In Iowa, the cornfields seem to stretch forever. In Kansas, wheat spreads out as far as the eye can see. Until you reach Goodland, that is, where a 24-by-32-foot reproduction of Van Gogh's "Sunflowers" painting rests on an 80-foot easel surrounded by a sea of sunflowers.
The sunflowers and that painting along Interstate 70 in northwestern Kansas got me thinking about how Maryland fits in the national farm picture.
I recalled the sunflower fields near Pylesville in northern Harford County, as well as the corn, soybean and wheat fields across the state and concluded that whoever first said that Maryland was America in miniature must have been talking about agriculture.
Some other observations, as I drove out West recently to get a better understanding of farming and Maryland's role in the industry:
Iowa has more land in soybeans -- nearly five times as much -- as Maryland has total farmland.
Farmers in Sumner County, Kan., produce more wheat than is grown in Maryland.
Cattle sales in Texas last year totaled $7.6 billion, compared with sales of $73.6 million in Maryland.
Georgia farmers sell about 4.5 times as many chickens each year as Eastern Shore broiler farmers.
On average, farms in California are more than twice the size of farms here.
Apple sales in Washington state last year were slightly less than total sales of all farm commodities in Maryland.
While Maryland presents a composite of farming across the country, it perhaps most closely resembles California, said Ken Bounds, a vice president of Mid-Atlantic Farm Credit, Maryland's largest agriculture lender.
"Like California, we have a lot of diversity in our agriculture, and that's a good thing," Bounds said. "We have grain farms; we have vegetable farms, dairy, beef cattle, hogs, eggs, the green house/nursery business and a big broiler industry."
Maryland's agricultural diversity is of one its strengths, said S. Patrick McMillan, assistant secretary at the state Department of Agriculture.
"It's not good to have all of your eggs in one basket," McMillan said. "It is like putting all your money in one steel company. If the company's stock does well, you will do well. But if the stock does poorly, you are in trouble."
Poultry is the largest single sector of Maryland's farming industry, accounting for about one-third of the state's cash receipts (sales at the farm level) last year.
