MPT Series Maryland Farm & Harvest Visits Cecil, Frederick, Howard, and Montgomery Counties During Jan. 29 Episode

Apples after arrival at McCutcheon’s Apple Products. 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 Cecil, Frederick, Howard, and Montgomery counties during a new episode airing Tuesday, January 29 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:

• Apples to Apple Butter (Frederick and Montgomery Counties): McCutcheon’s Apple Products is located in Frederick, but you’ll find its apple butter – the oldest and most popular of its offerings – and other products in stores in 48 states across the country. Owner Bob McCutheon shows how his staff makes apple butter using less-than-perfect, but still tasty, apples like those from Kingsbury’s Orchard, a 100-year-old farm in Dickerson.
• Popcorn and Pumpkins (Howard County): A visit to Sharp’s at Waterford Farm in Brookeville can mean getting lost in a seven-acre corn maze, picking pumpkins, or harvesting some fresh popcorn. Third-generation farmer Alan Sharp introduces viewers to his 500-acre family farm, where there’s something for everyone.
• Invasive Spotted Lanternflies (Cecil County): The spotted lanternfly is an invasive pest with the potential to devastate Maryland crops like grape vines, hops, and apple trees. Originally from Asia, the first spotted lanternfly was found in Maryland in October 2018 at the Fair Hill Natural Resource Management Area in northern Cecil County. Viewers follow Maryland Department of Agriculture Entomologist Aaron Shurtleff and his team as they hunt for lanternflies, learning along the way what can be done about these small bugs to keep them from becoming a big problem.
• The Local Buy: Mobil Kitchen (Montgomery County): The Local Buy segment host Al Spoler hops aboard the Manna Food Center’s mobile kitchen, a bus-turned-food pantry that started traveling throughout Montgomery County last year. Manna Food Center CEO Jackie DeCarlo explains that the bus – known as Manny – travels to communities with limited access to fresh, healthy food where pantry staff provide locally grown produce and show families how to use it. Al then learns how to make a stew using produce taken from the mobile food pantry. 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