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 million before paying taxes. Many use this lifetime exclusion to pass assets on to heirs at his/her death. More will be coming in future weeks on this issue but to learn more, click here http://bit.ly/2hou3kE.
EPA Offers Guidance on Air Quality Reporting Early this year, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against an exemption that EPA had created for reporting releases of hazardous wastes from CAFOs under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) and the Emergency Planning Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA). Last week, EPA issued guidance to help livestock operators to monitor air emissions from CAFOs. EPA is requesting comments on this interim guidance by Nov. 24, 2017. To learn more about the guidance click here http://bit.ly/2z5dyU6.
CAFO Operators Have Until Nov. 15 to File Continuous Release Notification by Nov. 15 The DC Circuit Court of Appeals has set Nov. 15 as the deadline for CAFO operators continuously releasing reportable quantities of certain wastes to EPA. As mentioned above, EPA has provided interim guidance to help livestock producers understand if their operation needs to file with EPA. To learn more about this, click here http://bit.ly/2xCD7Za.
Article Highlights Young Farmers Transitioning into Leadership Roles Recently Agweb highlighted three younger producers transitioning into leadership on their family farms. Each operator transitioned leadership roles away from parents or other family members to begin to take the reigns of the family operations. Check out this article here http://bit.ly/2yZ2lVt.
New Fact Sheet Helps You Understand Difference Between ICE Raid and ICE Audit Friend of the blog, Tiffany Lashmet at Texas A&M Agrilife Extension and her colleague Dr. Ellen Jordan have published a fact sheet highlighting the difference between an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) audit and an ICE raid. The fact sheet also discusses how producers can prepare for ICE before the audit or the raid. To see the article, click here http://bit.ly/2iNhKSu.
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.
New Publication Focused on Risk Management Tools Available Mason Grahame and Paul Goeringer have recently finalized a publication covering risk management tools including bankruptcy that might help producers during times of financial distress. The publication although not covering a topic you may think about every day will be valuable for those dealing with tough financial situations. To view the publication, click here https://go.umd.edu/AgBankruptcy.
Trump Signs Law to Tweek Farm Bankruptcy Law Last week, President Trump signed the Family Farmer Bankruptcy Clarification Act, sponsored by Senators Grassley and Franken, into law. The law is meant to clarify congressional intent due to earlier Supreme Court rulings. The law will allow family farmers selling assets due to bankruptcy to treat the capital gains taxes as an unsecured claim. A 2012 ruling had said the bankruptcy law did not specifically let farmers treat those claims as unsecured. To read more about the law, click here http://bit.ly/2A1eXse. To read the Center for Ag Law and Taxation’s overview of the law, click here http://bit.ly/2yn3SW5.
Final Report on Dicamba-Injured Soybean Acres Released
Dr. Kevin Bradley at the University of Missouri released the final report on dicamba-injured soybean acreage in the U.S. this week. Dr. Bradley compiled the data from state departments of agriculture and university weed scientists. The final report shows 2,708 reports of damage covering 3.6 million acres of damage across the U.S. To see the full final report, click here http://bit.ly/2hsthDc.
Don’t Delay Only One More Week To Register for the Agriculture and Environmental Law Conference! Presentations at the Conference will include: –Developing Legal Issues in Agriculture and the Environment -Legal Resources for Improving Soil Health on Leased Land -Administering Antibiotics to Livestock in Maryland- the Federal and State Legal Framework -Maryland’s Climate Change Programs -Conservation Programs and the 2018 Farm Bill -Organic Farming: Challenges, Benefits and Legal Battles *Nutrient Management Continuing Learning Education Credit Available. Registration can be done online here.
Mid-Shore Farm and Forestry Succession Workshop: November 28, 2017, 8:00 a.m.-3:15 p.m., Caroline County Extension Office, Denton, MD. To register go here. For information contact the Caroline County Extension Office,410-479-4030.
Lower Shore Farm and Forestry Succession Workshop: November 29, 2017, 8:00 a.m.- 3:15 p.m., Wicomico County Extension Office, Salisbury, MD. To register go here. For information call the Wicomico County Extension Office, 410-749-6141.