Terms and Conditions

FarmLINK Terms & Conditions

1. Acceptance of Terms of Service

Maryland FarmLINK (FarmLINK) is provided free of charge to you (the user) by the Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission (SMADC).

Although portions the FarmLINK Web site may be viewed by you without registering as a FarmLINK member, you will need to register as a member to list land for sale, contact FarmLINK members directly, post messages in the forums and access certain other site functions.

These Terms and Conditions will govern your use of FarmLINK Web site whether or not you are a registered member of FarmLINK.

By visiting the FarmLINK Web site and viewing any of the site functions including Farm Forum posts, property listings, tools and resources, or by joining the FarmLINK site, you are indicating your agreement to be bound by these Terms and Conditions.

If you do not agree to abide by these or any future Terms and Conditions, do not use or access (or continue to use or access) the Service or the Site.

SMADC reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to change, modify, add, or delete portions of these Terms of Use at any time without further notice.

Changes will be posted on this page, and SMADC will indicate at the top of this page the date these terms were last revised. Your continued use of the Service or the Site after any such changes constitutes your acceptance of the new Terms of Use.

Unauthorized access, distribution, reproduction, copying, retransmission, publication, sale, exploitation (commercial or otherwise) or any other form of transfer of any portion of the FarmLINK site, including but not limited to content, services, products, features or tools, is hereby expressly prohibited.

2. Registration /Privacy Policy

This Web site does not collect personal information about visitors to the site. It does not place a “cookie” on your computer and will not track your movements through the site.

When you register to become a FarmLINK member, you will be required to provide SMADC with at least the following information: your name, e-mail address, country, state, zip code, member name and password.

SMADC reserves the right to block or terminate your membership in FarmLINK if it learns or suspects in its sole discretion that you have provided false or misleading registration information, or if you have created multiple membership accounts.

3. Termination of your membership in or access to FarmLINK

SMADC reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to immediately and without notice, suspend your membership with or your access to FarmLINK (or any portion thereof) and/or any other content, services, products, features or tools provided to you in connection with FarmLINK, including but not limited to your personal homepage, your Farm Forum posts, property listings or other content created by you on the FarmLINK Web site.

4. Modifications to FarmLINK

SMADC reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to immediately and without notice, change, discontinue, suspend or terminate all or any content, services, products, features or tools offered by FarmLINK.

5. Guidelines for FarmLINK Web site usage

You alone are responsible for the content of your property listings, public Farm Forum messages and personal member contacts posted to or otherwise made available through or in connection with the FarmLINK Web site and for any consequences of such listings, contacts or messages.

You alone are responsible for screening and/or vetting information contained in property listings in the Property Manager, posts in the Farm Forum or messages received directly from other FarmLINK members via the messaging function of the site. SMADC does not routinely monitor member-generated content or screen FarmLINK members.

SMADC reserves the right to terminate your access to and/or membership in FarmLINK if it becomes aware of, learns or suspects, in its sole discretion, that you are violating any of the FarmLINK guidelines. By using/viewing/joining the FarmLINK site, you agree to the following conditions:

• You agree that you will not use information gathered from or in connection with the FarmLINK Web site for “spamming,” commercial or non-commercial solicitations, or bulk communications of any kind, including but not limited to distribution lists to any person who has not given specific permission to be included in such list. You further agree not to harvest or collect information about visitors to FarmLINK without their express consent.
• You agree not to send via the FarmLINK Web messaging function nor post on FarmLINK’s Farm Forum or Property Manager any message or material that is unlawful, harassing, libelous, defamatory, abusive, threatening, harmful, vulgar, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, racially offensive, inaccurate or otherwise objectionable.
•  You agree not to impersonate any other person or entity, whether actual or fictitious, including impersonating an employee or consultant of SMADC. You further agree not to use an inappropriate member name of any kind.
• You agree not to express or imply that any statements you make are endorsed by SMADC, without our prior written consent.
• You agree not to modify, adapt, sub-license, translate, sell, transfer, reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble any portion of FarmLINK Web site.
• You agree not to “frame” or “mirror” any part of the FarmLINK Web site without prior written authorization by SMADC.
• You agree not to create multiple memberships and/or memberships for another individual. Each individual must create his or her own membership. You are responsible for safeguarding the confidentiality of your access information (username and password). You agree not to permit others, including those whose accounts were terminated, to access FarmLINK through your membership, username or password. You agree to immediately notify SMADC of any unauthorized use of your registration or password.
• You agree to comply with all applicable local, state and federal laws, rules and regulations that may govern the use of the FarmLINK site.

