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Navigating Maryland’s Open Burn Laws

More on Scare Guns and the Right-to-Farm Law

What is a Cottage Food?

Maryland Circuit Court Judge Reverses Final Maryland AFO Permit

Risk Management Consideration with hemp

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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.

Family Limited Partnership as a Business Structure?

Sep 21, 2016
3 min

Family Limited Partnership as a Business Structure?

This post is not legal advice. I’ve written about limited partnerships as a business structure previously, but let’s review. A limited partnership is made up of at least one general partner and one or more limited partners. General partners manage the business and take all the business risks. (See the previous post on general partnerships to get an idea of the types potential risks general partners face). Limited partners have no management responsibilities, and their lia

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Weekly News Update: June 3rd Edition

Jun 3, 2016
2 min

Weekly News Update: June 3rd Edition

By Mayhah Suri Gov. Hogan Vetoes Renewable Energy Bill, Lets Pesticide Curb, Oyster Study Become Law Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan vetoed a bill Friday that would have required the state’s electricity suppliers to get more power from renewable sources, but allowed two other environmental bills — one restricting pesticide use and another requiring a study of oyster harvests — to become law without his signature. To read the full story click here: http://bit.ly/1RyMZ7E Ownership a

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Weekly News Update: April 1st, 2016

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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Weekly News Roundup: March 25th, 2016

Mar 25, 2016
3 min

Weekly News Roundup: March 25th, 2016

By Mayhah Suri Farmer Support Office to Open in Easton Chesapeake Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture is pleased to announce the launch of its new Eastern Shore Program, tasked with helping new and existing Delmarva farmers innovate for greater profit and protection of the Bay. The new office will be located at 114 S. Washington Street, Suite 101, Easton, MD 21601 — but most of the time we will be traveling to farms and food businesses across the peninsula. For more infor

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Weekly News Roundup: March 18th, 2016

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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Business Organizations: What About Operating Agreements?

Oct 20, 2015
2 min

Business Organizations: What About Operating Agreements?

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. After forming a business entity with your farm operation, you may want to consider developing an operating agreement, if there is more than one member in that organization. For example, if Ma and Pa and Son and Daughter are all owners of the farm limited liability company (LLC), an operating agreement

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A Family Farm Business Entity in Maryland: What You Need to Know

Apr 21, 2015
2 min

A Family Farm Business Entity in Maryland: What You Need to Know

By Ashley Ellixson Maryland family farms have specific rules and statutes which apply to them regarding their operating as a business entity. You can read our recent publication on business entities here to refresh your memory on the different options, as well as pros and cons of each entity. We also have an entire business entity series on the blog which you can read here. Today, I will be discussing the areas of Maryland law that carve out specific rules applying only to

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The Dynamics of Cooperatives

Oct 3, 2014
4 min

The Dynamics of Cooperatives

By Ashley Ellixson This post should not be relied upon as legal advice. Our business organizations discussion continues today with a look at cooperatives. By definition, a cooperative is a farm, business, or other organization owned and run jointly by its members, who share the profits. Cooperatives share a set of general principles such as: Democratic Governance – Cooperatives generally have a one vote per member rule. This is different from other business organizations t

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What About Silent Partners?: An Overview of Limited Partnerships

Sep 17, 2014
3 min

What About Silent Partners?: An Overview of Limited Partnerships

This post should not be construed as legal advice. Today, we continue our look at business organizations structures that you could potentially utilize when setting up your farm, with a focus on limited partnerships. Remember from our previous partnership discussion, a partnership is a separate legal entity created by two or more individuals (“partners”) who each contribute capital, equipment, and skills and share in profits and losses. Partnerships come in two forms: 1) gen

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Let’s Partner Up: General Partnership Overview

Sep 10, 2014
3 min

Let’s Partner Up: General Partnership Overview

This post should not be relied upon as legal advice. Today we continue our series on business organizations and look at partnerships. A partnership is a separate legal entity created by two or more individuals (“partners”) who each contribute capital, equipment, and skills and share in profits and losses. Partnerships come in two forms: 1) general partnership and 2) limited partnership. Today we focus on general partnerships. General partnerships are the simplest form of t

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A Look at Business Organization Structures: Sole Proprietorship

Sep 4, 2014
2 min

A Look at Business Organization Structures: Sole Proprietorship

This post should not be relied upon as legal advice. Just the other day, I posted on the use of business organization structures by Maryland producers and the fact that the vast majority has not adopted any form of business structure to help limit their liability (see previous post). Today as promised, Ashley and I start a series of blog posts on business organization structures. Adoption of a business model will depend on many factors — tax, personal, financial, etc — and

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