Agri-Business Vs. Family Farms | Chesapeake Bay Action Plan

I am deeply upset about what appears to be an unavoidable collision course brewing between Chesapeake Bay advocates and a relatively small segment of the agricultural community that has a big footprint in Maryland and in the Chesapeake Bay. It is a confrontation that is causing huge rifts between champions for water quality and advocates for the future of "true" agriculture in the state. It is a fight that is fast making enemies of those who really should be allies.

I was raised on a Maryland farm. And living off land is deeply embedded in my psyche. Some of my formative memories of growing up include planting and harvesting tobacco and other crops, or playing hide and seek in the rows of wheat and corn, heaving dust cloud grenades at my playmates fighting mock battles on sandy dry soil. My early years often found me riding down country lanes on the buckboard of a farm cart with the warm sun on face. I remember the briny smell from a string of fresh-caught yellow perch riding next to me.