December 2022 Quarterly Update

The Lease Builder asks for information such as landowner and tenant information, property information, the length of the lease, activities the farmer may practice, and the farm’s conservation plan. The tool is free to use, and the entire process should take users less than an hour to complete. After building a draft lease, parties are strongly encouraged to seek individual legal advice prior to execution. 

According to Sarah Everhart, Senior Legal Specialist, Agriculture Law Education Initiative, “our hope is that the new tool will help both farmers and farm landowners put their handshake agreement into a simple lease document. By referencing specific on-farm conservation practices in the lease, leasing parties can set clear expectations about stewardship and reduce the potential for legal conflict.” 

In addition to the Lease Builder tool, the site also has valuable resources related to on-farm conservation, including information about common conservation practices, cost-share programs, and conservation planning. The Agricultural Conservation Lease Builder was funded by the Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment. The tool can be accessed at agleasebuilder.org. Anyone with questions about the Agricultural Conservation Lease Builder may contact Sarah Everhart at severhart@law.umaryland.edu. 

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The workshop 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.  The workshops will also involve research related to solar development by Elizabeth Thilmany, a Faculty Specialist in AREC. 

“These workshops 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. Lunch is provided with the workshops.  Each workshop will begin at 9 am with a check-in, and the workshops will run from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm.  The dates and locations are:

January 26, Washington County University of Maryland Extension Office, 7303 Sharpsburg Pike, Boonsboro, MD 21713.

January 31, Chesapeake College, 110 Higher Education Center, 1000 College Cir, Wye Mills, MD 21679.

Participants will receive copies of Extension fact sheets and other valuable documents as a part of the workshop series.  For more information or to register, go to https://agrisk.umd.edu/events.  For more information, please get in touch with Paul Goeringer at lgoering@umd.edu.

This is material is based upon work supported by USDA/NIFA under Award Number 2021‐70027‐34693.

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Ju-Ching is an S.J.D. candidate at Georgetown University Law Center.  She received her LL.M. in Environmental Law and Policy from Stanford Law School. Her dissertation research explores the nexus between land-use decision-making and climate change governance.  In addition to environmental jurisprudence, Ju-Ching is particularly interested in land use laws, legal geography and administrative laws.  She practiced as an attorney in Taiwan in a boutique law firm, as legal counsel and planner for the Taipei Urban Regeneration Center, and as a policy staffer for the Minister of the Interior.  At the Ministry, her work involved laws and policies including national land use from urban planning to coastal management, wetland conservation, and national parks. She also previously worked at Georgetown’s Climate Center.

In 2018, ALEI and MDSG teamed up to obtain NOAA Sea Grant funding for a policy fellowship program designed to build legal capacity within MDSG.  The University System of Maryland lacks a coastal legal policy program, but, working together, MDSG and ALEI aim to create a collaborative coastal law and policy resource in Maryland for the benefit of both programs and our stakeholders.  In 2019, we welcomed our inaugural Fellow, Elissa Torres-Soto.  You can read more about ALEI’s partnership with MDSG and also about Elissa here, here, and here.

The Fellows’  projects are selected in collaboration with an advisory committee created especially for this fellowship and which currently includes members from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Virginia Coastal Policy Center, Georgetown University Law Center, the Chesapeake Legal Alliance, UMCES Board of Visitors, MDSG and ALEI.  Elissa, who is now a Staff Attorney at the Environmental Law Institute, also serves on the committee.  Nicole Cook, ALEI Environmental and Agricultural Faculty Legal Specialist at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, continues in her role supervising and mentoring the Fellow with help from advisory committee members.

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The single-day Soil Amendments Workshop will be hosted at the Montgomery County Agricultural History Farm Park to help growers understand best practices of using and making biological soil amendments of animal origin (BSAAO), such as compost. Attendees will hear perspectives from industry, University of Maryland Extension, and the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA).

• Date and time: March 9, 2023, 8:30 AM – 3:00 PM EDT
• Location: Agricultural History Farm Park, 18410 Muncaster Road, Derwood, Maryland 20855
• Cost: $10 (covers expenses for the provided light breakfast and lunch)
• Register: Online https://soilamendmentworkshop.eventbrite.com or
  • call Megan Todd, 316-993-5293

Soil amendments are any of the materials growers add to the soil – like compost and fertilizers – to improve its physical or chemical properties and promote better crop growth. Biological soil amendments of animal origin (BSAAOs) are those that come from animals, like manure or animal mortalities, and can include pre- and post-consumer waste like table scraps. Proper use of soil amendments is critical for managing soil fertility, improving soil quality, and often results in healthier and tastier crops.

However, soil amendments, particularly BSAAOs, that are untreated or inadequately treated prior to application can contain harmful human pathogens that can cause foodborne illness in consumers. This topic is especially relevant to growers of specialty crops that are typically eat raw and produce covered by the FSMA Produce Safety Rule (PSR).

Workshop speakers will provide an overview on the PSR and draft guidance from the FDA to understand the current regulatory framework and requirements regarding soil amendments, the basics of how to compost, and the benefits of using BSAAOs to the soil and the farm. The intent is to help growers understand risks and benefits of using BSAAOs and how to comply with the current requirements. It will also provide an update on the status of BSAAO Risk Assessment, associated research, and discuss the possible future of Subpart F provisions for the use of untreated BSAAO on covered farms. Attendees will receive a certificate of workshop completion for their records.

This workshop is supported by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award U2FFD007444 totaling $856,887 with 100 percent funded by FDA/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by FDA/HHS, or the U.S. Government.

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