Maryland Celebrates Farmers during National Agriculture Week with Photo Exhibit “Maryland Farmers: Faces of the Land”

ANNAPOLIS, MD – The Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) celebrated National Agriculture Week (March 17-23) by hosting a reception today to honor farmers featured in award-winning photographer Edwin Remsberg’s exhibit Maryland Farmers: Faces of the Land, which is on display in the Miller Senate Office Building in Annapolis. Some 200 people – many of them lawmakers and policy experts who work in Annapolis – viewed the exhibit during the reception.

National Agriculture Week recognizes the important contributions that agriculture makes to American society while the photography exhibit offered unique insight into the lives of Maryland farmers as integral parts of our state’s societal fabric.

“The agriculture industry is a major provider of jobs and economic growth throughout our state. We are very pleased that so many people in Annapolis were able to ‘visit’ a farm by viewing Edwin Remsberg’s outstanding work today in the Miller Building,” said Agriculture Secretary Buddy Hance. “Agriculture Week and this exhibit gave us a great opportunity to recognize and celebrate the important work of our farm families and the important role they play in providing all of us with an abundant food supply while protecting the environment.”

The exhibit features various types of farming from across the state. Many of the farmers featured in the exhibit were on hand at the reception to talk to attendees about their work and industry including:
•    Linda Burrier, Burrier Farm, grain, (Frederick County)
•    Kate and David Dallam, Brooms Bloom Dairy, ice cream and cheese, (Harford County)
•    Bill Edwards, SB Farms, Inc., bison,  (Dorchester County)
•    Tom and Lisa Godfrey, Godfrey Farm, produce and bedding plants, (Queen Anne’s County)
•    Alice Orzechowski, Caprikorn Farms, goat milk cheese, (Washington County)
•    Vic Priapi, Priapi Gardens, premium plants, organic produce, (Cecil County)
•    Joe-Sam Swann, Swann Farm, produce, (Calvert County)

Several featured farmers donated food made on their farms to promote fresh, locally grown food: Bill Edwards (bison steak and sloppy joe samples) and Alice Orzechowski (goat cheese platters). Alternate Maryland Dairy Princess Elizabeth Galbreath also attended the event.

The “Faces of the Farm” photo exhibit, which will remain on display at the Miller building for the rest of the year, showcases those who work the land every day and highlights the diversity of people, places and practices involved with food production in Maryland. The exhibit, which features 12 archival 20” by 30” photographic prints, will be permanently housed at MDA, starting in 2014.

Remsberg, who is also a farmer, captures images that illustrate a sense of place and a link in the chain of the family farming tradition, which Remsberg sees continuing on. He hopes to provide viewers with an opportunity “to see people, not just defined by what they do with their hands, but by what they do with their hearts.”

For more about Remsberg. For more about Maryland Agriculture, see the AgBrief:

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