Eastern Shore Tours with Governor Hogan and Legislative Update

Published in the Feb. 25, 2017, issue of Lancaster Farming

Governor Larry Hogan made several key agricultural stops on February 13, during a day-long visit to the Eastern Shore of Maryland and I had the privilege of joining him.

Animal Waste Technology

Last week, the Governor and I toured the first Maryland poultry operation to install cutting-edge technology that converts poultry litter to energy at the Murphy family’s Double Trouble Farm in Dorchester County.

The Maryland Department of Agriculture awarded a $970,000 animal waste technology grant to Biomass Heating Solutions, Inc. (BHSL) for the manure-to-energy project and an additional $139,000 to monitor its operation for one year.

This project has the following benefits:

• Reduced environmental impact: A reduction in the potential environmental impact of manure resources
• Lower energy costs: A reduction in energy costs through using heat from the manure as a source for heating poultry houses
• Improved animal welfare: Improved animal welfare, with improved health and reduced risk of diseases
• Improved performance: Faster growth – poultry reaching target weight more quickly
• Additional revenue: Potential expansion of revenue streams – earnings from the sale of excess electricity and a fertilizer by-product

Projects like this can help to improve water quality, increase energy independence, improve animal waste management, and ensure sustainability of animal agriculture in Maryland – all while improving the farm’s bottom line.

The Murphy farm and its new technology were featured on Maryland Public Television’s Maryland Farm & Harvest show on January 24.  The show is available to watch online at www.mpt.org/farm.

Maryland’s Animal Waste Technology Fund is a grant program that provides seed funding to companies that demonstrate innovative technologies to manage or repurpose manure resources.

To date, the program has approved $3.7 million in grants to six projects.

The next operational project we plan to feature will be Planet Found Energy Development project at Millenium Farms in Pocomoke City. Planet Found received a $676,000 state grant for the project, which uses an anaerobic digester to convert chicken litter into methane gas which, in turn, is used to produce electricity (26 kilowatts/hour plant producing an estimated 100,000 kilowatts/year). The system will send excess electricity not used on the farm to the grid. Excess heat generated may be used to offset propane costs for poultry house heating

Also, CleanBay Renewables, which received a $1.4 million state grant, is ready to break ground for the first of four regional facilities to convert poultry litter to energy. They should be operational in Somerset County by 2018 and will be starting one other facility in Maryland and two in Delaware.

Moving Seafood Marketing to MDA

We also toured J.M. Clayton – the world’s oldest crab processing facility – in Cambridge in support of House Bill 120, which would move the state’s seafood and aquaculture marketing program from the Department of Natural Resources back to the Maryland Department of Agriculture.

There’s a reason there is a farmer and a watermen on our State seal. This bill is an important step toward recognizing the bond between farmers and watermen.

During the visit, Governor Hogan unveiled a new logo concept for “Maryland’s Best Seafood.” We all know that Maryland is home to the best seafood, and with a strong marketing plan from the Department of Agriculture, Maryland will be open to new markets and opportunities for our watermen.

The industry would benefit from established relationships with distributors, restaurants, grocery chains and other institutions, in addition to the department’s experience in promoting products to international buyers through the Southern United States Trade Association (SUSTA).

HB120 will move approximately $190,000 in special funds from fees collected on commercial watermen and processing licenses by the Department of Natural Resources. In addition to this funding, the department will be able to pursue further funding from USDA and other grants to support the new program.

The House Environment and Transportation Committee held a hearing on February 8 where the departments of Agriculture and Natural Resources and industry leaders testified in support of the bill with no opposition.

Legislation of Interest

HB 130 – The bill creates a more efficient review and approval process for applications submitted to the Maryland Wine & Grape Promotion Fund. The bill repeals the definition of the Maryland Wine and Grape Promotion Council and the Council. It requires the Governor’s Advisory Commission on Maryland Wine and Grape Growing to advise and recommend to the Secretary of Agriculture for approval the allocation of specified funds for specified projects in the Maryland Wine and Grape Promotion Fund.

HB 155 – Provides a process correction. Currently, if a landowner submits a request to terminate the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation’s easement, the statutory process requires separate, simultaneous review processes by the county receiving the request and the Foundation. If the county denies the termination request, the Foundation cannot approve it, however, the Foundation is statutorily compelled to complete its review and conduct its own hearing. This requires expenditure/s up to or in excess of $10,000 in expert fees, and a substantial amount of personnel time and resources, all of which may be unnecessary should the county find through its own process that the easement termination cannot be approved.

The proposed legislation segments the termination process by having the county conduct its review and hearing and deciding whether the request should be approved or denied. If the county denies the request, the request fails and does not move forward to the Foundation, resulting in the Foundation not expending time and effort on termination applications that it cannot approve. If the request is approved, it moves forward to the Foundation to determine whether the land may be farmed profitably.

HB602 / SB422 – Antibiotics bill – will prohibits cattle, swine, or poultry premises from administrating antimicrobial drugs without a prescription or Veterinary Feed Directive order issued by a veterinarian licensed in Maryland. The Maryland Department of Agriculture opposes the legislation as written because it is duplicative and incomplete compared to the national effort by FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine to place the use of medically important antibiotics in feed and water under veterinary oversight.

For the latest information, positions and testimony on 2017 legislation impacting Maryland agriculture, visit our website.