Here's a piece of trivia you probably didn't know. The tornadoes of March 2 in southern Indiana didn't just affect the living, they also affected the dead. Where the strongest storms hit, they rifled through small, rural cemeteries, knocking over tombstones, some which had been there for decades or longer. In fact, some funeral homes in southeast Indiana actually volunteered crew and time to go out and right the stones and clean up the damage, especially on small, rural cemeteries where there isn't a dedicated staff.

Farmers With Old Cemeteries On Their Land Should Know About This Law

Cemeteries found their way into legislation during the Indiana General Assembly as well. If you farm land where an older, nearly forgotten cemetery exists on some part of your property, you may want to know about the changes made in the law this past session. Primarily, the law limits your liability if you're the property owner on the land visitors must cross to get to the old cemetery. This liability exemption, as spelled out in the statute, formerly known as HB1075, applies even if you allow the visits to the cemetery.

The bill also limits the amount of times you must be inconvenienced by such visits if it becomes an issue. The language talks about someone being allowed to visit the cemetery three times per year per agreement with the landowner.

Bob Kraft, Indiana Farm Bureau, says it was good legislation because it protects property rights, and because it limits liability if you're the landowner. The bill takes effect July 1 of this year.

House Bill 1198 doesn't affect you directly, but may affect those who handle products you produce. Called 'Transportation of Food Products,' it focuses on the problem of frozen food carriers not maintaining sufficiently low enough temperatures to protect the food.

Apparently, the practice that prompted the bill was reported instances of truck drivers shutting off the refrigeration while loaded during a part of the trip to save on fuel. It's a loophole that's now closed, and should help protect your image. When someone obtains a food product that is not up to the quality that it should be, or that they expect, not just the company that packaged it, but sometimes farmers in general, suffer because of the less-than-ideal image created in the consumer's mind who must deal with the product.