Maryland Farmers Produce Bounty for the State

As Thanksgiving approaches, Maryland Secretary of Agriculture Buddy Hance reminds the State’s citizen of the bounty produced by the Maryland’s 12,800 farmers.

“Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday to enjoy time with family and friends and to share a delicious, locally-grown feast,” said Secretary Hance. “It’s also a great time to honor the hard work of our farmers who ensure a healthy, inexpensive and bountiful harvest is available for us to give thanks for each year.”

Field corn harvest is about finished in the state. It is projected that farmers will harvest about 49 million bushels of corn on 425,000 acres this fall. Soybean harvest is winding down now and that crop is expected to produce about 21 million bushels on 475,000 acres. Field corn and soybeans are used to feed livestock and produce fuel among other things.

Maryland’s poultry farmers produced about 1.5 billion pounds of chicken and 569 million eggs in 2011, the latest estimates from the National Agricultural Statistics Service. And, 740,000 turkeys totaling about 13.5 million pounds were raised in Maryland.

A long with poultry and eggs, Maryland farmers have produced the following holiday season favorites:

Cattlemen produced 76.7 million pounds of beef in 2011. Swine farmers produced about 12.6 million pounds of pork.

Apple farmers produced about 40 million pounds of fruit in 2011. Peach producers grew 3,890 tons of fruit.

Dairy farmers produced about 970 million pounds of milk in 2011. (Milk weighs about 8.6 pounds per gallon, meaning that our farmers produced more about 113 million gallons of milk from their 52,000 cows.)

Vegetable farmers produced 10.3 million pounds of beans, 66 million pounds of potatoes, and 10.5 million pounds of pumpkins.

Farmers produced 13.6 million bushels of wheat – the essential ingredient of bread, rolls and pie crust.

Other crops measured most recently in the 2007 Ag Census show almost 10,000 acres of sweet corn (23.9 million pounds), some it canned, much of it sold fresh. Nearly 500 farms grow a total of 8.2 million pounds of tomatoes on nearly 800 acres, some canned, most sold fresh.

Maryland wineries produce about 1.7 million bottles of wine each year from 2,200 tons of Maryland-grown grapes.

For more statistical information about Maryland agriculture, visit www.nass.usda.gov/md/.

To find local farms, farmers markets and see videos of Maryland farmers, visit www.marylandsbest.net.