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Back cover [1]

Urban Ag home | Table of contents Does any of this sound familiar? It’s been raining for weeks, the weeds are strangling your crops, it seems like there are fewer customers at the farmers market every week, your landlord just called to say your rent is going up, your summer helpers decided they...

Additional resources and literature cited [2]

Urban Ag home | Table of contents Physical health and safety | Laws about workplace safety on the farm | Mental health and stress management | Health insurance | Employees and volunteers | Customers, protecting their safety and your liability | Neighbor relations and community engagement | Hunger...

Summary [3]

Urban Ag home | Table of contents Managing the human part of a farm is likely to be the most complex part of a farmer’s work, and is likely to require skills outside the prior experience of many farmers. Plan how to minimize physical health and safety risks, including equipment-related injuries,...

Transition planning [4]

Urban Ag home | Table of contents Transition planning, also called succession planning or estate planning, means having proactive conversations about whether and how your farm has a future beyond you. For a community urban farm , transition planning might include working to improve the common...

Community engagement, if you want to do something about food deserts [5]

Urban Ag home | Table of contents Many people get into urban agriculture because they have a deep desire to solve problems they see in the world, particularly the paradox of hunger in the midst of plenty. Different people call this problem by different names: “food deserts,” “healthy food priority...

Neighbor relations, because you can’t not [6]

Urban Ag home | Table of contents Whether for-profit or not-for-profit, outdoors on a vacant lot or indoors using artificial lights, an urban farm by definition is surrounded by neighbors. Having a good relationship with those neighbors can at minimum prevent nuisance complaints, and in worst case...

Neighbors and community engagement [7]

Urban Ag home | Table of contents Community engagement is particularly important for urban farms, because urban farms have more neighbors in closer proximity than rural farms, and because community benefit is central to the mission of many urban farms. Previous page: Customers, protecting their...

Customers, protecting their safety and your liability [8]

Urban Ag home | Table of contents Figure 3: Urban agriculture businesses where customers come onto the property, such as garden centers, farm stands, and agritourism operations, should consider purchasing premise liability insurance. Photo by Neith Little, UMD Extension, taken at Walther Gardens,...

Hiring and retention [9]

Urban Ag home | Table of contents Every urban farm or garden depends on a handful of committed people fighting for its continued existence. Unfortunately, garden manager positions are usually unpaid and paid urban agriculture positions are often funded by temporary grants. This leads to burnout and...

Employees and volunteers [10]

Urban Ag home | Table of contents A farmer has certain responsibilities towards anyone working on their farm, which are legally defined by local, state, and federal labor laws. It is important to understand that there are important legal differences between employees and volunteers. Additionally,...

Health insurance [11]

Urban Ag home | Table of contents Finding and paying for health insurance and health care is an enormous challenge for entrepreneurs. Many farmers say that getting health insurance coverage for their family is the primary motivation for someone in the family working off-farm. A national survey of...

Mental health and stress management [12]

Urban Ag home | Table of contents "I need to fix the problem, I don't have time to de-stress." That’s how I felt about stress management until very recently. However, no matter how hard you work, life is going to continue being stressful. And farming can be a particularly stressful profession: long...

Physical health and safety [13]

Urban Ag home | Table of contents Figure 1: NEVER clear a jammed or clogged piece of equipment with your hand. Photo by Neith Little, UMD Extension. Physical farm safety risks are very specific to individual farms. Urban farms might need to consider safety related to small-scale farm equipment,...

Chapter 5: The human element: rights and responsibilities, safety and stress [14]

Urban Ag home | Table of contents Neith Little Extension Agent, Urban Agriculture University of Maryland Extension The human element of farming is too often overlooked, but vitally important. It is, after all, why many people farm in the first place: to feed people, to employ people, to provide a...

Additional resources and literature cited [15]

Urban Ag home | Table of contents General resources USDA Urban Agriculture Tool Kit (Feb. 2016): www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/urban-agriculture-toolkit.pdf Amanda Cather, The Food Project, Urban Grower’s Manual (2008) https://thefoodproject.org/resources/manuals/ Cornell Small Farms...

What if I want to change a law? [16]

Urban Ag home | Table of contents Start by being plugged in or connected where you might not already be. Get to know some of the people who are writing the laws and enforcing the laws that uniquely affect your urban farm. Do you know anyone on the planning and zoning committee? What about the city’...

