Registration is open for Indianapolis' Sixth Startup Weekend, an intense 54-hour brainstorming and business-building event that will be held April 8-10 at the Purdue Research Park of Indianapolis. The program, which is part of a global movement, typically results in the creation of several new businesses. It will culminate with a presentation on Sunday, April 10, 2011 as company founders have an opportunity to pitch their ideas for prizes and potential investors.
During Startup Weekend, a diverse group of developers, business managers, startup enthusiasts, marketing leaders, graphic artists and others gather to create and develop innovative new products, projects and companies. Many times, a viable company emerges, such as Pocket Tales, a company that turns reading books into an interactive game; ShoutNow Inc., an automated messaging system; StatsSquared Inc., a Twitter analytic tool; and EatDrink.it, a restaurant rating tool. It is an opportunity to connect with other professionals, and perhaps find a co-founder to turn ideas into reality.
Ice Miller LLP is proud to sponsor the Indianapolis Startup Weekend on April 8-10. To learn more, please visit the Indianapolis Startup Weekend's Web site or read Entrepreneur's article about Startup Weekend.
Earlier this year, the Western Farm Press publication interviewed Roger McEowen, director of Iowa State University’s Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation (CALT), about his thoughts on the most significant agriculture-related legal developments of 2010. Many of these involved court decisions while others were legislative or regulatory actions at the federal level. The list is a diverse one and highlights biotechnology approvals as well as environmental, depreciation, tax, livestock marketing, and food safety issues, among others. Read the entire list of top 10 farming related law stories of 2010.
Although the political headlines of many states seem to indicate taxes might be on the rise, it appears that Indiana's state government might not be following suit, at least not when it comes to investments made in certain early stage Indiana companies. Indiana State Representatives Jerry Torr (District 39), Kathy Heuer (District 83) and Rebecca Kubacki (District 22) introduced House Bill No. 1008, which proposes certain pro-investment changes to Indiana's Venture Capital Investment Tax Credit legislation. House Bill No. 1008 was approved by the Indiana House of Representatives on February 17, 2011 and was then referred to the Indiana Senate where it is being sponsored by Brandt Hershman (District 7), Luke Kenley (District 20), and Jim Arnold (District 8).
Read the entire article about House Bill No. 1008 authored by Ice Miller attorney Bo Ramsey.
February 23, I was in Lincoln, Nebraska attending the Nebraska Pork Producers' annual meeting. I spoke to the audience - gathering to celebrate their 50th anniversary - on the 21st century challenges and important policy and political issues facing agriculture. We discussed the expectations being placed on agriculture to feed a growing world population that is experiencing tremendous wealth creation (especially in developing countries) and thereby creating sustained and strong demand for food products. Because of natural resource (arable land and water) constraints, agriculture will need to generate even greater annual productivity growth rates over the next several decades through the development, commercialization and adoption of both traditional and cutting-edge technologies.
Norman Borlaug, the Father of the Green Revolution, once said, "The world has the technology, either available or well-advanced in the research pipeline, to feed a population of 10 billion people.
The more pertinent question is whether farmers and ranchers will be permitted to use this new technology."
Today, agriculture is challenged and even misunderstood by several groups...consumers, politicians, regulators, advocates for the environment and animal rights and welfare, their neighbors - rural and urban, and sometimes even by other parts of the industry (i.e., the food vs. fuel debate). These are all forces that today have either the will, the authority, the financing or the support to limit agriculture's ability to use new technologies and meet the world's growing food demand.
What was most striking about the assembly of agricultural leaders in Lincoln and the feeling that pervaded the meeting was the absolute commitment they all felt to defend their businesses, their families, their way of life and their contributions to society and the planet. Nebraska's production agriculture sector, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, accounts for about 7 percent of the state's economic output. This percentage ranks Nebraska third in the country of states that rely most on their agriculture sectors - behind North and South Dakota.
Livestock and crop production are both critically important to the state, and that is especially clear in the sentiments shared at the conference - and with daily frequency - by Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman. The Governor has minced no words about his intent to defend the state's livestock industry from expected attacks by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) on production agriculture. "You (HSUS) come to Nebraska and you're going to have the fight of your life," Heineman publicly stated. "If you think you can intimidate Nebraskans, you're kidding yourself. I'll organize the whole state if that's what it takes." Heineman said he would work nonstop if HSUS pushes a ballot initiative, to be sure all the state's citizens understand the HSUS agenda and what it would mean in a state where livestock is the leading industry. "And then I'll go to every state in the nation," he said.
