MPT series Maryland Farm & Harvest visits locations in Baltimore City during March 31 season finale

Maryland Public Television’s popular original series Maryland Farm & Harvest will feature farms and locations in Baltimore City and Washington County during its season 13 finale episode premiering on Tuesday, March 31. A 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 Hollywood Farm in Annapolis (Anne Arundel County), the March 31 episode features the following stories:

· Baltimore Farm Alliance (Baltimore City): The Farm Alliance of Baltimore is a membership organization of urban farms, neighborhood growers, and friends who share knowledge and resources to foster sustainable urban agriculture and enhance food sovereignty in Baltimore City. At the nonprofit’s Black Butterfly Teaching Farm, Executive Director Denzel Mitchell explains the meaning, mission, and vision of the blossoming urban farmer academy.

· Farm to Skillet: Chef Spike Gjerde, Woodberry Kitchen (Baltimore City): James Beard award-winning chef Spike Gjerde visits his old friend Denzel Mitchell, executive director of the Farm Alliance of Baltimore, to source one of Spike’s favorite peppers: fish pepper. As the two scour the fields, they trace the history of their strong friendship, discuss their mutual love for the Baltimore fish pepper, and explain the heirloom variant’s role in the lives of enslaved people of the Chesapeake region. Denzel, Spike, and their respective colleagues then gather Woodberry Kitchen, where they enjoy a delicious, fish pepper-inspired meal and warm company.

· Kids Growing Grains (Washington County): Since 1994, the Kids Growing With Grains program at the Western Maryland Research and Education Center in Keedysville has hosted field trips for elementary school students, many of whom have never visited a farm. Students explore four different educational “stations” to learn about grain production, consumption, and nutrition. The day wraps with a cooking demonstration, where lessons learned about the nutritional value of grains combine with the deliciousness of fresh pancakes

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.