I know how busy farmers are right now, but please take the time to visit a local soil conservation district office and get the details on this year’s cover crop program and sign up your acreage. The enrollment period this year is June 21 July 15. It is more important now than ever to get your acres enrolled in the program.
As you may know, New Total Maximum Daily Loads, or TMDLs, recently proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) involve a strategy that will put the entire six-state watershed and the District of Columbia on a “pollution diet” to restore the Bay and its tributaries. The impacts will be wide and far reaching, affecting all types of land uses. The agricultural portion of these milestones will most likely involve enforceable or binding agreements with landowners to achieve agricultural goals.
Regional meetings will be held from mid-June through mid-July on Maryland’s Watershed Implementation Plan to Restore the Bay that will be used to develop the draft and final Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL). Click here for more details. We want you to be aware of these meetings to ensure that agricultural groups are represented.
With the increased attention given to the agricultural activities, we at
the Department of Agriculture continue to tell farmers that the best
way to keep regulations away from their farming operations is to keep
installing best management practices. The good news is that we have
cost share programs to help install these practices.
Last year
the Maryland Agricultural Water Quality Cost-Share (MACS) Program
celebrated its 25th year of extraordinary success in helping farmers
install conservation practices on their farms that protect water quality
in the streams and rivers that feed the Chesapeake Bay. All told,
during the last 25 years, MACS has provided $98.6 million in grants to
farmers to install more than 20,000 conservation projects on their
farms. Maryland farmers invested an additional $14 million of their own
money into these projects.
In Fiscal Year 2009, farmers enrolled in the MACS program received a record $19 million in grants to install 2,300 conservation projects on their farms. Collectively, the projects will prevent an estimated 1.3 million pounds of nitrogen and 86,900 pounds of phosphorus from entering Maryland waterways each year. Cover crops were responsible for the bulk of the nitrogen savings (1.2 million pounds) and more than 50 percent of the phosphorous savings (48,000 pounds). The projects will protect streams from sediment pollution and animal waste by managing an estimated 12,459 tons of soil annually and 1,647 tons of manure daily. Cover crops, manure transport, heavy use area protection, grassed waterways, nutrient management consultant services, manure storage structures, livestock fencing, watering facilities, filter strips and grade stabilization structures round out the top 10 practices installed by farmers in 2009 with MACS assistance. Farmers who received cost-share grants from MACS in 2009 invested more than $923,000 of their own money into start up costs for these projects. Even in these difficult times, Governor O’Malley’s budget makes available $9.5 million for BMPs in addition to $15 million for cover crops.
We all know that farmers were the first environmentalists and we applaud their stewardship efforts. Help us get the word out about these successes so that non-farmers can better appreciate the agricultural accomplishments of the past 25 years. There is more to do, as I mentioned, but much has been done and we should speak up about it.
On another note, a recent study indicated that when given the choice, 78 percent of Marylanders said they are more likely to buy produce that is identified as having been grown by a Maryland farmer. This year’s Buy Local Challenge Week will be held July 17-25, 2010 and we encourage all Marylanders to pledge to eat at least one thing from a local farm every day during this week. Also, take some time to inquire with area schools to see if they are purchasing from local schools. We are working hard with many partners to make it easier for students to reap the health and nutritional benefits of eating local foods at school.
This year, Buy Local Week will take place from July 17-25. During this week, Marylanders are asked to eat at least one locally grown product each day. Seventeen recipes have been selected to participate in a cookout hosted by Governor Martin O’Malley to kick off the challenge at Government House. The hope is that as people become more familiar with eating food in season, they will look for and buy local products all year long.
Farmers now get less than 10 cents of the retail food dollar. Buying local food helps local farmers take home more of the dollars we spend on food. In addition, it promotes healthy eating habits, fresh food, and local economies; protects the environment by keeping land in farming and reducing the fuel and environmental costs of transportation; and is safer because you know where it is coming from.
TheMaryland’s Bestand the
Buy-Local-Challenge website have plenty of recipes from
local chefs that will make you love your local produce even more. If
you want to eat local all year round, check out the chart of what is in season. Click here for the cookbook of
last year’s recipes.
