Bushel

OXFORD -- A parasite that has been killing crabs from the Gulf of Mexico to Long Island Sound for more than a decade is a suspect in the decline of the commercial crab catch in Maryland's coastal bays.The parasite, known as Hematodinium (he-mat-a-DIN-ee-um) sp, threatened Georgia's $4-million-a-year crab industry this year and shut down crabbing on the Atlantic Ocean side of Virginia's eastern shore in 1991-1992. The commercial catch in Maryland's coastal bays was cut in half last year, the most recent year for which figures are available, and apparently declined again this year.

Crabbing for fun is about to get more complicated in Maryland.Under regulations proposed by the state Department of Natural Resources, recreational crabbers will still be able to catch enough crabs for the dinner table -- up to a bushel a day -- without a license. But those who want to take a feast's worth of crabs, two to three bushels a day, will need a new $5 seasonal license.The proposed rules, scheduled to go into effect April 1, will affect crabbers who tie crab pots to their piers or set trot lines and collapsible crab traps from a boat.

The sound of snapping fresh green beans broke through the din of the television, turned up high enough for the hardest of hearing at Lookabout Manor senior home.At a table behind the couches that face the television, a half-dozen residents of the home worked through a bushel of beans that Jeanie Meeks brought in from her husband's farm, and asked for more. It sure beat watching reruns on the large-screen TV."They kept asking me, `When are you going to bring some more beans?' It brings back all the things they used to do," said Meeks, a former nanny who one year ago was a daily visitor to the home, where her mother was living.

As mid-June approaches, crabbers have been encouraged by reports of good catches for this time of year. On June 8, instead of joining my friend who caught 1 1/2 bushels in Shipping Creek, I chose to crab the upper Chesapeake, as many readers requested a report for this area.Somewhat disappointed, I caught only three crabs using 20 traps in 7 to 8 feet of water on the western side of Hart/Miller Island, and no crabs in the Gunpowder River in front of the state park. I'm expecting the upper bay to become more productive later in the summer and will keep readers updated.

Crabbing in May can be very unpredictable, but with the warming weather and a forecast on the 17th calling for sunny skies and calm winds, I knew the day on the bay would be beautiful.I headed for my hot spot and crabbed for four hours, moving the equipment often, since in the spring you can easily deplete the supply of crabs in any given area, and the payoff of 41 crabs was well worth the work.A half bushel of beautiful males is a good catch for May.The following Monday, my friend and I were skeptical as, at 4 a.m., we watched the weather channel forecasting 15- to 25-mph winds and severe thunderstorms with stronger gusts.

As mid-June approaches, crabbers have been encouraged by reports of good catches for this time of year. On June 8, instead of joining my friend who caught 1 1/2 bushels in Shipping Creek, I chose to crab the upper Chesapeake, as many readers requested a report for this area.Somewhat disappointed, I caught only three crabs using 20 traps in 7 to 8 feet of water on the western side of Hart/Miller Island, and no crabs in the Gunpowder River in front of the state park. I'm expecting the upper bay to become more productive later in the summer and will keep readers updated.

The combination of drought and the lowest grain prices in more than a decade made 1998 one of the worst years ever for Maryland grain farmers, and this year isn't expected to be much better.The economic uncertainty in Asia is expected to continue to be a problem for agriculture, said Keith Collins, chief economist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.Asia accounts for 40 percent of U.S. farm exports and has a major impact on the prices farmers receive for their commodities, Collins said.

Lawrence Murphy has been a waterman for 28 of the Chesapeake Bay's leanest years, but he still believes in a generous and forgiving Mother Nature. And this spring in the waters of Eastern Bay near Kent Island, he has been raking in a unique harvest that seems to prove him right:Baby oysters in amazing and mysterious abundance -- so many that 800 million of them are being gathered to help Maryland's Department of Natural Resources re-establish failing oyster...

TILGHMAN ISLAND -- Watermen whose boats have been docked in this historic fishing town for three days are vowing to continue "sitting ashore" until they get more money for the oysters that provide the bulk of their incomes during the fall and winter.Angry that seafood buyers and packers in the Bay Hundred area in Talbot County, from St. Michael's to Tilghman Island, are paying $18 a bushel when the going rate in other parts of the Eastern Shore is $22 to $24, the watermen say striking is their only option.

An Illinois company said yesterday that it wants to build an organic grain processing plant in the mid-Atlantic area that could open the door to Maryland farmers getting paid three times as much for their soybeans."

