The new Farm Bill: how will it affect Maryland farmers?

Over the last few years, we have not been used to compromise in Congress. However, the new Farm Bill represents a good show of bipartisanship and it holds new opportunities for farmers in Maryland. Most farm groups across the country appear to support the Bill. In an...

Scaling up to meet the demand for local food in Maryland

Recently, you may have seen a number of posts from me about food hubs and the growth potential for local farm-to-table farmers. I guess that others have the same thought in mind. At the Future Harvest CASA conference last week, there was standing-room only for a...

Climate change. How might Maryland farmers fair in the long run?

Earlier this week, I met an older farm neighbor in a local restaurant. We chatted about the winter weather (of course) and then he said, “You know down on the cove, we used to go skating nearly every year. Now it only freezes enough to walk on it once a decade...

Locally sourced food is a trend, not a fad!

Many people have dismissed the local food movement as a fad that will soon pass, saying that there are too many challenges for small and medium sized Maryland farmers to compete in the global economy. That opinion might change as more local, regional, and national...

Hub and Spoke: good for farmers and good for families in need!

by Mindy Waite We all know that living in Maryland isn’t cheap; cost of living calculators generally rank the state within the top 10-15 most expensive states. In fact, a 2012 study by the Maryland Community Action Partnership suggested that a family of four (two...