Governor Martin O’Malley, joined by Bay Cabinet members and Worcester County officials, toured Chincoteague Bay on Aug. 13, visiting a local oyster aquaculture business to explore and discuss the economic and environmental benefits of expanding Maryland’s aquaculture industry.

The tour began at the award-winning Great Eastern Chincoteague Shellfish Co., the only off-bottom, float shellfish aquaculture operation in Maryland’s coastal bays.  The company primarily sells native oysters as “Snow Hill Oysters” to raw bars across the country, local restaurants and local farmers markets. While on his tour, the Governor also visited Gordon’s Shellfish – an clam aquaculture operation with offshore plots near Public Landing.

Maryland’s existing oyster aquaculture industry employs several dozen people and generates approximately $3 million for the state’s economy.  Under Governor O’Malley’s leadership, the Maryland Department of Agriculture is working to implement aquaculture enterprise zones, which will help streamline the permit process in the Chesapeake and Coastal Bays, provide incentives to catalyze private investment in leasing operations and encourage commercial fishery experts to transition to aquaculture. Click here to learn more.

Governor Martin O’Malley, joined by his youngest son Jack, elected officials and agricultural representatives, hosted a cookout on July 18 at Government House that kicked off a series of events promoting the purchase of local foods. The cookout officially marked the beginning of Buy Local Week, which challenged every Marylander to incorporate at least one Maryland grown, caught or made product into their meals every day for a week. Click here for a video from the cookout.

A number of local governments, restaurants, grocery stores and farmers markets held special events encouraging people to buy local products. Agriculture Secretary Roger Richardson and Deputy Secretary Buddy Hance enjoyed several of these events and highlighted the various ways to buy local. They visited Easton’s Farmers’ Market, Frederick Cellars, and Common Market–a co-op that buys products from local farmers, Restaurant Local, Acacia Fusion Bistro, General Tanuki and Out of the Fire restaurants, and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Clagett Farm–a community supported agriculture farm.

The promotion of local products spans beyond foods grown on a farm. MDA also helps consumers find genuine Maryland seafood. With every new initiative, more Marylanders are beginning to realize the benefits of local products.  Fresh, local foods taste better, possess higher levels of nutrients, reduces our carbon footprint and keeps farmers on their land and in production.  Continuing the buy local campaign, First Lady Katie O’Malley kicked off Farmers’ Market Week with a visit to the new Westfield Annapolis Farmers’ Market on Aug. 3. Later that same week, MDA was joined by the National and Mar-Del Watermelon Queens and local farmers to promote MAR-DEL-icious watermelons. Click here to check out their seed-spitting skills.

We anticipate that the benefits of local products will entice consumers to buy local year round.  For more information, check out the MDA’s Buy Local Challenge Blog.

To honor the leaders of Maryland’s thriving agricultural community, the Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) is accepting nominations of farmers and farm families for the Governor’s Agriculture Hall of Fame, which pays tribute to those who have dedicated their lives to the state’s leading industry.

Any farm family that derives its income principally from farming is eligible for the award.  Since 1991, when the Hall of Fame was established, 35 farm families from 20 counties have been honored for their high standards of conduct; personal values; contributions to their community; and performance, leadership, innovation, and achievement in agriculture.

Nomination forms are available from MDA or local University of Maryland Cooperative Extension offices.  Nominations are due to MDA by August 26, 2008, and will be reviewed by the Governor’s Selection Committee.  For a nomination form or more information, contact MDA at 410-841-5770, contact your local cooperative extension office, or click here.

The Mid-Atlantic Animal Import Center Feasibility Study identified the Midfield Cargo Complex of the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport as the best potential site for the Center.  The study also detailed the process of importing and exporting live equine to and from the United States.

Currently, only three permanent centers accept horses for importation in the United States. A permanent Mid-Atlantic Animal Import and Export Center could reduce the cost of shipment for horse owners and buyers, and reduce the stress on transported horses thereby increasing the overall condition and productivity of animals shipped overseas.

The study was funded by a combination of public and private, federal and State entities including the USDA, Maryland Department of Agriculture, Maryland Horse Industry Board and Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development. Click here for more information.

Recent visits by Korean buyers hosted by the Maryland Department of Agriculture and the Southern United States Trade Association, to Maryland companies and farms yielded promising results.  The two-day visit to Maryland is expected to generate approximately $535,000 in additional export revenues for local companies. The buyers, representing some of the largest import, food service, and grocery retail companies in Korea, traveled to Maryland to find suppliers for a wide variety of high-value processed food products.