MDA Secretary Buddy Hance (left) and Les Richardson (right)
Secretary Visits White Marsh Farm during Capital for a Day
Agriculture Secretary Buddy Hance and Deputy Secretary Mary Ellen Setting visited Richardson Farms White Marsh Market on May 18 as part of Governor O’Malley’s “Capital for a Day” celebration in Eastern Baltimore County. His visit included an informal “meet and greet” with the local agricultural community to discuss current issues of importance and concern to agriculture. There, he also toured the new packing facility, garden center and new retail store.
Providence Center Partners with First Lady’s “Grow It Eat It” Garden
With summer gardening underway, the University of Maryland Master Gardeners along with individuals involved with the Providence Center, Inc.’s Horticulture Program today planted summer vegetable seedlings in First Lady Katie O’Malley’s Grow It Eat It garden. The plants were grown by clients of Providence Center through the organization’s Horticulture Program located in Anne Arundel County.
First Lady O’Malley is partnering with University of Maryland Extension‘s Home and Garden Information Center and Master Gardeners to promote the “Grow It Eat It, campaign” which encourages Maryland families to improve health and save money by growing fresh vegetables, fruits and herbs using sustainable practices. The campaign hopes to encourage 1 million Marylanders to produce their own affordable, healthy food.
Last year, Maryland became one of the first states, if not the first state in the nation, to have a backyard food garden at the Governor’s home. The vegetable garden sets a realistic example of what Maryland families can do in their own backyards. This year, the program has expanded to include a gardening lecture series and a honey bee colony. Click here for more information about the First Lady’s garden and lecture series.
New Maryland Nutrient Trading Program Introduced
MDA held a successful series of three educational meetings for nearly 200 participants in late May/early June to provide an overview of the new Maryland Nutrient Trading Program and introduce its web-based nutrient credit assessment tool, marketplace, and registry. The next step, currently targeted for July 1, is the launch of the online
trading website.
Governor Martin O’Malley signed a new law this year that enables the exchange (buying and selling) of nutrient reduction credits that have monetary value to help reduce nitrogen and phosphorus in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. For more information, click here, or contact Susan Payne, coordinator of ecosystem markets, at 410-841-5865 or NuTrade@mda.state.md.us.
USDA Looks at Energy Production on Maryland Farms
The most recent Census of Agriculture counted more than 20,000 farms and ranches that were producing their own energy. The U.S. Department of Agriculture will further explore how this energy is generated as it conducts the first national On-Farm Energy Production Survey. The survey will focus on the use of wind turbines, solar panels and
anaerobic digesters, as well as other methods of energy generation.
“Given the growing national interest in energy efficiency, this survey is especially timely,” said Barbara Rater, director of the Maryland Field Office of USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). “The results will provide agricultural producers, policymakers and the public with factual data about the economic and environmental implications of on-farm energy production.”
In early May, NASS mailed survey forms to approximately 125 Maryland farmers who indicated on the 2007 Census of Agriculture that they were engaged in on-farm energy production. NASS will publish the survey results in February 2011.
“This is a chance for farmers to demonstrate the steps they are taking to reduce their carbon footprint and ensure the sustainability of our land, water and air resources,” Rater said.
Respondents are guaranteed by law (Title 7, U.S. Code) that their individual information will be kept confidential. NASS uses the information only for statistical purposes and publishes data only in tabulated totals. Click herefor more information about the On-Farm Energy Production Survey or call Lisa Jackson at 1.800.675.0295.
Farmers Offer Pesticide Alternatives for Gardeners
2010 Maryland Seafood Festivals
Dozens of seafood festivals will be held throughout Maryland this summer and continue through November. Festivals range in size and diversity from St. Mary’s County Oyster Festival in Leonardtown to the 34th Annual Tawes Crab and Clam bake in Crisfield. Festivals can be found from Annapolis to Ocean City, from Havre De Grace to Solomon’s Island and many places in between. Included in the 2010 Maryland Seafood Festivals List this year is a directory of fee fishing farms so anglers can catch their own fish and make their own fun!
