Neil D. Hamilton, is emeritus Professor of Law and Director of the Agricultural Law Center at Drake University Law School in Des Moines, Iowa. He has a B.S. from Iowa State University in Forestry and Economics, and a J.D. from University of Iowa. He has taught agricultural law for 44 years and is a past-president of the American Agricultural Law Association (AALA). Prior to joining Drake in 1983, he taught at the University of Arkansas and was an Iowa Assistant Attorney General. In the 1990’s he was vice-chair of USDA’s Small Farms Advisory Committee and chaired USDA’s National Genetics Resource Advisory Committee. His over 50 law review articles cover various topics: food democracy, agrarian justice, intellectual property rights and plant genetics, sustainable agriculture, land tenure, and agricultural industrialization. He has conducted legal seminars throughout the U.S. and in twenty-five countries. He is currently on the board of the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation and chairs the Seed Savers Exchange board. Between 2012 and 2019, he led six delegations of students to Cuba to study agricultural land reforms.
