Maryland Agriculture

Kimberly Lechlider, 19, of Laytonsville was named Miss Maryland Agriculture 2006 in a competition Friday night at the State Fair in Timonium. Lechlider, a 2005 graduate of Damascus High School who attends the University of Maryland, College Park, earned a $9,000 scholarship along with the title. She was selected from among 23 contestants. As Miss Maryland Agriculture, she will meet with fairgoers and award prizes at the fair, which runs through Sept. 4. In addition, Lechlider, who is an active member of the Montgomery County 4-H Program, Damascus Livestock Club and Montgomery County Agriculture Fair, will participate in a variety of activities associated with Maryland agriculture throughout the year.

USA Swimming Phelps on national team for 4 events Michael Phelps of Fells Point was among 109 swimmers named to the 2011-12 USA Swimming national team Tuesday, along with fellow 2011 world championship gold medalists Ryan Lochte , Missy Franklin and Elizabeth Beisel . Phelps qualified in four events (200-meter freestyle, 100 fly, 200 fly and 200 individual medley) as did Franklin (100 free, 100 backstroke, 200 backstroke and 200 IM) and Beisel (200 IM, 400 IM, 400 free, 200 backstroke)

Data collectors will be knocking on doors across Maryland in coming weeks looking for pigs, goats cows and other animals. Field workers will gather information as part of an annual nationwide survey on land use and agriculture activity. The survey is being done for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agriculture Statistics Services, which measures nearly every aspect of farming. Done each June, the study "is one of the largest and most comprehensive surveys conducted each year," said Barbara Rater, director of the service's Maryland office, which is in the state Department of Agriculture building in Annapolis.

Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. used the opening of the area's newest farmers market to announce he has appointed Chris McCollum director of county's $10 million agricultural center, which opens in Hunt Valley in September. Baltimore County Executive James T. Smith Jr. used the opening of the area's newest farmers market to announce he has appointed Chris McCollum director of the county's $10 million agricultural center, which opens in Hunt Valley in September. "Chris will do an excellent job managing this important facility and will provide the vision and leadership that will quickly establish it as a true focal point for local agriculture here and throughout the region," Smith said.

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.

Concerned about the future of Maryland's largest industry, the state plans an 18-month study of agriculture as the first step toward developing a strategy to preserve and promote farming, sources said yesterday. The study is in response to a request from Ronald A. Guns, chairman of the House Environmental Matters Committee, who wants the state Agriculture Department to develop a 20-year plan to safeguard Maryland's farm industry. "We want to start the study as quickly as possible, hopefully this summer," said S. Patrick McMillan, a special assistant to state Agriculture Secretary Henry A. Virts.

Rebecca Hamilton of Lisbon was named Miss Maryland Agriculture 2005 Friday evening on the opening day of the Maryland State Fair in Timonium. Hamilton, 16, was chosen to compete for the state title when she was named Miss Howard County Farm Bureau this month. The contest included participants from 23 counties, the largest group of competitors in six years. "I think this is going to be an incredible opportunity for me throughout the year," said Hamilton, who plans to visit every county in Maryland to increase awareness of agriculture.

In Howard County, it's not the acres, it's the attitude that makes a Miss Farm Bureau. Rebecca Hamilton, who has a garden, 10 beef cattle, sheep, swine, goats and chickens on 5 acres in Lisbon, was chosen over six other competitors this week for the title. She will represent the county at the Miss Maryland Agriculture Contest at the state fair on Aug. 26. She plans to let people know that while the types of farms in the county are changing, farming remains an important part of the economy and landscape.

Roger L. Richardson, a Wicomico County grain farmer, will be named the next state agriculture secretary tonight. Gov. Martin O'Malley will announce Richardson's appointment at the annual Maryland Agriculture Dinner at Michael's Eighth Avenue restaurant in Glen Burnie, said administration spokesman Rick Abbruzzese. Richardson is expected to be in attendance. Richardson, who operates a trucking company in addition to his farm, is on the board of directors of the Maryland Center for Agro-Ecology Inc., a coalition of agricultural, environmental, education and government leaders working to preserve the environment and maintain the viability of farming.

High farmland prices - already considered the biggest threat to the future of Maryland agriculture - are continuing to rise as land becomes scarcer. Driven by one of the hottest real estate development markets in the nation, Maryland farmland value rose 12.7 percent last year to $8,900 an acre, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture survey. That figure is for land that is sold and continues to be used for farming, an increasingly uncommon scenario in Maryland, say state agriculture officials.