5A. Additional guidelines specific to FarmLINK Property Manager:

A main feature of the FarmLINK Web site is the Property Manager, which allows those wishing to sell or lease farm land in Maryland (Farm Owner) to list the property, including a description, price and relevant photos. Those wishing to buy or lease farm land in Maryland (Farm Seekers) are able to view the Property Manager whether or not they join FarmLINK. Farm Seekers wishing to contact a seller must become a member of FarmLINK in order to contact a specific Seller.

The function of FarmLINK Property Manager is strictly limited to allowing those selling or leasing farm land in Maryland to showcase these properties and receive contacts from parties interested in purchasing or leasing the land. Beyond this function, SMADC and/or FarmLINK are in no way involved in any subsequent transactions or interactions that may arise from connections made via FarmLINK. SMADC does not screen or evaluate listings or members.

Those buying or selling farmland as a result of a connection made via FarmLINK assume full responsibility and risk for any and all interactions resulting from this connection.

To be eligible to be listed in FarmLINK Property Manager, land must be in Maryland and must qualify as farm land by the following criteria:

• Your land is currently assessed for Maryland Agricultural Use, as defined by the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation (includes farmland, aquaculture, horse farms, woodland, etc.), or
• Your land is currently enrolled in one or more state, federal or private agricultural programs, or
• Your land is currently zoned for agricultural use (includes farmland, aquaculture, horse farm, woodland, greenhouse, nursery, livestock, pasture etc.).
• Maryland State Tax Assessment Criteria Summary
• As a Farm Seeker in the program, you are responsible for:
• Proof reading the information you send to the Maryland FarmLINK Program
• Searching for Farm Owners on the FarmLINK website
• Contacting those Owners who most meet your qualifications
• Asking questions of Owners to gather information. Example: Questions related to farm agreement, farm ownership goals, farm management practices, farm equipment use etc.
• Checking Farm Owner references
• Meeting with those Farm Owners who best meet your qualifications
• Contacting the FarmLINK Program if you wish to remove or update your listing
• Following up with the FarmLINK Program after a match to fill out a survey so SMADC can evaluate the program.
• Describe your land. 
• As a Farm Owner in the program, you are responsible for:
• Proof reading the information you send to the Maryland FarmLINK Program
• Accurately describing your land (see Describe your Land; for sample ideas)
• Contacting those seekers who most meet your qualifications
• Asking questions of Seekers to gather information. Example: Questions related to farm agreement, farm ownership goals, farm management practices, farm equipment use etc.
• Checking Seeker references
• Meeting with those Farm Seekers who best meet your qualifications
• Contacting the FarmLINK Program if you wish to remove or update your listing
• Following up with the FarmLINK Program after a match to fill out a questionnaire so we can evaluate the program.

We ask that you participate as it will help us help you and others in the future.

Describe your land. A sample list of questions

5B. Additional guidelines specific to the FarmLINK Farm Forum

FarmLINK’s Farm Forum feature is designed to allow open discussion by FarmLINK members on topics of interest to the farming community. These topics are not limited to specific farming issues but may include broader issues which may apply to farm businesses such as finance, legal or marketing information, for example.

Professionals who are not farmers but possess knowledge of interest to the farming community may participate in the FarmLINK Farm Forums by posting to relevant threads.

You understand/agree that all FarmLINK users are prohibited from posting to the FarmLINK Farm Forum material considered, at the sole discretion of SMADC, to be spam, blatant advertising of goods or services or solicitations of any kind.

FarmLINK members may list their business or company information (if any) in their FarmLINK profile, and may agree to be contacted by other FarmLINK members (via the FarmLINK messaging function) regarding purchasing these goods or services.

