MPT Series Maryland Farm & Harvest Visits Locations in Five Eastern Shore Counties During December 3 Episode

ANNAPOLIS, MD (December 3, 2024) – Maryland Public Television’s (MPT) original series Maryland Farm & Harvest, now in its 12th season, will feature farms and locations in Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s, and Worcester counties during an episode premiering on Tuesday, December 3. A preview of the episode can be found on the series’ webpage at mpt.org/farm. 

Maryland Farm & Harvest airs on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. on MPT-HD and online at mpt.org/livestream. Episodes are also available to view live and on demand using the free PBS app and MPT’s online video player. 

The popular weekly series takes viewers on a journey across the Free State, telling engaging and enlightening stories about the farms, people, and technology required to sustain and grow agriculture in Maryland, the state’s number one commercial industry. 

With introductions filmed at Evermore Farm in Westminster (Carroll County), the December 3 episode features the following stories:

• Giant Miscanthus (Dorchester County) – When John Luthy of Luthy Farms in Cambridge was first approached about growing Giant Miscanthus, he didn’t even know what it was. Today, his fields boast 2,500 acres of the burgeoning super crop, which he sells to chicken farmers seeking a better bedding option than traditional wood chips. Viewers visit Luthy Farms to learn what makes Giant Miscanthus so attractive to grow and discover some of its many uses, from chicken house bedding and crop buffers to consumer products.

• Richardson Farm (Worcester County) – Beyond his fields of corn and soybeans, few can match Roger Richardson’s contribution to Maryland agriculture. He was one of 14 men appointed in the 1970s by then-Gov. Marvin Mandel to create the Maryland Department of Agriculture. In 2007, he was asked by then-Gov. Martin O’Malley to serve as the Maryland Secretary of Agriculture. Now over 90 years old and still an active farmer, Richardson hasn’t finished building his legacy. Viewers meet Roger on his family’s farm in Eden and hear from others about Richardson’s lasting impact on the agency he helped create and the industry he’s done so much to support.

• Farm to Skillet: Chef Kurt Peter (Kent, Caroline, Queen Anne’s counties) –  After grabbing some soft shell crabs from Chester River Seafood in Rock Hall and picking fresh vegetables at Clayton Farms in Denton, chef Kurt Peter of Chesapeake Chef Service returns to his kitchen in Stevensville to sauté a seafood dish that embodies Chesapeake living. The recipe will be available at mpt.org/farm for viewers to try for themselves.

More than 16 million viewers have watched Maryland Farm & Harvest on the statewide public TV network since its debut in 2013. The series has traveled to nearly 500 farms, fisheries, and other agriculture-related locations during its first 11 seasons, covering every Maryland county, as well as Baltimore City and Washington, D.C. 

Encore broadcasts of Maryland Farm & Harvest air on MPT-HD on Thursdays at 11 p.m. and on Sundays at 6 a.m. Episodes also air on MPT2/Create® on Fridays at 7:30 p.m. Past episodes can be viewed on the free PBS app and MPT’s online video player, while episode segments are available on the series’ YouTube channel at youtube.com/c/MarylandFarmHarvest/featured. 

Audiences are invited to engage with the series on social media @MarylandFarmHarvest on Facebook and @mdfarmtv on Instagram. 

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; MARBIDCO; a grant from the Maryland Department of Agriculture, Specialty Crop Block Program; Farm Credit; Maryland Soybean Board; Maryland Nursery, Landscape & Greenhouse Association; Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts; Maryland Farm Bureau; The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment; Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation; and by the citizens of Baltimore County.

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