The 2010 Maryland Seafood Festival List is available onlineor by sending a self-addressed stamped envelope to 2010 Seafood Festival List, Maryland Department of Agriculture, Seafood Marketing Program, 50 Harry S. Truman Parkway, Annapolis, Maryland 21401. Please call festival contacts directly for information on individual events.
Farm to School Update
Maryland was recognized at the National Farm to School Conference this past May as the only state with all of its public school systems participating in its Farm to School program. This year, the Maryland Homegrown School Lunch Week will be held September 13-17, 2010, with the kickoff event at Edgewood Elementary School in Harford County on September 10. Maryland Homegrown School Lunch Week is an opportunity to promote Maryland agriculture through school meals and classroom programs and encourage interaction between students and local farmers.
Schools across the state participate in the Maryland Farm to School program in a variety of ways. The 5th grade class of College Gardens Elementary School in Montgomery County recently hosted a “mock press conference” which included Maryland Senator Jamie Raskin and representatives from the Maryland Department of Agriculture, University of Maryland, Montgomery Parks, Montgomery Victory Gardens, parents, and a Richard Montgomery High School International Baccalaureate (IB) student who created a book on Maryland farms for her IB Middle Years Programme personal project.
We’re on Facebook and we will soon be launching a Maryland Farm to School video contest. Stay tuned for more details.
Pine Shoot Beetle, Adult lateral view by Jim Stimmel (forestryimages.org)
MDA Expands Pine Shoot Beetle Quarantine to Four New Counties
Baltimore, Carroll, Harford, and Howard counties are now part of the Pine Shoot Beetle Quarantine Area in Maryland. The Maryland Department of Agriculture this year continued its extensive statewide pine shoot beetle surveillance program and recently discovered the beetle in traps in these counties. Nine Maryland counties are now quarantined under state and federal law. MDA inspectors will continue to work with the affected industries and tak all necessary steps to limit the impact of this invasive pest.
Local residents do not need to be concerned about the small one-eighth-inch long, black beetle, which lives in the shoots of pine trees during the summer months, and burrows into the bark of pine trees in winter. The beetles do not harm wood in homes, or structures of any type. They require live or very recently killed pine trees to feed and reproduce. Click here to learn more about the
pine shoot beetle.
The beetles prefer Scotch pines, but will feed and reproduce in most pine species. While the beetle can seriously harm the health of pine trees, and even kill them, it can be managed using practices commonly applied for other pests in Christmas tree plantations and nurseries. The beetles do not attack Blue Spruce, Norway Spruce, Douglas-Fir, and Fraser Fir, which are commonly grown as Christmas trees. Since 1992, the beetles have been detected in 16 states.
Christmas tree or pine nursery stock growers and pine timber product shippers should contact MDA’s Plant Protection and Weed
Management Section at 410-841-5920 for information on compliance and to arrange to be included in the Pine Shoot Beetle quarantine and management program.
(L to R) Elizabeth Hoffman, Danielle Branch, Michelle McGrain
People Profile: MDA Summer Interns
This summer MDA welcomes five new interns:
Danielle
Branch
Danielle
is a junior Environmental Science and Policy major at the University of
Maryland. At UMD, she is a member of the College Park Scholars Environment,
Technology & Economy Program and the AGNR Mentees, a group for minority
students within the College of Agriculture and Natural
Resources. Danielle has also participated in UMD’s Alternative Breaks program,
through which she has visited a variety of sites in and around the Chesapeake
to explore the resources it has to offer and worked with the Chesapeake Bay
Foundation to help narrow down the many problems that it faces in order to
better solve them. At MDA, she is helping to get the word out about Backyard
Actions for a Cleaner Chesapeake Bay and spreading awareness about stopping the
emerald ash borer from destroying Maryland’s ash trees. Emelie
Corcoran
Emelie
is a senior at the University of Maryland who plans to graduate this winter
with a Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural and Resource
Economics with a concentration in sustainable agriculture. Through her
coursework, she has studied subjects such as economics, nutrition,
environmental political theory, and sustainable development. Her biggest
interest is sustainable, local agriculture with relation to nutrition and
energy. At MDA, she looks forward to helping market and promote the Farm to
School program and other department initiatives.
