Significant Expansion of AFIDA: Covered Entities, Disclosure and Reporting Requirements, Penalties

Ms. Bocci works on a range of transactional matters, including purchase and sale agreements, financing, and leasing. Her practice focuses on hotel and resort properties, commercial real estate assets, and agriculture/agribusiness matters. In the agriculture sector, Ms. Bocci has specific experience in matters relating to farmland real estate investments. She handles transactions across the country involving the purchase, sale, leasing and financing of farmland. Further, she is familiar with operational issues specific to the food packing and processing industry, including supply chain and labor arrangements. In addition, she also advises clients on agribusiness-related M&A transactions and regularly speaks and writes on agribusiness topics.

Ms. Larson’s practice focuses on commercial real estate including the acquisition, disposition, leasing, financing, and development of commercial, timber, and food and agribusiness holdings, including controlled environment agriculture (CEA) facilities. She regularly represents both borrowers and lenders (foreign and domestic) in lending transactions secured by commercial and agricultural properties, including the negotiation of intercreditor and co-lender arrangements. Ms. Larson also regularly advises clients on investments in various food and agribusiness assets. She regularly advises on jurisdictionally-specific permitting, licensing, certification, and product-specific requirements for producers, processors and retailers of food, including those applicable to CEA facilities. Ms. Larson also counsels clients on filing requirements for foreign investors under the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act and analogous state statutes.

Mr. Thomson focuses on all aspects of commercial real estate transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, financings, leases, and development projects. He has experience working with a variety of real estate assets, including agricultural, renewables, natural resources, multifamily, office, retail, hospitality, and industrial. Mr. Thomson advises clients throughout all stages of their real estate transactions, including drafting and negotiating primary transaction documents, conducting and coordinating due diligence review, and managing those transactions through and after closing. He regularly advises clients in connection with matters affecting the ownership and operation of farmland and other agribusiness assets. Many of these matters involve foreign investment in U.S. real estate assets, particularly agricultural properties. In this connection, he helps advise clients on federal and state foreign and corporate ownership regulations regarding the ownership and operation of agricultural property, including analysis of pending state and federal legislation. He also assists clients with the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act and state-analogous statutes, including filing obligations with the USDA. Mr. Thomson has particular experience in advising clients on regulatory issues impacting the growing, processing, manufacturing and distribution of food products, including issues under the Food Safety Modernization Act and state regulatory schemes. Additionally, he regularly advises on jurisdiction-specific permitting, licensing, certification, and product-specific requirements for producers, processors, and retailers (including online retailers) of food products.