County launches new Office of Agriculture; open house planned for next week
By Gabrielle Lewis glewis@newspost.com
Feb 15, 2024
Frederick County's new Office of Agriculture — which County Executive Jessica Fitzwater announced during her State of the County address in October — will officially open for business on Tuesday at 118 N. Market St. in Frederick.
The office combines existing county employees from different divisions, like the Office of Economic Development and the Division of Planning and Permitting, to prioritize agriculture and help farms grow and diversify their operations, according to the office's director, Katie Stevens.
"It's really just realigning staff and elevating agriculture under the county executive," Stevens said. "It allows us to work closer together, allows it to be a one-stop shop for farmers, to come and get the support they need."
The office will host a ribbon cutting and open house to commemorate its opening on Tuesday from 4 to 6 p.m.
The Office of Agriculture will manage the Agriculture Innovation Grants program, the county's existing agricultural land preservation programs and the HomegrownFrederick.com website, according to a news release from the county.
One of the office's first tasks will be updating the county's Agricultural Strategic Plan, which was last published in 2008. The plan provided recommendations to guide county agricultural initiatives and programs.
The office will also continue working with local organizations like the Frederick County Farm Bureau, the Agriculture Business Council, Mobilize Frederick and the Frederick County Soil Conservation District, Stevens said.
David Burrier, first vice president of the Frederick County Farm Bureau, said his organization was one of the groups that advocated for an agriculture office to Fitzwater last year.
As the county has continued growing, other economic development priorities have taken precedence over agriculture, he said.
"We want the impact of agriculture and the contribution of agriculture to remain strong," Burrier said. "As [agriculture] changes ... there's things that need to be addressed on a regular basis, and certainly through the Office of Agriculture, we have that opportunity."
Karen Cannon, executive director of Mobilize Frederick, a group focused on climate issues, said her organization also spoke with Fitzwater last year about creating an agriculture office.
The group recommended creating the office in its Climate Response and Resilience Report, which had different sections focused on mitigating climate change in various areas like agriculture, transportation and forestry.
"We're hopeful that this will help to bring more resources to bear for county farmers," Cannon said. "I think that it will help to make progress on a lot of the individual recommendations around agriculture that we had included in the Climate Response and Resilience Report."
According to the 2022 Census of Agriculture, Frederick County had 1,367 farms, accounting for about 10.8% of the farms in Maryland.
More than 57% of land in the county is zoned for agriculture, according to the county news release.
In 2022, the Business Economic and Community Outreach Network at Salisbury University released a study on the impact of resource-based industries on Maryland's economy. In Frederick County, the agriculture industry generated a total impact of about $184 million.
Source: https://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/economy_and_business/agriculture/county-launches-new-office-of-agriculture-open-house-planned-for-next-week/article_db7ca1a8-84ed-5fb2-b598-2778ae00e11f.html