For example, a financial professional may contribute to the Farm Forum by answering a question about, or joining a discussion about financing of farm property, or by posting timely and useful content relevant to farm owners, and as a result FarmLINK members may visit this member’s profile and contact him/her directly for more information or to arrange a meeting outside of the FarmLINK boundaries. However, a Member may NOT post a thread stating, “Call me for all your tax needs.”

You understand/agree that SMADC expressly disclaims any warranty, expressed or implied, as to the fitness, accuracy, safety or suitability of any/all products or services received as a result of a contact made via the FarmLINK site.

You understand/agree that all content posted by you to the Farm Forum becomes a permanent part of the Site content and cannot be removed. This content may be viewed by FarmLINK members and not-members (anyone). This content may be archived or accessed by search engines and may be viewable by anyone, at any time, now and in the future, outside of the FarmLINK Web site.

5B. Additional guidelines specific to the FarmLINK Person-to-Person Messaging function

FarmLINK’s Person-to-Person messaging feature allows FarmLINK members to exchange with each other messages specifically relating to FarmLINK’s purpose and mission.

FarmLINK members, in their FarmLINK profile, may agree to be contacted by other FarmLINK members (via the FarmLINK messaging function) for the purpose of mentoring, exchanging information or exploring or initiating a discussion of a property transaction.

FarmLINK members (Farm Owners) who list their property in the Property Manager must agree to be contacted via FarmLINK’s messaging system by potential Farm Seekers regarding the listed property. The FarmLINK messaging system is the sole vehicle for initiating communications between sellers and buyers.

You understand/agree that SMADC reserves the right to monitor and/or moderate messages sent via the site’s messaging system, to remove those deemed, in SMADC’s sole discretion, unlawful, harassing, libelous, defamatory, abusive, threatening, harmful, vulgar, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, racially offensive, inaccurate or otherwise objectionable, and to ban senders of such messages from the FarmLINK site.

6. Rights

You may not post to FarmLINK any material subject to any Rights. The burden of determining that any information, software, images or any other content that you post is not protected by Rights rests with you. You acknowledge that SMADC may acquire Rights to use any posted materials as described below and that you will not acquire any of those Rights by downloading such materials.

By submitting content to any “public area” of the FarmLINK site, including, but not limited to the Farm Forum and Property Manager, you grant SMADC a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive right (including any moral rights) and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, sublicense, assign, derive revenue or other remuneration from, communicate to the public, perform and display the content (in whole or in part) worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed, for the full term of any Rights that may exist in such content

7. Disclaimer of Warranties

SMADC makes no warranty regarding any content, services, products, features or information obtained through the FarmLINK Web site or regarding any transaction entered into through or as a result of the FarmLINK Web site.

You expressly agree that use of the FarmLINK Web site, including any content, services, products, features or information obtained through the FarmLINK Web site, or any transaction entered into through or as a result of the FarmLINK Web site, is at your sole risk. FarmLINK is provided “as is” and “as available” and SMADC expressly disclaims any warranty, expressed or implied, as to the fitness, accuracy, safety or suitability of any/all Web site content, including permanent and user-generated content.

FarmLINK contains links to additional sites not affiliated with SMADC, and SMADC expressly disclaims any warranty, expressed or implied, as to the fitness, accuracy, safety or suitability of the content of these sites.
SMADC makes no warranty that the FarmLINK Web site will meet your requirements, or that your access to or use of the site will be uninterrupted, timely, secure or error free, or that the servers on which the FarmLINK site is hosted or software used in FarmLINK are free of viruses or other harmful components.

SMADC will not be liable to you or any third party for any direct, indirect, consequential, punitive or incidental damages, whether foreseeable or not, which may result from the unavailability or malfunction of the FarmLINK site.

You understand/agree that you are solely responsible for any material or data downloaded or otherwise obtained from the FarmLINK Web site is at your own risk, and that you are solely responsible for damage to your computer or loss of data that results from the download of such data.

You understand/agree that SMADC does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness or usefulness for a particular purpose of any information provided by FarmLINK members, nor is it responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information. The information is presented with the understanding that SMADC is not engaged in rendering legal, professional, financial or real estate advice. You are solely responsible for determining the accuracy and usefulness of information provided to you by other members, either on the site or directly to you via the site’s messaging system.