Understanding the requirements of labor and employment law is essential in operating a successful farm business. Both Maine and federal law treat agricultural work differently than other forms of employment. Before hiring an employee, it is important to familiarize yourself with the relevant state and federal laws that govern the employer/employee relationship. This guide is intended to inform farm employers about the general requirements when hiring employees.
Location: Maine
Employment Law for Maine Farmers
Navigating employment laws on your farm can be a challenging task. This webinar will help Maine farmers understand how to handle various workers on your farm, including WOOFers, volunteers, and CSA workers.
Presenter: Tom Trenholm, Drummond Woodsum.
Maine Farm & Food Law
This guide to farm & food law in Maine is a reference for attorneys, designed to orient you to key legal issues facing farmers in the state. It provides background on small-scale farming and food business practices in Maine, reviews key food and agricultural laws and legal issues, and provides references for more in-depth information.
The guide contains chapters on the following topics: Maine farming and the local food economy, business structures, food safety, farm transitions, and intellectual property.
Agricultural Easements
Learn more about key legal issues related to agricultural easements that farmers and other landowners should consider, with a focus on Maine. This webinar, presented by attorney Beth Boepple of BCM Environmental & Land Law, includes the key legal issues related to agricultural easements. The webinar covers what agricultural easements are, what you can and can’t do on your property after you have an agricultural easement, possible benefits and drawbacks of this type of easement, who can hold an agricultural easement, and what the value return for your land could be with an easement.
Please Note: The speaker experienced some technical difficulties advancing her slides for the first third of the presentation. Viewers may consider listening to this webinar rather than also watching the visuals, to avoid confusion.