{"id":1316,"date":"2010-02-19T17:40:52","date_gmt":"2010-02-19T17:40:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/?p=1316"},"modified":"2012-09-26T17:42:33","modified_gmt":"2012-09-26T17:42:33","slug":"governors-forum-outlines-plan-for-future-of-agriculture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2010\/02\/19\/governors-forum-outlines-plan-for-future-of-agriculture\/","title":{"rendered":"Governor’s Forum Outlines Plan for Future of Agriculture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Strategic Planning Event Maps Out 15-Year Plan for Ag Industry<\/em> <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

ANNAPOLIS, MD (Feb. 19, 2010) \u2013 Lt. Governor Anthony G. Brown, Agriculture Secretary Buddy Hance, and the Maryland Agricultural Commission joined approximately 200 representatives of the agricultural industry and other stakeholders today for the Governor’s 2010 Agricultural Forum. The purpose of the strategic planning event, held at the Doubletree Hotel in Annapolis, was to lay out a 15-year plan that addresses short and long term issues, and develops recommendations for a 15-year action strategy to enhance the future of Maryland agriculture.
\n\u201cThis forum is essential in developing a meaningful statewide strategic plan for the future of Maryland\u2019s leading industry \u2013 agriculture. I commend the Maryland Agricultural Commission for its leadership in this effort,\u201d said Lt. Governor Anthony G. Brown.\u00a0 \u201cWe must help to protect our priorities of strengthening our middle class and our small and family owned businesses and farms, and protecting the health of our citizens and the environment. When our farm businesses are sustainable, the next generation will see farming as a viable career opportunity, and Maryland will preserve its open space and locally-grown food industry to keep Maryland smart, green and growing.\u201d
\nMore than 260 people responded to a survey, which served as a baseline for the Forum and identified the challenges and opportunities agriculture will be facing in the next 15 years.\u00a0 According to the survey, the most important issue for all survey respondents is environmental regulations in the Chesapeake Bay region negatively affecting production costs and profitability of agricultural enterprises. Other top priority issues included: local regulations and regulatory costs, continued development resulting in loss of farmland, high land costs decreasing number of young farmers, water access and uncertainty of zoning and environmental regulatory requirements negatively impacting farmers\u2019 ability to secure loans for their enterprises.
\n\u201cI am pleased to see so many participants engaged in today\u2019s discussions. The 2010 Governor’s Forum moves the Statewide Plan for Agriculture and Resource Management forward to meet future needs of the agriculture industry,\u201d said Maryland Agricultural Commission Chair, Tom Hartsock.\u00a0 \u201cRest assured, the 2006 statewide plan did not just sit on a shelf gathering dust. With the support of the O\u2019Malley-Brown Administration, it is a living, breathing plan that is making a difference in the long-term viability of agriculture in this state with 102 of the 109 recommendations in the plan already completed or underway. The plan we started today will help us plan for the next 15 year.\u201d
\nClick here<\/a> for more information, including survey results.
\n# # # Follow MDA on Twitter @MdAgDept<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Strategic Planning Event Maps Out 15-Year Plan for Ag Industry ANNAPOLIS, MD (Feb. 19, 2010) \u2013 Lt. Governor Anthony G. Brown, Agriculture Secretary Buddy Hance, and the Maryland Agricultural Commission joined approximately 200 representatives of the agricultural industry and other stakeholders today for the Governor’s 2010 Agricultural Forum. The purpose of the strategic planning event,  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1316"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1317,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1316\/revisions\/1317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}