(1) The legal issues affecting agriculture today involving topics such as land use conflicts, environmental law, biotechnology, hired labor practices and evolving, more intensive farming practices are becoming increasingly complex. These issues impact not only the production agriculture sector itself but extend and need to be understood by agribusiness, related industries, governmental entities and the public in general.

(2) The legal questions raised by these issues must be addressed in a timely and thoughtful manner by agricultural law experts to provide a foundation for informed decision making, dispute resolution and effective administrative and legislative action.

(3) At present there exists no central and effective system for compiling agricultural law materials, collecting and retaining reference materials on specific issues, accessing background research or, most significantly, disseminating this information to affected parties, including the agricultural industry, attorneys and the public.

(4) The alliance between two premier academic institutions in this Commonwealth, one with a well-established commitment to the discipline of law and the other the State land grant university with a wealth of agricultural knowledge, creates a unique opportunity to access expertise of each as a means of addressing complex legal issues.