State moves closer to flying horses

* There are more than 87,000 horses in the state.

* Sixty percent of the horses in Maryland are for recreational purposes, 40 percent are for racing.

* The Maryland horse industry produces goods and services valued at $614 million a year.

* Maryland horse industry generates in excess of 20,000 jobs.

* Over 80,000 people in Maryland are actively involved with horses.

* The total value of all equine-related assets in Maryland is $5.2 billion.

* More than 600 stables offer riding lessons or horse boarding to the general public.

* Horse farms help Maryland retain its green space. Horse people hold over 685,000 acres of land.

* There are more horse shows in the Maryland, Virginia and Washington region than anywhere else in the country.

Corn prices are up, but so is the farmer's cost of producing the grain.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently reported that the rising fuel and other products helped drive U.S. farm production expenditures to a record $260 billion last year.

Total U.S. farm production expenditures rose 9.3 percent from 2006. Over the past five years, farm production costs have risen nearly 30 percent.

Increasing petroleum costs meant farmers not only paid more for fuel, but also for fertilizer products, chemicals and transportation services.

Indirect fuel prices and the growth in ethanol production also led to higher crop prices, resulting in increased cost of livestock feed.

According to the government report, average farm production expenditures rose to $125,648 last year, up from $114,186 in 2006.

On average, farm expenditures for fertilizer, lime and soil jumped 26 percent to $8,070; feed costs rose 22 percent to $18,412; fuel costs were up 15 percent to $6,137; and agricultural chemicals climbed 12 percent to $4,832.

Maryland's farmers' market concept has gone high-tech.

A new way for consumers to purchase the freshest products that Maryland farms have to offer is through their computers.

Foodtrader.org is a new, free, virtual farmers' market that lets small independent state farms create an instantaneous listing that describes the food they have to sell, the price and the location.

Since becoming operational last month, more than 20 farms have included specialty cuts of meat, fruits, vegetables of all types, flowers, honey, dairy products, and even soap made from goat's milk.

The new service ( www.foodtrader.org) was created by the University of Maryland's Environmental Finance Center, a unit of the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education.

Joanne Throwe, associate director of the center, said the new Web site is not only available to any consumer, but to any Maryland business or institution. She said the site already has the support of the Maryland Restaurant Association.

It is also consistent with the Maryland Department of Agriculture's "Buy Maryland's Best" initiative, which promotes the sale of local farm products.

"Anything you typically find at a farmers' market can now be found on our Web site," Throwe said. "We are encouraging Marylanders to buy more local food and support our farms. Plus, we're helping to bolster the economic viability of our working agricultural lands in the state."