Indiana's Governor Mitch Daniels echoes this same unabashed support for our agriculture industry. If agriculture could make Daniels and Heineman official industry spokespersons and send them across the country, every state in the nation would certainly benefit from their "no excuses, no apologies" style.
Read the article written for Nebraska Pork Producers' industry magazine
Pork Talk, titled "
Is Agriculture Ready to Meet the 21st Century Challenge?"
Never in history has so much been required of agriculture. In addition to the ever-present mission to feed the world, agriculture is expected to help mitigate climate change, develop alternative energies, improve human health and create new sources of food and nutrition.
In just 50 years, the over nine billion people then living on this planet will require 100 percent more food than is needed today. Translation: agriculture will need to produce in that same time period twice the amount of grain, livestock and other products.
Because of environmental and practical limitations, there is simply insufficient high-quality land to just "grow" or "raise" more food. According to the World Bank, there is at most 12 percent more arable land available for food production that isn't presently forested or subject to erosion or desertification. There also will be significant limitations on water availability in the future. By 2050, it is estimated, four billion people, eight times as many as today, will be living in countries with chronic water shortages.
The United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization reports that new farmland could meet 20 percent of this new food demand and increased cropping intensity may yield another 10 percent. The remainder – an overwhelming 70 percent of the additional world food needs – must come from technology and innovation.
Technology advancements and corresponding productivity gains in agriculture across the 20th century were remarkable and arguably prevented major famines or devastating food wars. Consider the following:
• Corn yields in 1910 were about 15 bushels to the acre. In 1960, they were 55 bushels per acre, and today, they are well over 160 bushels – a 300 percent increase in just the last 50 years. Wheat and soybean yields have seen 215 percent and 169 percent increases in that same 50-year period.
• The livestock sector, too, continues to provide more high-quality protein using fewer resources. The U.S. dairy industry produces nearly 60 percent more milk with 64 percent fewer cows than it did some 65 years ago. And, the same trend holds for pork. Compared to 1950, U.S. hog farmers produce 176 percent more pork per sow with 44 percent fewer sows.
• A century ago, each U.S. farmer's production fed only a dozen or so people. Today, the average U.S. farmer feeds 155 people.
Our next set of great challenges, though, will require even greater solutions and must come not only from the U.S. but from around the world. Investment and commitment to these three unique, yet inter-connected, areas are especially critical to our problem-solving.
Read Beth Bechdol's entire article that was published in Nebraska Pork Talk.
The National FFA Organization is celebrating National FFA Week this week (Feb. 19-26, 2011). "Infinite Potential" is the theme this year and the organization's 500,000-plus members are encouraged to envision, discover and achieve their potential within their communities.
The week of George Washington's birthday was designated by the organization as National FFA Week in 1947 because of the first President's contributions to agriculture, his diligent work ethic, honest character and record keeping...all skills taught through FFA's programs.
During the week, national officers will travel to different parts of the country to visit FFA members, participate in special events and meet with leaders of the agriculture industry. Individual chapters initiate events throughout the week to promote FFA and agriculture in their classrooms and communities. Events include community service projects, educational lessons for elementary students and promotional programs for students, teachers, and alumni.
Ice Miller is a proud supporter of National FFA and its outstanding student leaders. Beth Bechdol, Ice Miller's Director of Agribusiness Strategies, serves on the 2011 FFA Sponsors' Board. Follow National FFA on Facebook, Twitter and FFA Nation. Visit http://www.FFA.org to learn more about the National FFA Organization.
The last several days have provided some big "announcements" for the ag economy and the entire industry. On February 11, 2011, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that U.S. farm exports reached an all-time high of $115.8 billion in calendar year 2010. This was up nearly $1 billion from the previous year's record, and, for the first time, China emerged as the top market for U.S. agricultural exports with $17.5 billion in sales.
Then, on February 14, 2011, Secretary Vilsack released the projections for 2011 farm income. Net cash income for all of U.S. agriculture is expected to reach $98.6 billion in 2011, up $7.3 billion (or 8 percent) from 2010 and $26.8 billion above its 10-year average of $71.8 billion. Strong demand for food around the world and near-record commodity prices contribute to this especially rosy outlook.
That same day, President Obama unveiled his budget proposal for 2012. For perspective, USDA’s budget authority is approximately $145 billion of the $3.7 trillion proposed by the President for the entire federal government. USDA's budget proposed $2 billion in cuts to its discretionary spending ($24 billion). With the backdrop of a healthy and vibrant farm economy now well in place, the Administration proposed cuts in agriculture programs to the wealthiest farmers. Specifically, the proposals called for limits on direct payments to farmers and further tightening of income limits for farm program payments. According to the Secretary, this would save $2.5 billion over 10 years, while only affecting 2 percent of participants. Seems to make sense if the free market is treating agriculture as well as it is, right?
