Their potential “partners” represented a cross-section of local food and agricultural producers from Talbot, Caroline, and Dorchester counties and beyond. Stationed behind individual exhibit tables that circled the room, they waited expectantly for the chefs to visit them—and hopefully sign their culinar y “dance cards,” which, in this case, meant ordering their locally grown products.
Overseeing the action was Wenfei Uva, Ph.D., an agricultural economic development specialist with the Mid-Shore Regional Council, one of several organizations that sponsor this annual Buyer-Grower Meeting to promote small business on the Shore. Dr. Uva beams with pride when describing the “marriages” that were made at last year’s event.
Her success stories include the news that Bill Edwards from S.B. Farm in Hurlock began selling his bison to Butcher’s Block in Annapolis; Jennifer Sturmer of Hummingbird Farm in Ridgely is providing greenhouse tomatoes to Whole Foods; Paul Jackson of Emily’s Produce in Cambridge has an arrangement with the Hyatt Resort in Cambridge to supply the hotel kitchen with vegetables; and Richard Uva (Wenfei’s husband) of the 36-acre Seaberry Farm in Federalsburg is now delivering specialty fruits and vegetables to Easton eateries Out of the Fire, Restaurant Local, and General Tanuki’s.
For most of the chefs, buying locally is a basic tenet of their trade. McCullum, whose pet-friendly inn is noted for the quality of its food as well as its appealing quirkiness (guests are greeted by a talking parrot perched near the front desk), has long been evangelical about the issue. He was raised on a farm, “where chicken came with feathers, and nothing came in plastic,” and, for the past 15 years, has cultivated local agricultural contacts, among them Sharon and Dave Lankford of Davon Crest Farms II in Trappe, who supply him with greenhouse-grown herbs and lettuces year-round.
McCullum has high praise for the organizers of the annual Buyer-Grower Meeting, among them Jane Storrs and Kate Mason of the Mar yland Department of Agriculture, Louise Mitchell of Maryland Hospitals for a Healthy Environment, Shannon Dill of the Talbot County Cooperative Extension, and Dr. Uva.
Members of the committee work year-round to plan the meetings, which are held during Januar y and February at the Department of Agriculture in Annapolis and Stevenson University in Owings Mills, as well as on the Eastern Shore.
“The timing of the meetings allows restaurant owners to communicate their needs to the growers, so they can plan their spring plantings with an eye to providing what the chefs specifically request,” says Dr. Uva.
“With the heightened popularity of buying from local producers, we anticipate our best attendance ever [at
the 2009 event],” continues Dr. Uva, whose dedication to nurturing local producers is akin to that of a mother hen with her baby chicks.
To learn more about the 2009 Buyer-Grower Meetings, contact sdill@umd.edu, MasonKB@mda.state.md.us, or wuva@midshore.org, or visit www.marylandsbest.net.
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