Dec. 10 episode of Maryland Farm & Harvest spotlights local farm

Maryland Public Television's (MPT) popular original series Maryland Farm & Harvest, now in its seventh season, will feature Lothian-based Griffith Family Produce during a special women in agriculture-themed episode airing at 7 p.m. on Tuesday., December 10.

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 December 10 episode are:

• Spotlight on Kayla Griffith (Anne Arundel County) The Griffith family has farmed in Lothian for more than 100 years. Fifth-generation farmer Kayla Griffith has returned to the family farm after earning her master’s degree in agronomy and is looking to take over the farm someday. Kayla has relaunched the Griffith Family Produce business and is bringing new ideas to the farm as it enters a new decade of operation.

• Spotlight on Frances Bayard (Cecil County) Frances Bayard owns Ordinary Point Farm in Earleville, a portion of which features a narrow peninsula jutting out nearly a mile into the Sassafras River in Cecil County. Seeing the dangers of erosion on this important property, Frances and her late husband Jim reached out to the Cecil County Soil Conservation District, which began installing systems to mitigate erosion. Today, Frances continues her work to protect this special farmland and the wildlife that lives there.

• Spotlight on Margaret Ann Dodd (Queen Anne’s County) When Maryland Farm & Harvest caught up with Margaret Ann Dodd, she was driving a massive combine through a corn field. She and her husband Sonny own Springfield Farm in Queenstown and have worked there for almost 60 years. Ginger Harris from the National Agricultural Statistics Service explains how recent changes to the National Census of Agriculture help recognize more women – like Margaret Ann Dodd – for their vital contributions on America’s farms.

• The Local Buy: Raspberries (Harford County) The Local Buy segment host Al Spoler goes to Shaw Orchards in White Hall near the Pennsylvania line, where Barron and Jana Shaw run a fruit farm that’s been in the family since 1909. Al picks some beautiful red raspberries and talks to Jana Shaw, who runs the farm’s popular retail market. Then, she shares a delicious recipe for red raspberry pie, 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 Maryland Department of Agriculture; the Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation; 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).