ANNAPOLIS, MD (October 4, 2011) \u2013 To kick off Maryland\u2019s fall agri-tourism season, Agriculture Secretary Buddy Hance today visited North Run Farm in Baltimore County to experience first hand the State\u2019s rich selection of agricultural recreational opportunities.<\/p>\n
Maryland\u2019s farmers offer a variety of fall activities as a low-cost way for families to spend time together outdoors.\u00a0 October is the perfect time to experience the fun of selecting your own pumpkins for jack-o-lanterns, getting lost in a corn maze, taking a hayride, or attending a fall festival.\u00a0 Depending on the farm, visitors may be able to enjoy a variety of other activities including farm stands, scarecrow-making, petting farms, pony rides, live music, decorations, fresh apple cider, home baked goods and more.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fall is a wonderful time for families and friends to get outside and onto a farm,\u201d said Agriculture Secretary Buddy Hance. \u201cAgritourism is a booming industry here in Maryland. Visiting a farm is great fun for all ages and supports our family farmers too.\u00a0 On farm tourism operations look great and are ready for visitors with their fresh products and lively activities.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to the most recent agricultural census completed in 2007 by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, there were 23,350 agritourism farms nationally with revenues totaling $566 million.\u00a0 In 2007, Maryland had 231 agritourism farms with revenues of $7.3 million.<\/p>\n
Formally in the livestock business, North Run Farm<\/a>, will be celebrating the 10th year of their corn maze and fall farm activities this October.\u00a0 To mark the occasion, Patrick and Brooke Rodgers have brought back their original crab design, which has grown to two crab shaped corn mazes spanning a 10 acre field. In addition, this fall they are featuring six acres of pick-your-own pumpkins, hay rides, plus pumpkins, squash, and gourds are available for purchase.<\/p>\n For a list of farms offering fall activities, visit www.marylandsbest.net<\/a>.\u00a0 More information is also available through the Maryland Direct Farm Market Association<\/a> and University of Maryland Extension<\/a>.<\/p>\n ###<\/p>\n Follow MDA on Twitter @MdAgDept<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ANNAPOLIS, MD (October 4, 2011) \u2013 To kick off Maryland\u2019s fall agri-tourism season, Agriculture Secretary Buddy Hance today visited North Run Farm in Baltimore County to experience first hand the State\u2019s rich selection of agricultural recreational opportunities. Maryland\u2019s farmers offer a variety of fall activities as a low-cost way for families to spend time together Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"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":[144,30],"class_list":["post-596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release","tag-agtourism","tag-secretary"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596","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\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=596"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":597,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596\/revisions\/597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}