By Sarah Fielder
Updated Right-to-Farm Law Fact Sheet is Now Available Maryland producers and neighbors often have questions on the state’s right-to-farm law. The General Assembly updated the law to include commercial seafood operations. To aid these operations and ag operations, Paul Goeringer and Lori Lynch updated their popular fact sheet to reflect the changes. You can check out the fact sheet, here https://go.umd.edu/RTFMD.
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. Details of the conference will be coming in October, but save the date for an informative day in Annapolis.
Farm Service Agency Provides Dairy Producers with an MPP Opt Out Dairy producers who signed up for the Margin Protection Program (MPP) can now opt out of the program. FSA announced last week that this year producers already in MPP can simply not register this year to opt-out of the program. MPP has struggled as a dairy safety net tool since it was created in the 2014 Farm Bill. To learn more about this opt-out see, http://bit.ly/2j1r5pi. At the same time, signup is currently ongoing for those considering signing up for the MPP program, for more information contact your county FSA office.
Reminder Crop Insurance Deadline for Small Grains Reminder to fall-seeded small grain producers in Maryland that the sales closing date or changing coverage options for crop insurance coverage is Sept. 30th. For more information on crop insurance, see AREC’s Crop Insurance page at http://go.umd.edu/CropIns. For more information on the sales closing date, see http://bit.ly/2x9DsGg.
Reminder Sales Closing Date for Coverage on Forage Crops Reminder that the sales closing date for crop insurance coverage on forage production is Sept. 30th. Coverage is available in Allegany, Baltimore, Carroll, Cecil, Frederick, Garrett, Harford, Howard, Montgomery, and Washington counties. To learn more about this sales closing date, see http://bit.ly/2wDYmf6.
FSMA Produce Safety Rule Final The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced late last week that the Produce Safety Rule is now final. The rule establishes science-based food safety rules for fruits and vegetables meant for human consumption. To read more about the final rule, click here http://bit.ly/2xpyvYF.
The Produce Safety Rule of the Food Safety Modernization Act and the Records You Need To Keep, Webinar The webinar takes place on September 27, 2017 at 12:00p.m. Register at: https://go.umd.edu/peu.