St. Mary’s County fisherman and restaurant owner Tommy Courtney
Maryland Public Television’s (MPT) popular original series Maryland Farm & Harvest, now in its seventh season, will feature farms and locations in Allegany, Garrett, Howard, and St. Mary’s counties, along with Baltimore City during a new episode airing at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, November 19.
Maryland Farm & Harvest takes viewers on journeys across the state, telling stories about the farms, people, and technology required to sustain and grow Maryland’s number one commercial industry: agriculture. MPT’s production team filmed episode segments at more than four dozen farms in preparation for its seventh season.
Segments featured on the November 19 episode are:
• Maryland Rockfish (St. Mary’s County) Catching rockfish requires work for months in advance, as viewers learn from St. Mary’s County fisherman and restaurant owner Tommy Courtney. Viewers follow the construction of Courtney’s pound net, which he uses to catch fish for his waterfront restaurant in Ridge, and then learn how the fish are caught. Maryland Farm & Harvest then looks at the history of Maryland’s official fish during the program’s “Then and Now” segment.
• Rural Internet Access (Allegany and Garrett Counties) Most people take their internet service for granted, but a 2018 study reveals that 46% of Marylanders don’t have access to high-speed internet. Maryland Farm & Harvest first visits Walnut Ridge Farm in Flintstone and learns how an Allegany County farm uses the internet to market its products, despite the challenges of unreliable connections in the hills of western Maryland. Then, viewers see how brothers Aaron and Levi Lantz use broadband internet to control and monitor their greenhouses at ALL Produce in Oakland.
• The Local Buy: Roving Radish (Howard County) Segment host Al Spoler visits The Roving Radish, a meal kit service run by Howard County government. The kits provide all the ingredients to make delicious, healthy meals using local produce and protein, and are offered at a reduced cost for those in need. Next, Al visits Earth First Farm in Highland to find out what farmer Jared Gulliford is harvesting for The Roving Radish. Al Spoler helps pack meal kits before learning two recipes, including one for kale chips. Following the episode, the recipes will be available at mpt.org/farm.
Maryland Farm & Harvest airs on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. on MPT-HD and is rebroadcast on Thursdays at 11:30 p.m. and Sundays at 6 a.m. Each show also airs on MPT2/Create® on Fridays at 7:30 p.m. Episodes of the series also can be viewed for free on the MPT app and at https://video.mpt.tv/show/maryland-farm-harvest/.
Viewers can join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and by using the hashtag #MDFarmHarvest.
Agriculture continues to be Maryland’s largest commercial industry, contributing more than $17 billion in revenue to the state each year. More than two million acres of land is used for farming, making up 40% of total land in Maryland. As of 2017 the Free State has more than 12,400 farms, and agricultural businesses employ 350,000 Marylanders. Additional farming data is available on the Maryland Department of Agriculture website at https://bit.ly/2MIWkSK.
The Maryland Department of Agriculture is MPT’s co-production partner for Maryland Farm & Harvest. Major funding is provided by the Maryland Grain Producers Utilization Board.
Additional funding is provided by Maryland’s Best; the Maryland Agricultural Resource-Based Industry Development Corporation; MidAtlantic Farm Credit; the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program; the Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation; the Rural Maryland Council; and the Maryland Soybean Board.
Other support comes from the Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts; Wegmans Food Markets; the Maryland Nursery, Landscape & Greenhouse Association; the Maryland Seafood Marketing Fund; the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service; the Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc.; the Maryland Farm Bureau; The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment; Mar-Del Watermelon Association; Eddie Mercer Agri-Services, Inc.; and Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission (a division of the Tri-County Council for Southern Maryland).