But most of our "agricultural" spending, both in the USDA budget and in Farm Bill programs, is not on agricultural production or "farm" programs. Today, approximately 70 percent of the USDA budget - as well as Farm Bill monies - goes to food and nutrition programs. The 2012 USDA budget proposed increases in spending to strengthen nutrition assistance for millions of Americans, including the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program, which supports 9.6 million low-income, nutritionally at-risk pregnant and post-partum women, infants and children up to age five. The Budget also supports the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which touches more than 45 million lives. The budget proposes to suspend the benefit time limits for certain working-age adults for an additional fiscal year, and it provides $35 million for the Healthy Food Financing Initiative to bring grocery stores and other healthy food retailers to underserved communities. These are unarguably valuable programs that provide much needed services to a growing number of Americans.
The cuts, however, being proposed by political leaders to discretionary programs are simply "nickel and dime" approaches to very serious problems. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the commodity/farm program payments to farmers will amount to just 0.15 percent of all federal spending over the next ten years. Indeed, every area of spending should be scrutinized and cuts should be made in efficient or outdated programs, regardless of their scope or size. But until there is a commitment to reform and reductions in our mandatory program spending, including food and nutrition programs in the agriculture budget, and more importantly, Medicare/Medicaid, social security and defense spending in the federal budget, we're simply kicking the can further down the road.
Ice Miller ag team members, Kevin Alerding, Tony Aaron and Beth Bechdol, participated in an Agribusiness Retreat hosted by Kennedy and Coe LLC in Indianapolis February 8-9, 2011. Kennedy and Coe LLC is based in Kansas and Colorado and is a Top 100 accounting and consulting firm. They offer tax, financial and management succession services to farming operations across the country.
Beth Bechdol presented on current agricultural political and policy developments, including the upcoming Farm Bill debate and EPA's expanding regulatory approach to agriculture. Click here for her powerpoint presentation.
Kevin Alerding is a partner in Ice Miller's Personal Services group and is experienced in farm succession planning.
Tony Aaron is a partner in Ice Miller's Business group and assists farm and agribusiness clients with corporate transactions and restructuring.
The new year brought good news to the food industry as different courts issued opinions rejecting consumer claims that would likely have had significant impact on the food industry.
In one case, a consumer filed a class action based on an allegation that a product is dangerous and an assertion by the plaintiff that he, and other consumers like him, would not have purchased the product if the manufacturer and sellers of the product had disclosed its dangers.
Another class action was based upon allegations that a product's labels and marketing misrepresented the product's quality or characteristics.
Read the entire article about food companies defending class actions.
Checking job applicants' credit history, a common screening practice of many employers, has come under attack from state legislatures, private litigants and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). In August 2010, Illinois enacted the Employee Credit Privacy Act, making it the fourth state to ban employers from inquiring about the credit histories of job applicants or employees, or obtaining copies of their credit reports. Three months later, Loudy Appolon, an applicant for employment at the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine, filed a class action lawsuit against the university after it informed her she would not be hired because of her credit history. Just last month, the EEOC sued Kaplan Higher Education over its use of credit histories in the hiring process.
The common thread binding all of these challenges to the consideration of credit records in the hiring process is the claim that this practice discriminates against African Americans, Hispanics and perhaps other protected groups.
Read the entire article about using credit checks in the hiring process.
Who would imagine that you could, with the magic of the Internet and from the comfort of your living room, sell or buy shares of later stage private companies that you hear about over the Internet (or for some on TV or in old fashioned newspapers or magazines)? Companies like Groupon, Twitter and Facebook come to mind.
For employees and other owners of promising young companies that are not yet public (or possibly may never be publicly-held), these new online “markets” are a potential source of liquidity.
Read the entire online trading article authored by Ice Miller attorney Joseph DeGroff for Inside INdiana Business.
In a decision handed down Jan. 24, 2011, the United States Supreme Court took another step toward the establishment of a national "just cause" standard by broadly interpreting the anti-retaliation provisions contained in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include roughly everybody and his brother – or in this case, everybody and her fiancé.
Read the entire article about anti-retaliation provisions of Title VII.