As part of the mission, MDA organized an all-day series of meetings in Annapolis to give companies from around the state the opportunity to showcase their product lines. The buyers also toured McCormick’s Hunt Valley plant, Tulkoff’s new production facility in Dundalk, and Boordy Vineyards in Hydes. Site visits such as these underscore the scope and diversity of Maryland’s products and help to create a broader understanding of agricultural resources within the state.

MDA also accompanied the delegation to the New York Fancy Food Show, which is one of America’s oldest and largest food shows and features some of the most innovative and exotic specialty food processors from around the country and the world.  Click here for more details.

USDA Secretary Ed Schafer kicked off an exciting and informative 82nd Annual National Plant Board Meeting in Solomons Aug. 10-14. Maryland was honored to host the meeting and noted that this is the first time a USDA Secretary has addressed this group.

The National Plant Board is a non-profit organization of the plant pest regulatory agencies of each of the states and Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.  Member agencies must be members in good standing of the regional plant board in which their state or commonwealth is located. Membership is made up of the principal plant pest regulatory officials of each member commonwealth and state.

Chef Tafari Campbell, a sous chef with The White House, finished third at the 2008 Great American Seafood Cook-Off during the Louisiana Foodservice Expo in New Orleans on Aug. 4.  Chef John Currence of City Grocery restaurant in Oxford, Miss., placed first, earning the titled “King of American Seafood” and Brian Landry of Galatoire’s in New Orleans placed second.

For his winning dish Chef Tafari prepared BLT Reconstructed featuring pan roasted bacon wrapped rockfish with lettuce and tomato and jumbo lump crab meat. Click here for the recipe.

Organized to strengthen awareness of and involvement in the domestic seafood industry, the Great American Seafood Cook-Off’s top criterion is that the seafood be harvested exclusively in U.S. waters.  Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, New Jersey, North Carolina, Texas and Washington, D.C., were also represented at the competition.

Chris H. Runde, DVM, is the current president of the Maryland State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners, a seven-member board charged with setting and enforcing standards for veterinarians, registered veterinary technicians, and veterinary hospital owners.

Dr. Runde has practiced at Tidewater Veterinary Hospital in Charlotte Hall since 1987, where he and five other veterinarians currently operate a mixed practice with an emphasis on small animals, horse and small ruminants. This practice was purchased from Dr. Henry Virts (former Secretary of Agriculture) and Dr. Clarence Little who established it in 1959.

“I became interested in the State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners as a way to expand my experiences as a professional, explore the world of regulatory medicine and give something back to the profession,” said Dr. Runde. “It has been a challenging and rewarding experience and I am very proud of our staff.”

The Board has successfully promulgated important legislation to help animal shelters get access to important sedatives and to streamline inspection of veterinary hospitals across the state.  It is working to raise the standards for continuing education for veterinarians and to enable veterinary students to get more hands-on experience in the next legislative session.  The Board has also hired  Assistant Attorney General Claudia Diamond to help manage a ballooning case load.

“My vision for the Board is to be as accessible to the public as possible as we seek to fulfill our mission in protecting them and their animals by ensuring that the veterinary medicine practiced in Maryland is of the highest quality,” continued Dr. Runde. “We aspire to high levels of availability, accountability and ability and we are determined to respond in a timely professional manner to all complaints, questions and requests.”

Dr. Runde is actively involved with agriculture-related organizations. He was on the Board of Directors of the Summerseat Sanctuary, a working historic farm in St. Mary’s county.  For more than two decades he has been a member of both the American Veterinary Medical Association and the Maryland Veterinary Medical Association (MVMA) and is currently the Secretary of the Maryland Veterinary Foundation, the MVMA’s scholarship committee. Dr. Runde also wrote an  “Ask The Vet” column for Equine Athlete magazine.

He currently resides on Briarpatch Farm, a 50-acre farm in Mechanicsville with his wife Karen and two children, where they raise horses, Labrador retrievers and ring-necked pheasants. Dr. Runde earned a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine and graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BS in Agriculture from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Enjoy Fresh, MAR-DELicious Watermelons Today!

 

Maryland’s Best is your source to find the best local products from Maryland farmers. From produce, seafood, and specialty foods to grains, nursery items, and ag-recreational activities. Find everything you need and more! Click here to find where you can purchase local products to enjoy.