Tour of small farms highlights sustainable practices and success of County farmers in the Ag Reserve
Silver Spring, MD – The Montgomery County Planning Department, part of The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, hosted members of the Colorado Agricultural Leadership Program (CALP) on Wednesday, September 23 during a morning tour of farms within the County’s 93,000-acre Agricultural Reserve.
“The model of agricultural land preservation in Montgomery County should be common throughout the nation,” said Colorado State University professor Franklyn Garry, a CALP participant who initiated the tour. “The open space, beauty, environmental benefits, good food and opportunities provided to the citizens of the County are a treasure that all communities should look to develop.”
The group visited the historic Seneca Store, Bounty Farm and Rocklands Farm in Poolesville to learn about Montgomery County programs such as Land Link and the New Farmers Project, and how they are helping local farmers connect with landowners, secure property and benefit from mentoring, education and resources.
“The tour showed how multiple government agencies, non-profits and farmers can work together to nurture and sustain new and existing farms,” said Planner Coordinator Joshua Penn of the Planning Department who helped to organize the event. “It highlighted Montgomery County’s strong support of our agricultural community.”
Leading the tour along with Josh Penn were Caroline Taylor, Executive Director of the Montgomery Countryside Alliance, and Jeremy Criss, Agricultural Services Division Manager for the Montgomery County Department of Economic Development.
“Our visit to the Ag Reserve showed that agricultural tourism plays a role in making farming sustainable in Montgomery County,” said Colorado State Senator Jerry Sonnenberg, who serves as board president of CALP and is a graduate of the program. “To attract young people to farming, you have to make it profitable.”
The participants were impressed with the passion of the young farmers in the Reserve and the proximity to productive farmland to a major metropolitan area. They noted several practices in Montgomery County that could be applied to Colorado farming communities, including:
-Changing the definition of agriculture to include equestrian uses.
-Developing methods for equipment sharing.
-Developing a user-friendly land sharing system.
“The residents of Montgomery County are very fortunate to have the Ag Reserve,” Garry said. “This resource not only provides important environmental benefits but also produces fresh and local food, the value of which is appreciated more and more as our society become increasingly urbanized and suburbanized.”
For more information on the Montgomery County Agricultural Reserve, go to:
https://montgomeryplanning.org/planning/agricultural-reserve/
About Montgomery County Land Link:
Farmers in Montgomery County face many challenges, including high land prices, decreasing farm subsidies and not having access to farmland. Montgomery County Land Link, introduced in 2011, overcomes these obstacles by connecting beginner and experienced farmers to available land and farms through a database of properties and landowners.
A land seeker or land owner pays a one-time fee of $30 to join the Land Link program, which is administered year round by the Montgomery Countryside Alliance. The applications help to assess the kind of land available, housing, acreage, vision and goals for the property.
Once land seekers and land owners locate farms and farmers of interest based on matching criteria and shared goals, they start a conversation. The goal is to build connections between farmers and produce a strong local food system in Montgomery County. More than 400 acres have been linked to date. Visit http://mocoalliance.org/resource/land-link.
About the New Farmer Project:
Montgomery County’s New Farmer Project, launched in 2012, matches new farmers to unused farmland in the Agricultural Reserve. By locating small plots that can be leased and supplying training mentors, the program helps novices overcome the biggest hurdles to start-up farming: the cost of land and agricultural expertise. Interested farmers and landowners sign up for the program during a limited time period. Their applications are reviewed by a committee of stakeholders who recommend match-ups among the top-ranked applicants.
The program allows new farmers to focus on growing their businesses instead of finding real estate. The beginners negotiate for farmland with a land owner, are matched with an experienced mentor and have access to business planning and shared equipment that can often be cost-prohibitive for a new enterprise. They can farm the land for as long as allowed by the lease, which typically extends from three to five years. Visit
About the Colorado Agricultural Leadership Program:
The Colorado Agricultural Leadership Program (CALP) involves two years of intensive study that is designed to equip members of the agricultural community to become leaders in their fields of operation. CALP fellows are professionals from across Colorado, bringing a mix of diverse perspectives on agriculture – from ranchers and feedlot managers to policy analysts. Through the CALP program, these emerging leaders are immersed in professional training and agricultural production across the state and in various parts of the country. The course focuses on communications, government, policy, economics, social and cultural issues, and change management in the agricultural industry, where new technology is changing the way farmers work.
The CALP program was re-instated in 2013, under the leadership of former Colorado Agriculture Commissioner John Salazar and Colorado State Representative Jerry Sonnenberg after several years of hiatus. “Given the critical issues facing agriculture today, there is a need to provide an intensive leadership program to develop a new generation of leaders,” says Sonnenberg.