If given a choice, the vast majority of Maryland consumers -- 76 percent -- say they are more likely to buy produce that is identified as having been grown by a state farmer. That's one of the findings in a survey earlier this year by the University of Baltimore's Schaefer Center for Public Policy, and farmers are eager to accommodate the consumers' wishes. There will be 83 farmers' markets opening this year, according to the state Department of Agriculture. This is six more than last year.

The country has a new secretary of agriculture. He's Ed Schafer, a former two-term governor of North Dakota. He's also the grandson of a farmer who emigrated from Denmark to take up homesteading in the American northwest. Schafer's ties to agriculture go back to his family's wheat and livestock farm in Hettinger County, where he spent his summers. He says he learned firsthand about agriculture by helping out with farm chores and tinkering with engines. His new job thrusts him into the deadlocked negotiations with Congress over a new farm bill that will set federal agriculture policy for the next five years.

NEW MARKET-- For 32 years, Jeff England awoke each day at 3:30 a.m. The dairy farmer trudged in the dark across the gravel lane separating his red brick Civil War-era home from the cinderblock milking parlor about 150 feet away. He made the trek almost every day since he was 17 - seven days a weeks, at times in bitter cold, deep snow or heavy rain. It was time to milk the cows. But not anymore. England, a 49-year-old farmer whose peers view him as one of the most efficient dairymen in Maryland, has sold his cows.

Data collectors will be knocking on doors across Maryland in coming weeks looking for pigs, goats cows and other animals. Field workers will gather information as part of an annual nationwide survey on land use and agriculture activity. The survey is being done for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agriculture Statistics Services, which measures nearly every aspect of farming. Done each June, the study "is one of the largest and most comprehensive surveys conducted each year," said Barbara Rater, director of the service's Maryland office, which is in the state Department of Agriculture building in Annapolis.

Roger L. Richardson, a Wicomico County grain farmer, will be named the next state agriculture secretary tonight. Gov. Martin O'Malley will announce Richardson's appointment at the annual Maryland Agriculture Dinner at Michael's Eighth Avenue restaurant in Glen Burnie, said administration spokesman Rick Abbruzzese. Richardson is expected to be in attendance. Richardson, who operates a trucking company in addition to his farm, is on the board of directors of the Maryland Center for Agro-Ecology Inc., a coalition of agricultural, environmental, education and government leaders working to preserve the environment and maintain the viability of farming.

He stands 5-feet-7 and wouldn't top 170 pounds unless he was holding an "oven stuffer" roast chicken. Yet Lewis R. Riley, the soft-spoken Eastern Shore poultry farmer turned state agriculture secretary, is viewed as a giant by many in Maryland farming, the state's largest industry. Riley, 71, who served as secretary under three governors, recently announced his retirement and is expected to leave office this week. When Lynne Hoot, executive director of the Maryland Grain Producers, said, "He will be missed," she echoed the thoughts of farmers throughout the state.

Tutoring service opens a branch in Annapolis Club Z! In-Home Tutoring Services has opened a branch in Annapolis. Tutoring is performed in the pupil's home at a time convenient for the pupil and parents. Tutors are state-certified, degreed, public- or private-school teachers or degreed professionals with expertise in the areas they are tutoring. The Greater Annapolis Club Z! is owned by Brittany Biondo and serves Severna Park, Crofton, Millersville, Davidsonville, Odenton, Gambrills and Annapolis.

WASHINGTON -- Maryland government has paid $114 million since 1977 -- more than any other state -- to ensure that 110,000 acres of farmland will continue producing food, officials said.Paul W. Scheidt, director of the Maryland Agriculture Land Preservation Foundation, said the state has been purchasing the rights to restrict development on farms. It does not purchase the property outright."Most people don't know it, but agriculture is the No. 1 industry in the state of Maryland," Mr. Scheidt said.

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.

Incidences of avian flu in far-flung parts of the world have taken a large bite out of Maryland's biggest farm business, poultry production. An Asian strain of the flu, which has never been detected in the United States, has been blamed for at least 140 deaths in other parts of the world and has led to the destruction of millions of chickens overseas. One repercussion was a significant decline in chicken exports last year, said Bill Satterfield, executive director of Delmarva Poultry Industry Inc. "Many ill-informed foreign consumers thought they needed to stop buying chicken in order to protect themselves and their families," Satterfield said at a recent meeting of Wicomico County economic development officials.