#COVID

Two people talking at a table. Image by Edwin Remsberg

Harvesting crops with combine by Edwin Remsberg.jpg

Crop being hand harvested by Edwin Remsberg.jpg

Image of two people talking in front of a hoop house by Edwin Remsberg.jpg

Please sign up to receive email updates of new content (your email will be kept private and not sold). If you do sign up, you will get an email to confirm your email address that may end up in your junk mail folder. Email updates will not start till you confirm your email.

If you have issues or thoughts on topics that should address, click here to send them.

Note: This website is intended to provide general information about legal issues, crop insurance, farm policy, and other risk management issues and should not be construed as providing legal advice. It should not be cited or relied upon as legal authority. For advice about how the issues discussed here might apply to your individual situation, you should consult an attorney.

Welcome to the Maryland Risk Management Education Blog, provided by the University of Maryland Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics. This blog provides readers with information on risk management issues important to Maryland agriculture, upcoming events, and new materials that may interest readers.

You Should Still be Using Best Efforts to Protect Your Farm Workers From COVID

Nicole Cook

Mar 9, 2021
5 min

You Should Still be Using Best Efforts to Protect Your Farm Workers From COVID

This article is not a substitute for legal advice. See here for the site’s reposting policy. It’s been a full year since Governor Hogan issued the first state of emergency for Maryland. Fortunately, we are seeing people getting vaccinated against COVID-19. However, COVID will continue to be a risk on our farms for at least the rest of the 2021 season, and using your best efforts to protect your farm workers from COVID still needs to be part of your farm risk management plan.

39 views0 comments

Maryland Department of Agriculture Guides For Protecting Farm Workers

Nicole Cook

Jun 29, 2020
2 min

Maryland Department of Agriculture Guides For Protecting Farm Workers

By Nicole Cook As Maryland continues reopening following weeks of stay-at-home restrictions, and farms begin welcoming their summer farmworkers, Maryland’s Department of Agriculture (MDA) has developed short, easy-to-understand, practical resources to help farms reduce the risk of COVID-19 in the workplace. The guides provide step-by-step checklists for ensuring that employers have thought about and taken steps to protect their workers’ health, and what to do if their workers

47 views0 comments

Nicole Cook

Jun 9, 2020
7 min

Employer Liability in the Time of COVID

By Nicole Cook This article is not a substitute for legal advice. See here for the site’s reposting policy. As we are all too well aware, there are myriad sources of exposure to COVID-19. The workplace is one. Farms, as essential businesses, have continued to operate throughout the pandemic, and farm employers are starting to ask whether they should worry about their employees suing them claiming that they contracted COVID-19 at work. This post looks at the potential type

91 views0 comments

MAY 4, 2020 UPDATE: SBA has opened the EIDL application web portal for farmers and ranchers

Nicole Cook

Apr 28, 2020
7 min

MAY 4, 2020 UPDATE: SBA has opened the EIDL application web portal for farmers and ranchers

By Nicole Cook This article is not a substitute for legal advice. See here for the site’s reposting policy. May 4, 2020: SBA is now accepting new Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and EIDL Advance applications on a limited basis only to provide relief to U.S. agricultural businesses. See below for links to the application site and a useful online tutorial about the application forms. Information from the April 28th blog post about the EIDL programs is also below. The ap

39 views1 comment

Force Majeure Clauses: What Are They and Do They Apply in Issues Caused by COVID19?

Paul Goeringer

Apr 10, 2020
6 min

Force Majeure Clauses: What Are They and Do They Apply in Issues Caused by COVID19?

By Paul Goeringer, Elizabeth Thilmany, and Mayhah Suri This is not a substitute for legal advice. See here for the site’s reposting policy. A print-friendly version of this article is available here. 2020 has been a challenging year with the global economic shutdown from COVID-19 leading to disruptions in many industries. Agriculture has had its fair share of disruptions from this global pandemic. Such disruptions have raised questions for many of you about your contracts t

315 views0 comments

Nicole Cook

Apr 7, 2020
5 min

Insurance Coverage and COVID-19

By Nicole Cook This article is not a substitute for legal advice. See here for the site’s reposting policy. Insurance might be the last thing you’re thinking about right now as you scramble to figure out how to cope with the impacts of COVID-19. But now is exactly when you need to be doing all you can to put your farming operation in the strongest position possible to maximize any potential insurance recovery. This is especially true if federal or state assistance is not a

21 views1 comment