MPT's Maryland Farm & Harvest visits Baltimore, Frederick, and Washington counties during February 10 episode

OWINGS MILLS, MD – Maryland Public Television’s popular original series Maryland Farm & Harvest, now in its 13^th season, will feature farms and locations in Baltimore, Frederick, and Washington counties during an episode premiering on Tuesday, February 10. An episode preview is available on the series’ webpage at mpt.org/farm.

Maryland Farm & Harvest airs on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. on MPT and online at mpt.org/livestream. Episodes are also available to view live and on demand using the free PBS app and MPT’s online video player.

The popular weekly series takes viewers on a journey across the Free State, telling engaging and enlightening stories about the farms, people, and technology required to sustain and grow agriculture in Maryland, the state’s number one commercial industry.

Joanne Clendining, who has earned three Emmy® awards from the National Capital Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for her work on Maryland Farm & Harvest, serves as series host. She is joined by Al Spoler, host of “The Local Buy” segments, and by a variety of local chefs who serve as guest hosts of the series’ “Farm to Skillet” segments.

With introductions filmed at Maple Dell Farm in Woodbine (Howard County), the February 10 episode features the following stories:

· Ernst Grain & Livestock Feed (Washington County): Viewers were first introduced to farm entrepreneur Josh Ernst in 2016, when Josh was just a year into a new business venture growing, mixing, and selling non-GMO animal feed to farmers in and around his Clear Spring community. This segment revisits Ernst Grain & Livestock to see how the business has grown over the last 10 years and consider what the future may hold for the seventh-generation family farm.

· Farmacy Brewing at Willowdale Farm (Baltimore County): Pumpkins, peppers, and watermelons might sound more like products seen at a produce stand than ingredients in a pint of beer, but they’re just a few of the crops farmer/brewer Justin Harrison cultivates on his family’s farm for craft beers served at Farmacy Brewing in Reisterstown. Viewers visit the working farm full of horses, cattle, grains, and produce, where Farmacy offers genuine farmhouse beers accompanied by a unique sense of place.

· The Local Buy: Maple Syrup Festival (Frederick County): As the winter frost begins to thaw, segment host Al Spoler heads to Cunningham Falls State Park in Thurmont, where the early signs of spring reveal more than just beautiful scenery. With the help of park ranger Travis Anthony, Al learns the surprisingly simple process of tapping a tree and boiling maple syrup. Then, he joins the crowd at the park’s annual Maple Syrup Festival to taste the sweet rewards that make the maple syrup harvest special. More information about the festival will be available at mpt.org/farm.

More than 19 million viewers have watched Maryland Farm & Harvest on the statewide public TV network since its debut in 2013. The series has traveled to more than 500 farms, fisheries, and other agriculture-related locations during its first 12 seasons, covering every Maryland county, as well as Baltimore City and Washington, D.C.

Encore broadcasts of Maryland Farm & Harvest air on MPT on Thursdays at 11 p.m. and on Sundays at 6 a.m. Episodes also air on MPT2/Create® on Fridays at 7:30 p.m. Past episodes can be viewed on the PBS app and MPT’s online video player, while episode segments are available on the series’ YouTube channel at youtube.com/@MarylandFarmHarvest.

Audiences are invited to engage with the series on social media @MarylandFarmHarvest on Facebook and @mdfarmtv on Instagram.

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; a grant from the Rural Maryland Council, Maryland Agricultural Education and Rural Development Fund; MARBIDCO; a grant from the Maryland Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Grant Program; Farm Credit; Maryland Soybean Board and Soybean Checkoff Program; Maryland Nursery, Landscape & Greenhouse Association; Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts; Maryland Farm Bureau, Inc., The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment; Maryland Agriculture Education Foundation; and Maryland Pork Producers Association.