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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.
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Admin
- May 11, 2018
- 2 min
Weekly Roundup May 11th
By Sarah Fielder Upcoming Webinar Series Kicks Off With Dicamba Webinar
More growers will be using dicamba-resistant technology in the 2018 crop year. In past years, other regions have seen increased complaints as growers have increased the use of dicamba-resistant technology. The Ag Law Education Initiative will kick off a series of webinars with a webinar focused on an overview of current issues with the dicamba-resistant technology and new dicamba formulations. This web
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Admin
- May 4, 2018
- 2 min
Weekly Roundup May 4th
By Sarah Fielder Why Precision Agriculture Will Change How Food Is Produced
Technology like drones, radio frequency (RF), autonomous tractors and IoT applications are playing a role in the transformation of agriculture. To read more about precision agriculture, go here: https://bit.ly/2FEjjaU. Jury Awards Neighbors of North Carolina Hog Farm $50 Million In Nuisance Case
A North Carolina jury on Thursday reached an unanimous verdict against pork producer Murphy-Brown LLC in
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Admin
- Apr 20, 2018
- 2 min
Weekly Roundup April 20th
By Sarah Fielder Syngenta Settlement Checks Not Likely Till 2019
Attorneys for the plaintiffs told news sources this week that settlement checks would be likely in the first half of 2019 after a federal judge gave preliminary approval to the settlement. The court still has to determine if the settlement is fair to all the class members. To learn more about this process, click here http://bit.ly/2J6HWPP. Order Granting 10 Arkansas Farmers Exemption From Dicamba Restrictions
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Admin
- Apr 13, 2018
- 2 min
Weekly Roundup April 13th
By Sarah Fielder State Estate Tax Exemption Set at $5 Million
As the recent session of the Maryland General Assembly comes to an end this week, one of the bills passed that will become law without the Governor’s signature is legislation to end Maryland’s recoupling with the federal estate tax exemption. Maryland was scheduled to recouple in 2019 with the federal exemption, but Congress recently doubled the estate tax exemption. Based on the recent legislation, Maryland’s es
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Admin
- Apr 6, 2018
- 2 min
Weekly Roundup April 6th
By Sarah Fielder New Science Showing Bee-Killing Pesticides are Unnecessary on Most Farms.
Conventional corn farmers—who grow the ubiquitous grain on 90 million acres in the U.S.—are struggling. Since 2014, these farmers have been spending more to produce corn than they can earn by selling it. The economic concentration of a few large seed and pesticide companies and their expensive products have allowed them to capture more farm profit, leaving less for farmers and their c
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Admin
- Mar 30, 2018
- 2 min
Weekly Round Up March 30th
By Sarah Fielder Dairy Does Not Infringe on Freedom of Religion
The Indiana Court of Appeals recently heard an interesting challenge to a dairy’s plans for expansion, does the dairy’s proposed expansion infringe on a church’s First Amendment right to freedom of religion. The court rejected this argument and others claiming violations of local zoning ordinances. To read more about this case, click here http://bit.ly/2GekJ19. Senate Bill Introduced to Remove Hemp from Listing
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Admin
- Mar 9, 2018
- 2 min
Weekly Roundup March 9th
By Sarah Fielder Silicon Valley’s New Status Symbol: Chickens
Silicon Valley’s tech elite have found a new hobby: backyard poultry. Many are using chickens as ways to de-stress and spending large sums of money on their chickens. The Washington Post highlights this new fad with the tech elite. To read the story, click here http://wapo.st/2oM8LRI. Salt Water Intrusion Threatens Maryland Farms
The Atlantic highlights the struggles faced by many Maryland farmers losing product
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Admin
- Mar 2, 2018
- 2 min
Weekly Roundup March 2
By Sarah Fielder Tyson Poultry Fined $2 Million for Single Fish Kill Event
This week Tyson Poultry was fined $2 million, given 2 years probation, and ordered to pay $500,000 in clean up costs. This penalty comes as a result of illegal discharges from a poultry plant in Missouri that caused a single fish kill event. To learn more about the penalty, click here to http://bit.ly/2F0cu81. Crop Insurance Deadline is Approaching
This is a reminder for Delmarva producers that the
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Admin
- Feb 23, 2018
- 2 min
Weekly Roundup Feb. 23rd
By Sarah Fielder Crop Insurance Deadline is Approaching
This is a reminder for Delmarva producers that the spring planted crops sales closing date for crop insurance is on March 15. Coverage for corn, cucumbers, forage seeding, fresh market sweet corn, fresh market tomatoes, grain sorghum, processing beans, processing sweet corn, processing tomatoes, soybeans, spring oats, and tobacco is available in select counties in Maryland. Producers should contact their crop insurance
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Admin
- Feb 16, 2018
- 3 min
Weekly Roundup Feb. 16th
By Sarah Fielder Budget Deal Includes Fix for Cotton and Dairy