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Public Law No. 111-203 (Dodd-Frank) was signed into law on July 21, 2010. Among other changes to securities law, Dodd-Frank imposes registration and other obligations, including fiduciary duties, upon municipal advisors who engage in certain activities with respect to "municipal entities." See Section 975 of Dodd-Frank. These new obligations include the requirement, which became effective Oct. 1, 2010, to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In addition, Dodd-Frank grants the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) regulatory authority over municipal advisors, so municipal advisors will be required to comply with the MSRB's registration and other requirements as well as those of the SEC.
Read the entire alert regarding municial advisor registration under Dodd-Frank Act.
A Year of Lessons Learned From 2010
Of all the pitfalls and challenges that businesses faced in 2010, the most overlooked issues may have been data security and the collection of consumer data, whether it be online or offline. Although there were fewer data security breaches reported last year than the previous year, frequency is distinct from severity, and businesses must remain vigilant. Data security issues are the quintessential iceberg: a recognized threat at the surface level, but capable of causing ruinous damage in a worst-case scenario – an average $6.6 million in costs and expenses according to one study.
Read the entire data security article authored by our data security attorneys.
Ice Miller partner Steve Humke was quoted in the
Indianapolis Business Journal article, "Uptick in M&A Activity Suggests a Turnaround," on January 24 for the publication's "Big Deals" issue.
The H-1B visa category is the most common classification available to foreign professionals working in the U.S. This category, however, is subject to an annual quota or "cap" each fiscal year, and based on numbers recently released by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the cap for fiscal year 2011 is expected to be exhausted very soon. Employers should also note that a revised form for H-1B and certain other nonimmigrant filings requires employers to make attestations regarding "deemed exports" or the release of controlled technology or technical data to foreign nationals. While the regulations regarding release of this type of information to foreign nationals are not new, employers should review their export control compliance procedures to ensure they have appropriate plans and policies in place to comply with the attestation requirement.
Read the entire article on the H-1B visa.
We started 2011 with news around the proverbial water cooler focused on Facebook's $50 billion valuation. According to the Associated Press, the social networking site's value is about equal to the open market value of more well-established companies like Boeing and Kraft. The blogosphere has been ablaze with some calling the deal "genius" while others calling for greater Securities and Exchange Commission scrutiny of these types of secondary market transactions. While the terms of the deal may be subject to interpretation, there is little doubt that companies in the tech sector will continue to make front page headlines in 2011.
Recently, we've seen a number of Indiana's tech companies rise in prominence. In fact, in December 2010, Lead411 announced its list of the Technology 500. To be eligible, companies must be privately held, headquartered in the United States with over $1 million in revenue in 2009. The rankings were determined by calculating the highest percentage revenue growth between 2007 and 2009. Seven Indiana companies made the list to include Scale Computing (ranking an impressive second overall), BlueLock, Vontoo, Iasta, ExactTarget, Angie's List and Delivra. Indiana is home to more companies on the list than Massachusetts, New York or Texas.
So, what makes the Crossroads of America so attractive to emerging tech companies and what drives their growth? Some of the contributing factors are access to capital, competitive tax credits/incentives and a commitment to develop and commercialize advanced technologies in Indiana.
Read the entire article.
Employment Laws to Focus on in 2011
Goodbye 2010, hello 2011. As we settle in to 2011 after a busy holiday season, we must refocus on the year ahead. For most of us, this time of year brings New Year's resolutions and planning for the upcoming year. For employers, this time should include reviewing their employment policies and procedures and making any necessary updates to ensure compliance with the various changes in the law that occurred in 2010.
Read the article which provides an overview of some of the employment related statutes and regulations that arose in 2010.
IU Kelley School M.B.A. students advise INdiana Sustainability Alliance on green economic development. Report suggests similar approach to what Indiana has taken with life sciences.
Read the
press release.
On Dec. 17, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010 (the Act). Among a variety of other matters, the Act includes an extension of favorable tax treatment relating to certain investments in small businesses made on or before Dec. 31, 2010. The deadline for such investments to be eligible to receive favorable tax treatment is now Dec. 31, 2011.
The previously enacted Small Business Jobs and Credit Act of 2010 created a temporary exclusion for 100 percent of any gain recognized on the sale of qualified small business stock (QSBS) acquired after Sept. 27, 2010, and before Jan. 1, 2011. In addition, during this period, the excluded gain is not treated as a preference item for purposes of alternative minimum tax, although other limitations may apply. The Act results in an extension of a potentially significant federal income tax benefit to non-corporate investors, essentially reducing to zero the federal tax rate for capital gains on QSBS to which the change applies.
Read an overview of the QSBS provisions.
If you have questions regarding the Act or QSBS provisions, please contact Kristine Danz or Janice Wilken.
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