Tips on how to work with regulators and permitters [17]

Urban Ag home | Table of contents Working effectively with the many agencies that regulate your urban farm is an important tool to have in your legal risk management toolbox. There is no downside to implementing a decisive strategy of consistent, constructive engagement with regulators, and...

What’s federalism got to do with it? [18]

Urban Ag home | Table of contents The United States is governed using a system of federalism. Federalism means that both the federal and state governments have their own spheres of responsibility and authority. The federal government has a variety of powers, but its authority is limited by the U.S...

Bonus reading [19]

Urban Ag home | Table of contents Bonus reading topics: What’s federalism got to do with it? Urban farming in the 2018 Farm Bill Tips on how to work with regulators and permitters What if I want to change a law? Previous page: Crop insurance Next page: What’s federalism got to do with it?

Crop insurance [20]

Urban Ag home | Table of contents Crop insurance protects against either the loss of crops due to natural disasters or the loss of revenue due to declines in the prices of agricultural commodities. It is federally supported and is sold and serviced by certain approved private-sector crop insurance...

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More related info [27]
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Source URL: https://extension.umd.edu/learn/related/5431%2B5548%2B4278%2B5566%2B5562%2B5567%2B5241%2B5568%2B5569%2B5570%2B3265

Links
[1] https://extension.umd.edu/learn/back-cover
[2] https://extension.umd.edu/learn/additional-resources-and-literature-cited-2
[3] https://extension.umd.edu/learn/summary-2
[4] https://extension.umd.edu/learn/transition-planning
[5] https://extension.umd.edu/learn/community-engagement-if-you-want-do-something-about-food-deserts
[6] https://extension.umd.edu/learn/neighbor-relations-because-you-can%E2%80%99t-not
[7] https://extension.umd.edu/learn/neighbors-and-community-engagement
[8] https://extension.umd.edu/learn/customers-protecting-their-safety-and-your-liability
[9] https://extension.umd.edu/learn/hiring-and-retention
[10] https://extension.umd.edu/learn/employees-and-volunteers
[11] https://extension.umd.edu/learn/health-insurance
[12] https://extension.umd.edu/learn/mental-health-and-stress-management
[13] https://extension.umd.edu/learn/physical-health-and-safety
[14] https://extension.umd.edu/learn/chapter-5-human-element-rights-and-responsibilities-safety-and-stress
[15] https://extension.umd.edu/learn/additional-resources-and-literature-cited-1
[16] https://extension.umd.edu/learn/what-if-i-want-change-law
[17] https://extension.umd.edu/learn/tips-how-work-regulators-and-permitters
[18] https://extension.umd.edu/learn/what%E2%80%99s-federalism-got-do-it
[19] https://extension.umd.edu/learn/bonus-reading
[20] https://extension.umd.edu/learn/crop-insurance
[21] https://extension.umd.edu/learn/related/5431%2B5548%2B4278%2B5566%2B5562%2B5567%2B5241%2B5568%2B5569%2B5570%2B3265?page=1
[22] https://extension.umd.edu/learn/related/5431%2B5548%2B4278%2B5566%2B5562%2B5567%2B5241%2B5568%2B5569%2B5570%2B3265?page=2
[23] https://extension.umd.edu/learn/related/5431%2B5548%2B4278%2B5566%2B5562%2B5567%2B5241%2B5568%2B5569%2B5570%2B3265?page=3
[24] https://extension.umd.edu/learn/related/5431%2B5548%2B4278%2B5566%2B5562%2B5567%2B5241%2B5568%2B5569%2B5570%2B3265?page=4
[25] https://extension.umd.edu/learn/related/5431%2B5548%2B4278%2B5566%2B5562%2B5567%2B5241%2B5568%2B5569%2B5570%2B3265?page=5
[26] https://extension.umd.edu/learn/related/5431%2B5548%2B4278%2B5566%2B5562%2B5567%2B5241%2B5568%2B5569%2B5570%2B3265?page=6
[27] https://extension.umd.edu/learn/related/5431%2B5548%2B4278%2B5566%2B5562%2B5567%2B5241%2B5568%2B5569%2B5570%2B3265