Early last Friday morning, Congress passed a budget deal that included a fix for the cotton programs and dairy programs. With dairy, the Dairy Margin Protection Program (MPP) would now be calculated on a monthly basis rather than a bimonthly basis, premiums would be changed for medium and small dairy farms on $4.50 and $5 coverage levels, and includes other fixes to MPP that dairy producers had asked for. The bi
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Admin
- Feb 9, 2018
- 2 min
Weekly Roundup Feb. 9th
By Sarah Fielder Dicamba Class Actions Consolidated Into Eastern District of Missouri
Last week, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation agreed to consolidate the dicamba lawsuits filed against Monsanto in the Eastern District of Missouri. Monsanto had argued that consolidation was not needed, but argued that if the panel did consolidate then it should be in the Eastern District of Missouri. To learn more about the consolidation, click here http://bit.ly/2nPa94F. Far
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Admin
- Feb 2, 2018
- 2 min
Weekly Roundup Feb. 2nd
By Sarah Fielder Warmer Winter Causing Drought in Mid-Atlantic Region
Less snow this winter in the Mid-Atlantic region is leading to drought conditions according to the National Weather Service. To learn more about drought conditions in the Washington region click here http://wapo.st/2EqbXsw. First Organic Distillery Certified in Maryland
McClintock Distilling is the first certified organic distillery in Maryland. The distillery is in Frederick and every aspect of the distil
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Admin
- Dec 16, 2017
- 2 min
Weekly Roundup Dec. 14th
By Sarah Fielder RMA Ends 10 Percent Insurance Option for Preventive Planting
USDA’s Risk Management Agency announced that the +10 percent option for preventive planting will be eliminated. This crop insurance option provided coverage on input costs if weather prevented planting. Moving forward only the +5 percent option will be available. To read the announcement from RMA, click here http://bit.ly/2o11KOD. Monsanto Offers Cash Back When You Buy New Dicamba Products
Mon
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Admin
- Dec 8, 2017
- 3 min
Weekly Roundup Dec. 8th
By Sarah Fielder State Agriculture Leaders Urge Poultry Growers to be on Guard for Deadly Bird Flu
The Maryland Department of Agriculture is calling for a renewed effort this winter by all poultry producers to intensify their biosecurity. During this time of year, migratory waterfowl moving through Maryland present a heightened risk for High Path Avian Influenza (HPAI)—a potentially devastating disease for poultry operations. To read the full press release go here: http://bi
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Admin
- Dec 1, 2017
- 2 min
Weekly Roundup Dec. 1st
By Sarah Fielder A Growing Number of Young Americans Are Leaving Desk Jobs to Farm
For only the second time in the last century, the number of farmers under 35 years old is increasing, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest Census of Agriculture. Sixty-nine percent of the surveyed young farmers had college degrees — significantly higher than the general population. To read the full story go here: https://go.umd.edu/xdj Mid-Shore Farm and Forestry Succession
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Admin
- Nov 17, 2017
- 2 min
Weekly Roundup Nov. 17th
By Sarah Fielder Save the Date for the Ag Outlook and Policy Conference
The Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics annual Ag Outlook and Policy will be held on Dec. 12 at the Crowne Plaza in Annapolis. The conference will feature Kevin McNew, President, GeoGrain and Adjunct Professor in AREC, giving a 2018 commodity market outlook and Howard Leathers and Dale Johnson discussing the current dairy economy. Register at https://go.umd.edu/AREC17. Continuous Emissions
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Admin
- Nov 3, 2017
- 4 min
Weekly Roundup Nov. 2nd
By Sarah Fielder New Federal Gift Exclusion and Lifetime Exclusion Amounts Announce for 2018
Recently IRS announced that the annual gift exclusion will be $15,000 per person and the lifetime exclusion amount will increase from $5.45 million in 2017 to $5.6 million in 2018. The annual gift exclusion allows a taxpayer to gift up to $15,000 per person taxfree and any amount over $15,000 would be subject to taxes. The lifetime exclusion allows a taxpayer to give up to $5.6 mill
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Admin
- Oct 27, 2017
- 2 min
Weekly Roundup Oct. 27th
By Sarah Fielder Monsanto Sues Arkansas Over Dicamba Restrictions
This week Monsanto sued the state of Arkansas to block potential summer restrictions to the use of new versions of dicamba recently developed by the Arkansas State Plant Board. Monsanto claims the decision has impacted their business in Arkansas. To learn more about the suit, click here http://reut.rs/2lbM35Y. New Publication Focused on Risk Management Tools Available
Mason Grahame and Paul Goeringer have re
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Admin
- Oct 20, 2017
- 2 min
Weekly Roundup Oct. 19th
By Sarah Fielder USDA Withdraws GIPSA Rule
This week USDA announced they would not finalize the proposed rules regarding the scope of the Farmer Fair Practices Rules of the Packers and Stockyards Act. The proposed rules had been controversial and would have expanded the scope of the Packers and Stockyards Act. To read more about this withdrawal, click here http://bit.ly/2gtrIri. EPA Moves To Restrict Dicamba
On October 13, the EPA agreed to adopt restrictions proposed by M
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