Nov. 28 New MPT Maryland Farm & Harvest Episode Features Carroll, Dorchester, Howard, and Washington County locations

OWINGS MILLS, MD – Maryland Public Television’s (MPT) popular original series Maryland Farm & Harvest, now in its fifth season, will feature farms and other locations in Carroll, Dorchester, Howard, and Washington counties on an episode airing Tuesday, November 28 at 7 p.m.

Featured on the upcoming episode are:

• Perdue Hatchery, in Hurlock (Dorchester County). In the episode’s first segment, viewers get a look inside an Eastern Shore facility that hatches upwards of 300,000 chickens per day. The Perdue Hatchery in Hurlock is a well-oiled machine – one of several hatcheries in the mid-Atlantic region that supply chicks for the region’s $3 billion poultry industry.
• Windy Knolls Seminole, in Westminster (Carroll County). Farmer Marcy Harris has a problem – a cute problem, but a problem nonetheless. She needs cats at her Carroll County beef operation to keep rodents under control, but she doesn’t need more than a dozen. That’s where “Operation CatSnip” comes in. Program volunteers Donna Babylon and Joanna Spencer travel to farms across Carroll County helping to spay and neuter feral cats. The program operates via community donations and grants from Humane Society of Carroll County.
• Rural Rhythm Farm, in Dayton (Howard County). Breeding livestock takes careful planning and a whole lot of faith, but complications are inevitable. During this segment viewers meet farmer Andy Bauer of Rural Rhythm Farm in western Howard County – one of about 330 hog farms in Maryland. Andy, who recently took over the farm’s hog breeding operation from his father, introduces viewers to a litter of Berkshire piglets with an unusual upbringing. Due to unexpected circumstances these piglets had to be adopted by another pig.
• Misty Meadows Farm Creamery, in Smithburg (Washington County). The Local Buy segment host Al Spoler satisfies his sweet tooth with a visit to Misty Meadows Farm Creamery in Washington County. Farmers Betsy and David Herbst shows viewers how their fresh milk becomes churned ice cream. The creamery’s visitors – and ice cream tasters – are from Grace Academy Summer Camp in Hagerstown.

Maryland Farm & Harvest takes viewers on a journey across the state, telling stories about the farms, people, and technology required to sustain and grow Maryland’s number one industry: agriculture. Over the past year, MPT’s production team has filmed stories at more than four dozen farms in preparation for the new season. Maryland’s rich agricultural heritage, the importance of bees, and growing crops in the face of changing weather patterns are among themes covered in depth during upcoming episodes.

Nearly five million viewers have tuned in to Maryland Farm & Harvest since its fall 2013 debut. The series has visited more than 200 farms in its first four seasons, covering every Maryland county, as well as Baltimore City and Washington, D.C.

Joanne Clendining, who earned an Emmy® from the National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for her work as Maryland Farm & Harvest host, returns for season five. She is joined by Al Spoler, co-host of WYPR-FM’s “Cellar Notes” and “Radio Kitchen” programs, who hosts The Local Buy segment during each episode.

Maryland Farm & Harvest airs Tuesdays at 7 p.m. on MPT-HD and is rebroadcast Thursdays at 11:30 p.m. and Sundays at 6 a.m. Each show also airs on MPT2 Fridays at 7:30 p.m.  More information about the series is available at mpt.org/farm. Viewers can join the conversation on social media at the hashtag #MDFarmHarvestFans.

Agriculture is Maryland’s largest commercial industry, contributing more than $17 billion in revenue each year. As of 2016 approximately 350,000 Marylanders are employed in some aspect of agriculture. The state has 12,300 farms accounting for approximately two million acres, with nearly 6,000 full-time farmers.  Today, 110 farms and more than 7,679 acres are certified organic in Maryland.

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; MidAtlantic Farm Credit; the Maryland Agricultural Resource-Based Industry Development Corporation; the Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation; and the Maryland Soybean Board.

Other support comes from Wegmans Food Markets; the Maryland Nursery, Landscape & Greenhouse Association; the Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc.; the University of Maryland Agriculture Law Education Initiative; the Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts; the Maryland Farm Bureau Service Company, and by Mar-Del Watermelon Association; Hoffman Irrigation, LLC, an authorized Valley Irrigation dealer; Chesapeake College; and the Rural Maryland Council.

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