
Agriculture News
University of Maryland Extension - Allegany County
April 2023
Owning Farmland Webinar Series
The Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics(AREC) will host five webinars via zoom every Friday starting on Friday, March 31, and ending on Friday, April 28. The free webinars will cover those legal issues that Maryland landowners may face. A grant funds the program through the Northeast Risk Management Education Center. The webinars will feature Paul Goeringer, a Senior Faculty Specialist and Extension Specialist in agricultural law. He will address leasing, landowner liability issues, right-to-farm law, fencing laws, livestock liability, and estate planning. As well as additional feature speakers are Tim Bishton with Crow Insurance Agency, Stephanie Brophy with Dulany Leahy Curtis & Brophy LLP, and Brooke Schumm with Levin Gann, P.A.
“These webinars will be a great opportunity for landowners and other
professionals in rural areas to learn about some of the basic legal issues that
many deal with daily. They can understand their rights and responsibilities
whether they are involved in agriculture or own land in a rural area,” said
Goeringer.
Each webinar will begin at 12:00 pm and run to 1:30 pm.
The dates and topics are:
● March 31- Negligence, Livestock, and Guests on Farmland
● April 7- Fencing and Right to Farm
● April 14- Agricultural Leasing
● April 21- Understanding Insurance
● April 28- Working with an Ag Law Attorney
Participants will receive copies of Extension fact sheets and other valuable
documents as a part of the workshop series. To register, please visit http://bit.ly/3I7CfRG. For more information, please get in touch with Paul Goeringer at lgoering@umd.edu. This material is based upon work supported by USDA/NIFA under Award Number 2021‐70027‐34693.
Maryland Team Monitors Tick Populations and Offers Training Sessions
Dr. Megan Fritz and her team of interns will once again travel around the state of Maryland to check outdoor spaces and livestock to monitor the current tick populations. The team will be checking for the invasive cattle tick, deer tick, lonestar tick (known to cause meat allergies), and dog tick. The team is encouraging individuals to share this information within their networks with those who might be interested.
If you would be interested in having the team out to check your farm or livestock, please fill out this form: http://bit.ly/3KRNT6h
In addition to monitoring tick populations, the team is adding something new to the program this year: training sessions. The training sessions will be held around the state to teach individuals how to "flag" their property, collect any ticks they find, and how to check their livestock. Dates for these sessions will be announced soon. For any questions or concerns, please contact Racheal Slattery, MS, Beef and Dairy Extension at the University of Maryland at office 301.405.1392, cell 443-584-6409 or email rslatt@umd.edu
Tire Recycling
The Maryland Department of the Environment, in conjunction with Maryland Environmental Service (MES) and the Maryland Farm Bureau, Inc., is hosting Scrap Tire Drop-Off Day events which allow farmers to deliver agricultural scrap tires to approved collection locations free of charge. Dates and hours are subject to change based on scheduling conflicts with haulers that will be county a decision, and all dates are subject to end early based on volume and budget. For more information go to https://mde.maryland.gov/programs/Land/RecyclingandOperationsprogram/Pages/scraptire.aspx
Washington County:
May 5, May 6, May 8 and May 9 | 7:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Forty West Landfill
12630 Earth Care Road
Hagerstown, MD 21740
Frederick County:
June 3 – June 10 | 7:00 AM – 4:30 PM, closed Sundays
Frederick County Division of Solid Waste & Recycling
9031 Reichs Ford Road
Frederick, MD 21704
Garrett County:
Location 1: April 10 – April 24 | Monday, Wednesday, Friday 7:00 AM – 6:00 PM, Saturday 9:00 AM – 6:00 PM, Sunday 12:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Grantsville Refuse/Recycling Site
13168 National Pike
Grantsville, MD 21536
Location 2: April 10 – April 24 | Monday – Saturday 8:00 AM – 3:30 PM
Garrett County Landfill
3118 Oakland Sang Road
Oakland, MD 21550
Therapy Services for Farm Families
Farm families are dealing with more stress than ever and a recent study by the American Farm Bureau indicated that 46 percent of farmers say it’s difficult to access a therapist in their rural communities, and 87 percent cited the cost of treatment as an obstacle when procuring that care.
University of Maryland Extension (UME) is partnering with mental health clinics around the state to help alleviate the issues of accessibility and availability of treatment for mental health concerns.
A U.S. Department of Agriculture - National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant supports six free counseling sessions for agricultural farmers, farm families, ranchers, workers, business owners, and non-industrial private forest owners and managers.
“Farmers deal with ordinary stress like finances and child care, but they also have unpredictable factors like weather events and labor shortages, and these compounding stressors can have long-term impacts,” said Alex Chan, UME mental and behavioral health specialist. “Our partners in therapy have been trained in relevant issues for farmers and are better prepared to meet the unique needs of farm workers and their families.”
Interested participants can request a referral by visiting go.umd.edu/farmtherapy.
For more information on the University of Maryland Extension Farm Stress Management program and additional resources, go to go.umd.edu/farmfamily
Stay Connected with Allegany UME
Allegany County Office
1 Commerce Drive
Cumberland, MD 21502
Phone: 301-724-3320
Website: https://extension.umd.edu/locations/allegany-county
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