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Image contains details about Maryland Farming Success and an image of harvested crop land with farm buildings in the background. Image by Edwin Remsberge

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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 and features the work of the Maryland Crop Insurance Education program and the University of Maryland - MPowering the State's Agriculture Law Education Initiative, a University of Maryland Extension Signature Program. This blog provides readers with information on risk management issues important to Maryland agriculture, upcoming events, and new materials that may interest readers.

Sarah Everhart

Aug 24, 2016
2 min

FDA Inspections on the Farm

By Sarah Everhart Although farmers might not be surprised to face an inspection from a state agency such as the Maryland Departments of Agriculture or Environment, they may be unprepared for an inspection from the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Understanding the legal authority and permissible scope of an FDA inspection can alleviate confusion surrounding this type of inspection and help the process run a bit smoother. The federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FDC

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Another Business Entity Possibility? Benefit Corporations!

Admin

Aug 17, 2016
2 min

Another Business Entity Possibility? Benefit Corporations!

By Ashley Ellixson If you have been following the blog, you have likely seen our business entities series or perhaps even my and Paul’s publication on business organizations. Today’s post looks at another possibility for a business structure, the benefit corporation. I know the term may sound made up but believe it or not, benefit corporations are real and thriving. What Is a Benefit Corporation? Before deciding to incorporate as a benefit corporation or switch to this type

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Wondering if Food Safety Modernization Act Applies to You?

Sarah Everhart

Aug 16, 2016
1 min

Wondering if Food Safety Modernization Act Applies to You?

By Sarah Everhart and Ashley Ellixson The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition has created an easy to follow flowchart for farmers to use to figure out if the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), specifically the Produce and Preventive Controls Rules, apply to their operation. Although the legal specialists at ALEI have posted about the FSMA Produce and Preventive Rules in the past we wanted to share this resource to answer the complex question of exactly to whom this

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Aug 15, 2016
5 min

GMO Labeling Timeline – What Happened and Why? Part II

By Mayhah Suri and Ashley Ellixson The past few weeks have been chock-full of developments on the genetically modified organisms (GMO) labeling front. Late last month, President Obama has signed a bill requiring all foods containing GM ingredients be labeled. Today is the second in a two-part blog post on this huge development in food law. For a refresher on what “GMO” means, check out Ashley’s post from last year. As mentioned in part one of this series , the U.S. Departmen

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Aug 12, 2016
2 min

Weekly News: August 12th Edition

By Mayhah Suri Nationally Farmland Values Decline but Increase in Maryland On Friday, the National Ag Statistics Services (NASS) released the 2016 summary on land values. Nationally, farm real estate values decreased by 0.3 percent, for cropland 1 percent, and for pastureland remained unchanged in 2016. In Maryland, however, the summary found farm real estate values and cropland values increased by 0.9 percent and pastureland values increased by 1.7 percent. To read the co

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Aug 11, 2016
4 min

GMO Labeling Timeline – What Happened and Why? Part I

By Mayhah Suri and Ashley Ellixson The past few weeks have been chock-full of developments on the genetically modified organisms (GMO) labeling front. As we reported in our news post last Friday, President Obama has signed a bill requiring all foods containing GM ingredients be labeled. Today is the first in a two-part blog post on this huge development in food law. This post lists the timeline of key events over the past three years which brought us to this point. The timeli

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Chapter 12 Bankruptcy: Reorganizing The Family Farm or Fishery

Admin

Aug 9, 2016
3 min

Chapter 12 Bankruptcy: Reorganizing The Family Farm or Fishery

By Ashley Ellixson This article first appeared in the July 26th edition of the Delmarva Farmer. I know what you may already be thinking: bankruptcy is such a gloomy topic. It is just that, gloomy. However, sometimes it may be the best option to enable the family farm to continue operating far into the future. Today, I will walk through what chapter 12 bankruptcy is and the how, who, and what questions surrounding the whole process. It is important, however, to consultant an

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Apr 1, 2016
3 min

Weekly News Update: April 1st, 2016

By Mayhah Suri Wicomico County Putting Stricter Zoning Regulations on Chicken Houses As it stands now the zoning regulations in Wicomico County say a poultry house can be no less than 100 ft. away from residential dwellings, which is about a third of a football field. Monday the county council held a special work session to change that. During the work session council members approved a draft that would create setbacks of 400 ft. in A-1 agricultural areas, and a minimum of 5

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Mar 18, 2016
3 min

Weekly News Roundup: March 18th, 2016

By Mayhah Suri Agriculture Department Releases Preliminary Soil Phosphorus Data On March 14th, the Maryland Department of Agriculture announced that based on statewide soil test information 82 percent of farm fields tested to date will not be impacted by new environmental regulations, which may limit phosphorus application or the use of animal manure as a fertilizer. Eighteen percent of farm fields will require use of the phosphorus management tools to evaluate risk. Only 1