Deela
Dicello
Deela
is a senior Animal Sciences major at the University of Maryland. For the past
several years, she has taught children and adults about the local history and
artifacts of Derwood, Maryland by serving as an archeology camp counselor, archeology volunteer,
and outdoor education counselor. At UMD, she is part of the University Honors College and works as a research assistant for the Infant
and Children’s Linguistics Lab. At MDA, she will be using her expertise in
Animal Sciences by working in Animal Health.
Elizabeth
Hoffman
Elizabeth
is a senior at the University of Maryland majoring in Environmental Science and
Technology with a focus on Ecological Technology and Design. She is also part of the University Honors College. Through her studies, she has worked on
topics in the fields of agriculture, sustainability, and biology ranging from
the management of soils to energy auditing to a historical survey of the
Chesapeake Bay. At MDA, she is putting her strong interest in resource
conservation to use by working on the new Conservation Tracker program for BayStat agricultural accountability. In
addition to her studies, Elizabeth participates in a wide range of
extracurricular activities as a member of the UMD Women’s Crew and Alpha
Omega Epsilon Professional Engineering Sorority. She has also participated in a
Maryland Stream Waders training session and a Research in Science and
Engineering summer program.
Michelle
McGrain
Michelle is a senior at the University of
Maryland who plans to graduate in 2011 with a Bachelor’s degree in Government
& Politics and in 2012 with a Master’s degree in Public Policy. This
summer, she is at MDA through the Governor’s Summer Internship Program and will
be working on developing social media tools for the Young Farmers Advisory
Board, press materials for the Buy Local Challenge and Cookout, and other
various public relations and outreach campaigns relating to agricultural sustainability. She will also be developing a
group policy paper in the field of agriculture and sustainability. At UMD,
Michelle is in the Honors Humanities program and is the Chief of Staff of the
Student Government Association. She also participates in activities sponsored
by Am Ha’Aretz, a Jewish group committed to promoting green initiatives.
Featured Recipe:
Red Raspberry Ice Cream Courtesy of Lucie Snodgrass, author of Dishing Up Maryland
3 cups milk
3 eggs, beaten
2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
5 cups raspberries
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 quart half-and-half
1 pint heavy cream
1. Mix the milk and eggs together in a large saucepan. Stir together the sugar, flour, and salt in a medium bowl, and then add to the milk mixture. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens to a soft custard. Remove from the heat and chill. Meanwhile combine the raspberries and lemon juice in a food processor or blender and puree until smooth.
2. Add the half-and-half and heavy cream to the chilled custard. Stir in the pureed raspberries and pour the custard into the bowl of an ice cream maker. Freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Thank you for reading our latest publication. We are always looking for ways to improve how we serve our constituents. Please send your comments, suggestions and ideas tomdanews@mda.state.md.usor call 410-841-5881.
Buy Fresh Produce on the Way to the
Beach, Try Homemade Ice Cream As you pack up your beach chairs and umbrella to make that faithful trek to the beach this summer, make sure you save room in your car for some delicious Maryland fruits and vegetables. Click here to locate a farm stand on your drive to the beach or to find a local store to taste test some homemade ice cream. Clickhere to find Maryland’s Best fresh produce near you. Support your local farmers and National Dairy Month. For a list of
Farmers’ Markets in your area, click here.
Maryland Department of Agriculture | 50 Harry S. Truman Parkway | Annapolis | MD | 21401
Contact Information
If you have any questions, need additional information or would like to arrange an interview, please contact: Jessica Hackett
Director of Communications
Telephone: 410-841-5888
Maryland Department of Agriculture News
USDA Looks at Energy Production on Maryland Farms
Farmers Offer Pesticide Alternatives for Gardeners
2010 Maryland Seafood Festivals
Farm to School Update
Featured Recipe:
1-888-373-7888
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