has lectured throughout the United States and in 18 other countries. He has taught agricultural law for 24 years and has written more than two dozen law review articles and several books on food and agricultural law issues. Each year he is a visiting professor at the University of Nantes in France and at the agricultural law graduate program at the University of Arkansas.
In addition to teaching classes each semester, Professor Hamilton advises the Drake Journal of Agricultural Law; helps arrange internships and other work experiences in a student’s area of interest; and provides opportunities for students to assist in various research and agricultural law projects.
Professor Hamilton formerly served as the co-chair of the USDA Small Farms Advisory Committee and he currently serves on the advisory board for the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University and as the chair of the Iowa Food Policy Council. He also serves on the boards of the Farmer’s Legal Action Group (FLAG), the National Gardening Association, the Seed Savers Exchange, and the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation. He is a former president of the American Agricultural Law Association and has served as a consultant for many international organizations such as the United Nations Development Program in China, the Royal Botanical Garden at Kew, the World Bank, and the International Potato Research Center in Lima, Peru.
News and Links
Drake Law Prof Teaches Iowa's First Wind Law Course, Des Moines Register, May 6, 2008
The Changing Face of Agricultural Health and Safety NAAC and ICASH, presentation by Matt Russell
Farmers markets feed quest for 'local,' Des Moines Register, October 24, 2007
Iowans Must Work Together To Improve Natural Resources, Des Moines Register, September 19, 2007
Annual Report of the Director
Please click here for the Director's 2007 Annual Report.
To view the 2005 Report, click here.
