By Mindy Waite When the average American thinks about farming, they see picturesque fields, relaxed farmers picking baskets of fresh food, and happy customers browsing at farmers markets. They probably don’t see the amount of time and effort that goes into selling at...
Knowledge does not automatically result in action. We know we should not eat certain foods. We know we should exercise more. And yet often we are not motivated to do what our brain tells us we should do. On the other hand, we are sometimes motivated to do things that...
A new survey compares states in their commitment to raising and eating locally grown food. Vermont ranks #1 and Maryland ranks #39. The survey uses data from government sources (principally USDA and US Census data) from 2010 and 2011. The Locavore Index measures the...
By Cia Morey Last week I attended the Maryland Department of Agriculture’s (MDA) Maryland Farmers Market Conference held at the USDA Beltsville Agricultural Research Center. There were three tracks of workshops offered: Market Management 101 for new markets and folks...
Those who have read Joel Salatin’s books, especially Everything I Want to Do is Illegal, are well aware that he has a strong aversion to government regulation of food production. However, in his most recent tome, Folks, This Ain’t Normal he reluctantly acknowledged...
This year holds some real opportunities for Maryland farmers who are growing, or thinking of growing, locally-sourced food. A few workshops scheduled in January lay out the path to some of those opportunities. I mentioned in an earlier post, What is the growth...
