MPT series Maryland Farm & Harvest features Port of Baltimore and BWI Airport along with locations in Frederick and Garrett counties on Feb. 6 episode

ANNAPOLIS, MD – Maryland Public Television’s (MPT) popular original series Maryland Farm & Harvest, now in its fifth season, will feature the Port of Baltimore and BWI Airport along with locations in Frederick and Garrett counties during a new episode airing Tuesday, February 6 at 7 p.m.

The upcoming episode features the following segments:

• Agricultural Import Inspections (U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport and the Port of Baltimore).  Even with heightened interest in eating local, one in five foods eaten by Americans are imported, giving consumers access to a wide variety of products at all times of the year.  But as imported food items arrive in the United States, there’s a chance they can contain an exotic pest that could put our farms at risk.  The same goes for agricultural products air travelers bring back from overseas. It’s for these reasons that U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has a division devoted entirely to agriculture. This segment follows inspectors at the Port of Baltimore and BWI Airport, where a dog named Beazley, part of the CBP’s Beagle Brigade, helps check passengers’ bags.
• Elementary School Farm (Crellin Elementary School, Garrett County). Crellin Elementary School in Oakland is putting the “garden” in kindergarten with a small on-campus vegetable and livestock farm that helps supplement curriculum for all grade levels.  At the Garrett County school’s Sunshine Farm, students learn to care for animals and plants as part of this innovative program. Principal Dana McCauley explains how the school’s farm came about and what becomes of its eggs and produce at harvest time.
• The Local Buy: Cornmeal (Nick’s Organic Farm, Frederick County). During “The Local Buy” segment, host Al Spoler visits Nick’s Organic Farm in Adamstown in Frederick County where Floriani Red Flint corn, which until recently was nearly extinct, is making a comeback. Al is part of the process of grinding the corn for cornmeal and then tastes a Johnnycake (a cornmeal flatbread) from the farm’s griddle. The Johnnycake recipe can be found at mpt.org/farm.

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Maryland Farm & Harvest takes viewers on a journey across the state, telling stories about the farms, people, and technology required to sustain and grow Maryland’s number one industry: agriculture. Over the past year, MPT’s production team has filmed stories at more than four dozen farms in preparation for the new season. Maryland’s rich agricultural heritage, the importance of bees, and growing crops in the face of changing weather patterns are among themes covered in depth during upcoming episodes.

More than five million viewers have tuned in to Maryland Farm & Harvest since its fall 2013 debut. The series has visited more than 200 farms in its first four seasons, covering every Maryland county, as well as Baltimore City and Washington, D.C.

Joanne Clendining, who earned an Emmy® from the National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for her work as Maryland Farm & Harvest host, returns for season five. She is joined by Al Spoler, co-host of WYPR-FM’s “Cellar Notes” and “Radio Kitchen” programs, who hosts The Local Buy segment during each episode.

Maryland Farm & Harvest airs Tuesdays at 7 p.m. on MPT-HD and is rebroadcast Thursdays at 11:30 p.m. and Sundays at 6 a.m. Each show also airs on MPT2 Fridays at 7:30 p.m.  More information about the series is available at mpt.org/farm. Viewers can join the conversation on social media at #MDFarmHarvestFans.

Agriculture is Maryland’s largest commercial industry, contributing more than $17 billion in revenue each year. As of 2016 approximately 350,000 Marylanders are employed in some aspect of agriculture. The state has 12,300 farms accounting for approximately two million acres, with nearly 6,000 full-time farmers.  Today, 110 farms and more than 7,679 acres are certified organic in Maryland.

The Maryland Department of Agriculture is MPT’s co-production partner for Maryland Farm & Harvest. Major funding is provided by the Maryland Grain Producers Utilization Board.

Additional funding is provided by Maryland’s Best; MidAtlantic Farm Credit; the Maryland Agricultural Resource-Based Industry Development Corporation; the Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation; and the Maryland Soybean Board.

Other support comes from Wegmans Food Markets; the Maryland Nursery, Landscape & Greenhouse Association; the Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc.; the University of Maryland Agriculture Law Education Initiative; the Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts; the Maryland Farm Bureau Service Company, and by Mar-Del Watermelon Association; Hoffman Irrigation, LLC, an authorized Valley Irrigation dealer; Chesapeake College; and the Rural Maryland Council.

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Follow Maryland Department of Agriculture on Twitter @MdAgDept