In 2015, I got the opportunity to work on a project to develop materials to assist Maryland community supported agriculture (CSA) operators in understanding legal risks.  As a part of the project, the team developed a publication highlight good practices with a CSA membership agreement and model agreements.  

Before starting on the project though, the Maryland Department of Agriculture conducted a survey to develop a baseline of operators and members.  We also conducted additional evaluations during our outreach with this project.  Mayhah Suri extension specialist with UMD and I have authored an article highlighting what we learned during this project.  The article will be coming out in the Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture & Natural Resource Law. The article, Community Supported Agriculture: How Do Maryland Operators Manage Legal Risks?, highlights perceptions of Maryland CSA operators of using more formal agreements and a review of similar issues discovered by other researchers around the U.S.