Publications

When making the "go, no go" decision for starting a new enterprise, answering several clarifying questions can help you decide if you're really ready for the task ahead.

We often think of poisoning as something that happens to small children, but it’s also easy for adults to mix up medications or mistake one product for another. Poison look-alikes are potentially harmful substances that can easily be mistaken for safe ones, usually because they look the same or have very similar packaging. Often, they are things that we use every day for cleaning, self-care, or first aid, but if they are used incorrectly or mistaken for something else, they can harm us.

The local basis, defined as the cash price minus futures price, reflects important information about regional supply and demand for a commodity. Wheat basis estimates can be used by farmers, grain marketing firms, processors and feed buyers to forecast regional prices, make production or storage decisions, or assess different grain purchasing alternatives. This fact sheet gives monthly average estimates of wheat basis and cash prices for three regions in Maryland.

The local basis, defined as the cash price minus futures price, reflects important information about regional supply and demand for a commodity. Corn basis estimates can be used by farmers, grain marketing firms, processors and feed buyers to forecast regional prices, make production or storage decisions, or assess different grain purchasing alternatives. This fact sheet gives monthly average estimates of corn basis and cash prices for five regions in Maryland.

Basic information and guidelines to follow along with the necessary report forms you will need to succeed in your new role as club Treasurer.

The following guidelines will help your 4-H group fulfill its responsibilities for properly handling public funds.

Infectious Laryngotracheitis (ILT) is an acute respiratory disease of chickens and occasionally, pheasants and peafowl, which often leads to severe losses in the poultry industry as well as backyard flocks.

Trees and woodlands grow and change over time without any help from humans. However, their natural growth habits aren’t always the best and quickest way for you to reach your goals as a woodland owner or manager. Forest thinning is a tool that woodland owners use to encourage trees to grow in a way that meets their goals.

Our objective was to develop a phosphorus site index (PSI) that uses readily available information to evaluate the relative risk of P transport from agricultural fields, including vegetable and row crop production and pasture based systems where P may be applied either as inorganic or organic fertilizer. Furthermore, the PSI should be applicable within all physiographic provinces present in Maryland. Phosphorus transport is controlled by site characteristics (e.g. hydrology and slope), climate, and P sources (e.g. manure, inorganic fertilizer, and soil P). The revised PSI, or the University of Maryland – Phosphorus Management Tool (UM-PMT), seeks to include new science relative to site and source factors and highlight management decisions so that the learning opportunities associated with performing a P index are more pronounced. The overall objective is to identify critical areas where there is a high P loss potential due to both a high transport potential and a large source of P, and also to encourage the use of management practices in those critical source areas that protect water quality.

There is increasing interest in the sale of local farm products in county and city school systems. Students can benefit from fresh, local produce and farmers can benefit from diversifying markets and increasing sales. However, increasing the sale of local farm production to schools – also known as Farm to School – has its challenges. This fact sheet examines different ideas for overcoming those challenges and improving farm to school sales.