Agriculture

No matter what time of year, it’s a showcase of the best bites and the most superior sips from across the state.

More than 130 farmers markets have sprouted up across Maryland, giving ranchers, vintners, cheesemakers, craftspeople, farmers, foragers, and fishermen alike a chance to directly interact with a growing legion of locavores. On the flipside of the stall, community-conscious consumers now have a way to meet the producers who are helping them serve up a taste of home every day.

From the depths of the Chesapeake Bay to the heights of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the sprawling fields of southern Maryland, the Free State offers a diverse landscape to harness.

“Dairies, orchards, produce, local meats, and seafood—we have it all,” says Christine Bergmark, executive director of the Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission.

“There are few states that have all those resources wrapped up into one.”

This attractive advantage cultivates A-list admirers. Chef and reality TV favorite Bryan Voltaggio, for instance, transplanted to Frederick to open haute-cuisine hot spot Volt in the summer of 2008 specifically because of the cornucopia of fresh goods cultivated nearby.

“I get stuff that’s straight out of the ground,” he says. “People show up at the back door with fresh products all the time.”

When Loïc Jaffres moved from DC in 1999 to open upscale French bistro Café des Artistes in Leonardtown, he didn’t know how he was going to stock his kitchen, since none of his metropolitan purveyors would deliver that far out. So he sought out local farmers and growers instead, who soon began providing him with everything from bison and eggs to figs and leafy greens.

Today, about half of the chef’s ingredients come from within the state, including some he never would have gotten back in the District.

“The guy who scavenges for me will call me from the woods to say that he’s got three pounds of chanterelles or a few pints of wild raspberries,” says Jaffres. “It’s like the market is coming to you instead of you going to the market.”

Over the past decade, there has been a growing appetite for Maryland’s bounty at all levels of the food chain, and these tasty transactions feed local economies.

“For every dollar a direct-marketing farm takes in, they reinvest in their communities,” says Bergmark. “They buy their groceries, wines, and farm supplies there, and their employees live there.”

In 2010 alone, 18 southern Maryland farmers markets (featuring 222 local vendors) generated $2.5 million in sales, which translated into $4.64 million being reinvested into the local economy.

It’s not just farmers markets that are boosting the state’s bottom line, however. There were only seven vineyards in the entire state when Carol Wilson opened Elk Run winery in 1980. Now there are 50, which together produced more than 1.5 million bottles last year. All that vino added up to $17.2 million in sales, which is no small grapes.

“Since 9/11 and the decline of the overall economy, the interest in buying local has started to grow,” says Wilson. “People have started to say, ‘We need to pay attention to what’s in our own back yard.’”

There are other reasons why Marylanders are now looking inward when stocking their larders. Some are frightened by news stories about massive recalls of tainted products from global agro-giants. Others are motivated by environmental concerns. Still others seek out fresh foods to help them maintain healthier diets. And many have simply discovered that the Chesapeake Watershed is the fertile crescent of the Eastern Seaboard.