Areas of Law

Agribusiness and Cooperatives

Davis, Brown, Koehn, Shors & Roberts, P.C. provides comprehensive legal representation to agribusiness ventures, from small farms to multinational companies. 

Our clients include local and federated grain and supply cooperatives, hybrid seed companies, food processing plants, agrichemical companies, and agricultural lenders and equity funds.  In addition to traditional agribusiness clients, the firm has been involved extensively with value-added enterprises, such as:

• Poultry growers acquiring and operating meat processing facilities;
• Grain farmers forming a company to coordinate the growing and marketing of specialty, identity-preserved grain;
• Corn growers building and operating ethanol production plants;
• Organic livestock and vegetable producers acquiring processing facilities and forming coordinated distribution networks; 
• Soybean farmers acquiring facilities to produce and market yogurt, tofu, soymilk, and smoothies;
• Grain farmers organizing an aquaculture cooperative to raise and market yellow perch; and
• Corn growers owning and operating egg production and distribution facilities.

Iowa law restricts the ownership of agricultural land by certain business entities and nonresident aliens.  We have extensive experience in advising clients regarding these laws and in structuring organizations and transactions that comply with these complex provisions. 

Our attorneys actively participate in related trade and professional associations, including the Iowa Institute for Cooperatives, the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, the American Agricultural Law Association, the Lex Mundi Agribusiness Practice Group, the Agricultural Law Section of the Iowa State Bar Association, and the Iowa Biotechnology Association.

As agribusiness law is an interdisciplinary area, we involve specialists in securities, tax, cooperatives, food safety regulation, real estate, intellectual property, employment, litigation, and commercial transactions to service our clients. 

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