Through the University of Maryland, Dr. Nicole Fiorellino, Dr. Amanda Grev, Dr. Jon Moyle, Dr. Sarah Potts, and Paul Goeringer have continued efforts to educate county and state officials on Maryland's grain industry and its interconnectedness to the dairy and poultry industries.
Through this project officials are also educated about the state's right-to-farm law and the role that counties play in that law. The project has been directed at administrative law judges (ALJs) and county and state officials who are members of county Agricultural Reconciliation Boards, planning and zoning officials, and county commissioners or council members. These officials are often involved in settling disputes between agricultural and non-agricultural neighbors but are not required to have an agricultural background, which can lead to decision making based on misunderstandings or bad information. This project has provided training through online learning modules to prevent similar nuisance lawsuits seen in North Carolina and Iowa involving the livestock industry.
Information on when the online resources will be released can be found here, along with the risk management blog.
As each generation has become less connected to agriculture, continuing this type of education is necessary to ensure that agriculture producers in the state will continue to be able to use proven practices to operate their farms. The Maryland Grain Producers has funded this project with $7,253 for 2021.