Muhammad Ali fought with his hands lowered. In doing so, he broke a cardinal rule of boxing. He also did the Ali Shuffle. Again, it went against all logic. He's crazy, people said about him (among other things). Doing that unnecessary showboating, taking those pointless risks - he'll never get away with it. For the first 17 years or so, he did. Yes, it's borderline blasphemous to mention Ali and Ed Reed in the same sentence. But how much longer are we going to wait for that moment of Armageddon when one of his laterals lands in the hands of an opposing player, who turns it into a touchdown in the final seconds to beat the Ravens and destroy their season?

State fund, Annapolis join in tree plantings As part of a reforestation and beautification program, the Maryland Automobile Insurance Fund joined with Annapolis Mayor Ellen O. Moyer and the Annapolis city council to plant more than two dozen trees around Annapolis Walk Community Center, near MAIF's Forest Drive headquarters. MAIF Deputy Executive Director John Banghart said of Friday's planting: "MAIF has been and remains committed to working toward a greener, more environmentally friendly business model."

This could be the year that state grain farmers buy that flashy new pickup truck they have been eyeing for a couple of years. Due primarily to recent floods in the Midwest, "Maryland grain farmers are looking at a huge payday this year," says Kevin McNew, a managing partner of Go Grain LLC, a commodity research firm in Bozeman, Mont., and an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland. "For Maryland farmers, things look great," he said. "It could be their best year ever. "They are sitting on a corn crop that looks to be valued at $7 or $8 a bushel," said McNew.

This could be the year that state grain farmers buy that flashy new pickup truck they have been eyeing for a couple of years. Because of recent floods in the Midwest, "Maryland grain farmers are looking at a huge pay day this year," says Kevin McNew, a managing partner of Go Grain LLC, a commodity research firm in Bozeman, Mont., and an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland. "For Maryland farmers, things look great," he said. "It could be their best year ever. "They are sitting on a corn crop that looks to be valued at $7 or $8 a bushel," said McNew.

Maryland natural resources officials proposed new crabbing rules yesterday that were not as strict as watermen had feared, but will disproportionately hurt crabbers on the Lower Eastern Shore. The state is proposing to close the blue crab season for harvesting females Oct. 23 - about seven weeks early. That's the time of year that many Lower Shore watermen have enjoyed big catches because females are migrating down the Chesapeake Bay to spawn. It's also a busy time for the state's remaining crab-picking houses, which buy much of the female crab meat and pack it for shipping around the country.

Economists note there should not be two prices for one thing at the same place and time. Could a drugstore sell two identical tubes of toothpaste, and charge 50 cents more for one of them? Of course not. But, in effect, exactly that has been happening, repeatedly and mysteriously, in trading that sets prices for corn, soybeans and wheat - three of America's biggest crops and, lately, popular targets for investors pouring into the nation's volatile commodities market. Economists who have been studying this phenomenon say they are at a loss to explain it. Whatever the reason, the price for a bushel of grain set in the derivatives markets has been substantially higher than the simultaneous price in the cash market.

If you have five acres in the backyard and a Rototiller, you can make a living in organic farming, according to Luke Howard. Howard is chairman of the Maryland Agricultural Commission, a 30-member panel made up of a cross-section of farmers that advises the state agriculture secretary on farm issues. He is an organic farmer and also serves as the industry's representative on the commission. "The organic food industry is growing rapidly and has been growing rapidly for many years," said Howard.

HOOPERS ISLAND-- --There's no real need for these two aging sisters to start work two hours before dawn. No reason for Nellie Flowers and Edythe Thomas to keep up their relentless pace, pulling fluffy white meat from bushel after bushel of crabs in the same processing plant where they've labored for more than half a century. Then again, Nellie, 79, and Edythe, 77, say they've never been the kind to just sit still. Where would they go, if not to work? How would they fill their days from April to November, when the traditional cash crop is scooped from the waters that surround this marshy sliver of the Eastern Shore?

They brought pitchers and paintings, candlestick holders and a clock that chimed pleasantly every 15 minutes or so. And then they waited - anxiously - to see whether an appraiser from the PBS series Antiques Roadshow would pick up their precious possession to opine about. "We are, ourselves, antiques, so we're always interested in old stuff," quipped Arthur Bushel, 86, of Owings Mills, who brought an old pocket watch that he inherited from an uncle who managed a department store in Germany.

CHICAGO -- Corn continued its sharp rise in price yesterday, driven upward by demand for ethanol and an increasingly prosperous world eager for food. The benchmark price of corn reached an exchange-imposed limit of $3.965 a bushel shortly after trading began at the Chicago Board of Trade. To maintain financial stability, the board limits daily increases and decreases in corn to 20 cents per bushel. Limits are rarely needed, the exchange said, and come into play only when prices are highly volatile.