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Mar 4, 2016
3 min

Weekly News Roundup: March 4th Edition

By Mayhah Suri Welcome to the Maryland Risk Management Blog! We’re happy to see that our subscriber list is growing every week. To all our new readers, welcome. To all our readers, we are interested in learning what topics you want us to cover. Feel free to comment below or contact any of us using the information in the “About” section. Supreme Court Decide to Not Hear the Challenge to the Bay’s TMDL On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to review a lower court’s upho

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Admin

Dec 21, 2015
1 min

Happy Holidays From Us to You

By MD Risk Management Blog We would like to take a moment to wish you all happy holidays and happy New Year! We would also like to take this opportunity to thank each of you for checking out the site and helping make 2015 even more of a success than 2014. We will be taking a break from posting over the next week or so, but we will be back going strong in 2016. Make sure to head on over to the blog after you ring in the New Year! Sign up to receive updates in the Welcome po

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Paul Goeringer

Jun 7, 2015
1 min

Ways to Subscribe to Maryland Risk Management Education Blog

We offer a few ways for you to follow this site and our partner programs: http://www.feedblitz.com/js/fbz_formscripts.jshttp://www.feedblitz.com/js/fbz_formopts.js To follow this site, you can always subscribe to FeedBlitz for a daily email. You can subscribe to FeedBlitz in the box to the right. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed to receive posts via your RSS reader. The RSS feed is available here. You can follow our partner programs on Twitter and like on Facebook. F

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Gleaning, Food Banks, and a Farmer’s Liability

Paul Goeringer

Feb 10, 2015
2 min

Gleaning, Food Banks, and a Farmer’s Liability

This post should not be construed as legal advice. It has been bitterly cold here lately, but soon (hopefully) the weather will turn warm and farmers will be back in the field planting vegetables for the upcoming season. As these vegetables and fruits are harvested, farmers may produce excess amounts to meet current contracts, CSA shares, farmers’ market needs, etc., and look at supplying excess crops to area food banks. Allowing the collection of leftover crops is known as

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Workshops For CSA Operators to Highlight Membership Agreements and Labor Issues

Admin

Feb 3, 2015
2 min

Workshops For CSA Operators to Highlight Membership Agreements and Labor Issues

Press Release Community Supported Farm (CSA) operators or those thinking about starting a CSA are invited to attend a workshop focused on drafting better membership agreements and addressing common labor issues. The workshops are free but registration is required. They will be held: Feb. 26, from 9:30 a.m to 2 p.m., at the Frederick County University of Maryland Extension Office, 330 Montevue Lane in Frederick. Lunch will be provided. To register, call the office at (301) 6

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Eastern Shore Attorney Sarah Everhart Joins Agriculture Law Education Initiative

Paul Goeringer

Dec 10, 2014
3 min

Eastern Shore Attorney Sarah Everhart Joins Agriculture Law Education Initiative

Editors’ Note: Today, Ashley and I are pleased to announce Sarah Everhart joining the Ag Law Education Initiative on Dec. 1. For anyone at Maryland Farm Bureau this week and sat in on our panel got to meet Sarah. Sarah will be joining us in outreach activities and here on this site posting. We will be making some changes to reflect the addition of Sarah. To learn more about Sarah, take a moment to read this press release from the Carey School of Law. BALTIMORE, Md. – Sar

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New Report Highlights Legal Challenges Facing Maryland’s Agricultural Community

Paul Goeringer

Oct 15, 2014
1 min

New Report Highlights Legal Challenges Facing Maryland’s Agricultural Community

The Maryland agricultural community is facing a diverse and complex set of legal challenges, Paul Goeringer, Wanding Zhang, Lori Lynch, Stephan Tubene, and Will Pons offer a recently published report with the results of a legal needs assessment for the state’s agricultural sector – the first of its kind in Maryland. The needs assessment is based on 26 structured interviews conducted with leaders from the agricultural industry and state government. University of Maryland Exte

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Paul Goeringer

Jun 5, 2014
1 min

New Labor Law Overview Available

William Pons recently finalized a publication detailing the Federal and Maryland state laws relating to agricultural labor issues. The publication is entitled A Guide to Agricultural Labor Laws: How Best to Comply with the Relevant Federal and Maryland State Standards, and is available on the Agriculture Law Education Initiative’s website. Compliance with labor laws is essential for all businesses including Maryland’s family farms, who are often able to gain exemptions to the

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Revised: Ag Law Infoline Phone Number Available for Maryland Farmers

Paul Goeringer

May 29, 2014
2 min

Revised: Ag Law Infoline Phone Number Available for Maryland Farmers

The Agriculture Law Education Initiative has recently launched an Infoline phone number for the agricultural community to call. The Infoline phone number will direct callers to legal information resources related to their agricultural operation. The Infoline, (410) 706-7377, is currently answered by staff at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law. “A central goal of the Initiative is to assist in the preservation of family farms. The Infoline will help

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