MPT Series Maryland Farm & Harvest visits Anne Arundel, Kent, and Worcester Counties During Special Chesapeake Bay-Themed Episode

December 12 episode features “Farm to Skillet” segment guest-hosted by Watershed Alley chef Rodney Scruggs

ANNAPOLIS, MD (December 8, 2023) – Maryland Public Television’s (MPT) original series Maryland Farm & Harvest, now in its 11th season, will feature farms and locations in Anne Arundel, Kent, and Worcester counties during a special Chesapeake Bay seafood-themed episode premiering on Tuesday, December 12. A preview of the episode can be found on the series’ YouTube channel at youtube.com/watch?v=KJ6xQk7X-0I.

Maryland Farm & Harvest airs on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. on MPT-HD and online at mpt.org/livestream. Following their broadcast premiere, episodes are also available to view using MPT’s online video player and the PBS App. Encore broadcasts air on MPT-HD on Thursdays at 11 p.m. and on Sundays at 6 a.m. Episodes also air on MPT2/Create® on Fridays at 7:30 p.m.

The popular weekly series takes viewers on a journey across the Free State, telling engaging and enlightening stories about the farms, people, and technology required to sustain and grow agriculture in Maryland, the state’s number one commercial industry. 

With introductions filmed at Holloway Brothers Farms in Darlington (Harford County), the December 12 episode features the following segments:

• Scallop Aquaculture (Worcester County). Baywater Seafood in Snow Hill is Maryland’s sole bay scallop aquaculture company and one of only few in the United States. Matt Holloway, Bryan Dickey, and Lee Beauchamp – Eastern Shore natives who have been best friends since age six – grow scallops offshore in custom-made lantern nets. Viewers learn about the environmental benefits of these bivalves while following Matt, Bryan, and eco-tourism manager Claire Rush on a boat ride to retrieve mature scallops and prepare them for delivery to Oaked 110, where they are included in the night’s menu.

• Crab Feast to Compost (Anne Arundel County). Every year, the Rotary Club of Annapolis holds its self-proclaimed “largest crab feast in the world,” but the event is notable for more than just its size. The feast is also zero waste, with 100% of its trash being either recycled or composted with the help of local company Veteran Compost. Viewers join local watermen catching crabs for the feast, witness the event’s massive crab steaming operation, follow members of the rotary’s “green team” during compost setup and sorting, and visit the facility where the food scraps are turned into nutrient-rich soil ideal for farming and gardening.

• Farm to Skillet: Chef Rodney Scruggs, Chestertown Farmers Market (Kent County). Chef Rodney Scruggs, executive chef at Watershed Alley in Chestertown, leads the audience through the Chestertown Farmers Market, where he finds all the locally produced ingredients he needs to make one of his restaurant’s most popular summertime dishes. After buying the necessary ingredients, Scruggs heads to the Watershed Alley kitchen to prepare his sweet corn panna cotta with green tomato consommé and a heap of lump crabmeat. The recipe will be available for viewers to try themselves at mpt.org/farm.

Nearly 16 million viewers have watched Maryland Farm & Harvest on MPT since its debut in 2013. The series has traveled to nearly 450 farms, fisheries, and other agriculture-related locations during its first 10 seasons, covering every Maryland county, as well as Baltimore City and Washington, D.C. 

Past episodes can be viewed at video.mpt.tv/show/maryland-farm-harvest/, while episode segments are available on the series’ YouTube channel at youtube.com/c/MarylandFarmHarvest/featured. Engage with the show on social media @MarylandFarmHarvest on Facebook and @mdfarmtv on Instagram. 

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; a grant from the Rural Maryland Council Agriculture Education and Rural Development Fund; MARBIDCO; a grant from the Maryland Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Program; Farm Credit; Maryland Soybean Board; Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts; Wegmans Food Markets; Maryland Nursery, Landscape & Greenhouse Association; Maryland Farm Bureau; The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment; and a contribution made by the Citizens of Baltimore County. Other support comes from the Mar-Del Watermelon Association and Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation. 

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