Drew Viguet
Special to
The Sentinel-Record
FAYETTEVILLE -- The highly perishable nature of produce makes the business of buying and selling unlike that in any other industry. The Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act, or PACA, was established in 1930 to protect those involved in transactions regarding produce.
June Monroe, director and attorney at Fennemore, will present a National Ag Law Center webinar on the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act on Wednesday.
To register for the webinar, visit:
https://bit.ly/3xLmUEI
"PACA informs the produce industry of how it should be operating, ensuring fairness for growers, buyers and sellers," Monroe, director and attorney at Fennemore, said in a news release. "While it's gone through changes in its almost century-long history, the objective of PACA has remained to protect against unfair and fraudulent business activities."
PACA is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service, or AMS. According to AMS, its PACA experts receive hundreds of calls weekly from companies requesting assistance on problems unique to the industry.
Monroe, who practices in the areas of agribusiness and employment and labor, is a frequent presenter on PACA. She said that misconceptions about PACA are common.
"There is a lot of information to sift through when it comes to PACA," she said. "Licensing requirements, payment obligation specifics, dispute resolution processes and more. It can be a lot, but knowing more about how PACA works and serves producers is of great necessity and benefit to those in the ag industry."
Monroe will discuss the navigation of its regulations and best practices. The webinar, "Demystifying PACA: Navigating Compliance and Best Practices in the Produce Industry," will begin at 11 a.m. Wednesday.
"It's an area of law with a significant history and evolution throughout the years," she said. "PACA was established to protect not only agricultural producers, but also the country's food supply. It has a tremendous impact."
Harrison Pittman, director of the NALC, noted Monroe's expertise is invaluable to producers, distributors, lawyers and more across the industry.
"June has been a great friend to the NALC, having presented at our inaugural Western Agricultural and Environmental Law Conference in 2023 on PACA, and now presenting this webinar," Pittman said in the release. "She is highly regarded in this area of law and we're very fortunate that she'll share her time and expertise."
The National Agricultural Law Center serves as the nation's leading source of agricultural and food law research and information, according to the release. The NALC works with producers, state and federal policymakers, Congressional staffers, attorneys, land grant universities, and many others to provide objective, nonpartisan agricultural and food law research and information to the nation's agricultural community.
The NALC is a unit of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture and works in close partnership with the USDA Agricultural Research Service, National Agricultural Library.
Drew Viguet is with the National Agricultural Law Center, U of A System Division of Agriculture.