The tenant house may become a key to the future of agriculture in Maryland. Here are the reasons for my surprising conclusion. First, Maryland’s land preservation programs were first developed at a time when farmers needed more land and fewer workers. Successful...
A couple of weeks ago, the USDA released preliminary ag census data for the states. Since 1840, the U.S. government has been conducting censuses of agriculture. For the purposes of the ag census, a farm is any agricultural operation that “had $1,000 in sales in...
Howard Buffett, son of billionaire Warren Buffett, measures ‘chances’ as growing seasons. In his book “40 Chances: Finding Hope in a Hungry World.”, he says that most of us have about 40 chances to accomplish our goals in life. The Buffett family is not your typical...
Recently, I had a member of Maryland FarmLINK call me to protest about the price of farmland that she thought I was posting. She said bluntly, “How do you expect farmers to pay those prices and make a living?” I responded that I don’t post properties...
At the Rural Coalition workshop Transitioning to Organics held on September 24th, Patuxent Riverkeeper Fred Tutman wove a colorful tale of the history of his family farm in Upper Marlboro. He pointed to a “hanging tree” where legend has it that a 19th century sheriff...
We Americans are used to seeing larger businesses outperform and consume smaller businesses. That trend is apparent in the agriculture industry, where four corporations control 80% of all meat processing and a just a few control control nearly all the seeds sold for...
