ANNAPOLIS, MD – Maryland Public Television’s popular original series Maryland Farm & Harvest, now in its 13th season, will feature farms and locations in Anne Arundel, Cecil, Frederick, Howard, and Kent counties during an episode premiering on Tuesday, December 16. 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.
With introductions filmed at Boordy Vineyards in Hydes (Baltimore County), the December 16 episode features the following stories:
- Solar Farming (Howard and Kent counties): Since the birth of agriculture, farmers have relied on the sun to grow their crops. Now, that energy is being harnessed to power homes and businesses. As demand for renewable energy grows, finding the delicate balance between using solar energy to power farms and using farmland for solar panels has divided families, friendships, and farmers alike. Two families – brothers Chris and Rob Davis of Rich Levels Grain in Galena and the Stonesifer/Dixon family of Triple Creek Farm in West Friendship – share their perspectives and experiences with solar farming, unveiling the economic opportunities, complex realities, and hidden struggles behind the push for renewable energy in rural landscapes.
- McClintock Distilling (Cecil and Frederick counties): To honor the legacy of Maryland’s historic rye whiskey tradition and differentiate themselves from competitors, Braeden Bumpers and Tyler Hegamyer of McClintock Distilling in Frederick painstakingly seek out organic heritage grains sourced from local farmers. Viewers meet one of those farmers – Paul Drummond of Wallin Organic Farm in Warwick, who grows organic Spooner rye – and follow a harvest back to McClintock, where it is processed and distilled into whiskey.
- The Local Buy: Governor’s Buy Local Cookout (Anne Arundel County): Al Spoler attends the annual Governor’s Buy Local Cookout in Annapolis, hosted by the Maryland Department of Agriculture. There, Al visits some of the many restaurants, bakeries, and other local businesses to sample a variety of Maryland’s tastiest treats. He also takes viewers behind the scenes of the cookout’s “People’s Choice Award” competition and speaks with Governor Wes Moore and Secretary of Agriculture Kevin Atticks about the importance of buying locally produced products.
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.
