MPT Series Maryland Farm & Harvest Visits Baltimore, Carroll, Caroline, Harford, Montgomery, and Washington Counties During Jan. 8 Episode

Newborn foal and mother at Country Life Farm. photo credit: Maryland Public Television’s Maryland Farm & Harvest

ANNAPOLIS, MD – Maryland Public Television’s (MPT) popular original series Maryland Farm & Harvest, in its sixth season, will feature farms and other locations in Baltimore, Carroll, Caroline, Harford, Montgomery, and Washington Counties during a new episode airing Tuesday, January 8 at 7 p.m.

Maryland Farm & Harvest takes viewers on journeys across the state, telling stories about the farms, people, and technology required to sustain and grow Maryland’s number one industry: agriculture. During the past year, MPT’s production team has filmed episode segments at more than four dozen farms in preparation for the new season. Segments featured on the upcoming episode are:

• New Life on the Farm (Baltimore, Carroll, Washington, and Harford Counties): This segment celebrates new life on the farm while exploring things that make each birth unique. Thomas G. Hartsock, director of the Maryland State Fair Birthing Center in Timonium, explains the challenges faced by farm animals, such as pigs, that deliver litters rather than one or two babies, and Crystal Dell of MD-Delight Dairy in Westminster shows viewers one method farmers use when a large dairy calf struggles during delivery. Market Coordinator Elise Mekelburg of Caprikorn Farms in Rohrersville welcomes viewers to the farm in the midst of its “baby blizzard,” the period in early spring when hundreds of white, fluffy dairy goats are born. Finally, General Manager Christy Holden of Country Life Farm in Bel Air and Merryland Farm in Hydes explains what is at stake during the birth of a future racehorse.
• Ditch Research (Caroline County): During this segment viewers learn more about how farming methods affect the land, air, and water. At Marydel Farm, farmer Jim Lewis uses water control structures on his fields to minimize nutrient runoff into nearby waterways. This is considered a best management practice or BMP – an approved method of limiting pollutants in the Chesapeake Bay. What’s not clear is if it may also inadvertently contribute to increased air pollution. In this segment, a team of University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science researchers work to find out, sharing some promising preliminary results.
• The Local Buy: Rooftop Farming (Montgomery County): The Local Buy segment host Al Spoler discovers a network of rooftop farms that offer produce so local that the distance traveled is measured not in miles, but in flights of stairs. Al visits Up Top Acres’ Pike and Rose Farm in North Bethesda, where farm manager Sara Servin shows him what is growing. Then he heads to City Perch, a restaurant just a few floors below, for a dish that calls for freshly harvested peppers. The recipe is available to viewers at org/farm.

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

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 Mid-Atlantic Farm Credit; Maryland’s Best; the Maryland Agricultural Resource-Based Industry Development Corporation; the Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation; and the Maryland Soybean Board. Other support comes from the Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts; Wegmans Food Markets; the Maryland Nursery, Landscape & Greenhouse Association; the Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc.; the Rural Maryland Council; the Maryland Seafood Marketing Advisory Commission; the Maryland Farm Bureau, Inc.; Mar-Del Watermelon Association; and the Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission.

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Follow Maryland Department of Agriculture on Twitter @MdAgDept