An increasing number of customers are bringing animals with them when they visit farm markets, pick your own farms, or agritainment activities. Animals can pose a food safety risk to produce, introduce disease to farm animals, frighten or upset farm animals. Outside animals can also pose a risk to employees and other market customers and farm visitors. Farmers need to consider these occurrences when keeping in compliance with regulations and buyer requirements specific to food safety and biosecurity to protect their farm animals. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) governs what you are legally allowed to do in regards to customers with service animals visiting your market or on your farm. This fact sheet will cover the specifics of the ADA, animals that are not protected by the ADA regulations, and how to reduce potential risk on your farm from outside animals. States often have regulations that go beyond the federal ADA regulation, information represented in this fact sheet is specific to New Jersey. If you farm in another state please consult the state by state guide linked at the end of this article.

What do the ADA regulations cover?
While many types of animals can provide comfort and emotional support to their owners, only service animals are protected by the ADA, specifically Title II and III. The ADA regulations define “service animal” as dogs, and less commonly miniature ponies, that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities such as guiding a blind person, alerting people who are deaf, assisting a person in a wheelchair, alerting and protecting a person who is having a seizure, reminding a person with mental illness to take prescribed medications, calming a person with Post [Read more…]