"The 65,000 or so Marylanders who are involved with horses have not all made the mental connection between the future of Maryland racing and the future of the breeding farms with their huge pastures that so effectively filter pollutants before they enter our streams and our bay," Steuart Pittman, chairman of the MHC slots task force, said in a recent letter to Gov. Martin O'Malley.
He said the council was working hard to get the message out to these 65,000 people that Maryland could lose its 250-year status as horse country.
As part of its slots lobbying effort, the council makes the following assertions:
* Maryland racehorse breeders stay in business here only if state tracks can offer purses equal to those in neighboring states.
* Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia all have slots at racetracks to boost attendance and purses.
* Maryland is losing farms, betting revenue, horses and horse-related jobs at an alarming rate.
Approximately half of the gross revenues from slots would go to the Maryland Education Trust Fund. The council projects this could total $660 million by 2012.
Grain woes
Maryland grain farmers have not escaped the financial crisis and declining stock prices that has been sweeping the United States and much of the rest of the world in recent weeks.
The following notes are taken from the Oct. 17 Maryland Grain and Livestock Report prepared by Kevin McNew, a managing partner of Go Grain LLC, a commodity research firm based in Bozeman, Montana, and an adjunct agriculture professor at the University of Maryland.
Grain prices continued their descent to lower levels as a lack of confidence not only in the grains but other commodities as well as the financial markets is underpinning any attempt at meaningful recovery.
He said corn prices were at their lowest level since October 2007.
Harvesting continues at a snail's pace, he said, with major corn states running at only 5 percent to 10 percent harvested, compared to about 40 percent, which is normal for this time of the year.
