JOANNE CLENDINING: From the coastal plains to the Appalachian Highlands, Maryland agriculture sets the standard.

Did you know life lessons can bridge generations?

That crop damage can lead to feeding the hungry?

And that fruit can raise the brandy bar?

Don't go anywhere, stories about the people who work the land and feed our state plus "The Local Buy" are coming up next on "Maryland Farm and Harvest."

NARRATOR: Major funding for "Maryland Farm and Harvest" is made possible in part by the Maryland Grain Producers Utilization Board, investing in smarter farming to support safe and affordable food, feed and fuel, and a healthy Bay.

Additional funding is provided by Maryland's Best.

Good for you.

Good for Maryland.

MARBIDCO, helping to sustain food and fiber enterprise for future generations.

A grant from the Maryland Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Program, Farm Credit, lending support to agriculture and rural America.

The Maryland Soybean Board and Soybean Checkoff Program.

Progress powered by farmers.

The Maryland Nursery Landscape and Greenhouse Association, The Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts.

The Maryland Farm Bureau Incorporated.

The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment.

The Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation, promoting the importance of agriculture in our daily lives.

And by Baltimore County Commission on Arts and Sciences.

(theme music playing).

(bird chirping).

JOANNE: Modern-day farmers face a myriad of challenges, especially so in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Hi, I'm Joanne Clendining, welcome to "Maryland Farm and Harvest."

We are in Carroll County at one of the Dell Brothers Farms.

This 125-acre tract is part of the Dells' 1200-acre grain operation.

The Dells know more than most about challenges, but by diversifying their crops and owning and operating a grain elevator, they've tailored a solution that works for them.

It's not an easy road, but given that agriculture is the number one industry in the state, overcoming challenges are part of the job.

Coming up, deer pressure on crops can devastate a farmer's yield.

The solution can be a win-win.

But first, a family farm 150 years in the making has seen its fair share of challenges, but positive realization has earned them a place in the Agricultural Hall of Fame.

(tractor engine).

♪ ♪ Farming is more than a profession, it's a way of life with a lineage of lessons passed down through generations.

Few operations embody that more than Willard Family Farm.

BILLY WILLARD: "Family Farm" probably has a way different meaning than it would 50 years ago.

But what hasn't changed, it's, it's sun up to sun down seven days a week and, our family gets that, they do.

JOANNE: Billy Willard Sr. is the fifth generation of the Willard family who have tended the land of this Poolesville farm for over 150 years through good seasons and bad, but never losing perspective.

BILLY: A lesson for my father, worry about the things you can control.

Don't worry about the things you can control.

JOANNE: Never has that lesson been more critical than 2024.

SCOTT POFFENBERGER: This year was the worst year since I've been with the Willards.

Normally for this farm, uh, we would be averaging close to 200 bushels or a little bit more.

Uh, like I said, we probably are gonna get about a third of that.

I think this field's gonna do 65 bushels.

Uh, and it has been tough this year.

JOANNE: Scott Poffenberger has been the Willard's farm manager for over two decades, but after six weeks of drought followed by a rainy hurricane season, he's never seen corn quite like this.

SCOTT: We got a lot of smut this year.

That's what that is.

Uh, and then of course, that area there, wow, it's already... that, there's kernels are rotting in there.

The water got inside the husk and it's rotting the kernels.

JOANNE: Smut is a fungus that stunts plant development and reduces yield.

The farm will be filing a crop insurance claim to help mitigate the loss, but the poor yield is going to hurt the bottom line.

Still, farmers don't tend to dwell.

BILLY: I am optimistic for next year if as a farmer, if you're not probably in the wrong game.

JOANNE: Never-ending hope is a through line of over a century of farmers whose hands have touched and improved the soil.

Perhaps none more so than Billy's father, De Willard, who not only expanded the Poolesville farm, but also started Willard Agri-Service, a company devoted to helping other farms with nutrient management planning, crop protection, and farm management choices.

BILLY: Father was always an in innovator, always traveling across the country to find new ideas, new concepts to bring back to his customers, to our farm.

But his customers also.

His offering and, and our offering to our growers today at Willard Ag is the same as it was in the early '70s, it was bringing something new to our farm customer that'll put more dollars in his pocket.

JOANNE: De passed away in 2024, but his presence remains through the land he stewarded and the family who inherited his love of agriculture.

To honor his father, Billy has been collecting the machinery that De farmed with.

BILLY: This is actually the tractor my father went into business with in 1948.

But my father used this, uh, F30 and he, he pulled a John Deere 12A similar to this one here.

Um, I think that's a five-foot head, we now have, uh, 40-foot heads.

This machine didn't have a grain tank, so that seat right here where I'm pointing, uh, it took someone, uh, someone's labor to sit there and you had a bag.

The grain would come down this chute.

The bagger would sit there, in the heat right on top of the engine, not very comfortable.

JOANNE: History is important, but Willard Family Farm has always been dependent on a new generation to till the path forward.

And Billy Willard Jr. is the next in line.

BILLY WILLARD JR.: I hope to be able to follow the footsteps of my father and grandfather and continue their hard work.

JOANNE: Billy Jr. isn't the only one who wants to honor those past generations.

The Willards have been so significant to Maryland farming they were inducted into the Governor's Agricultural Hall of Fame.

The state's most prestigious award.

BILLY: We're Marylanders, okay?

We're from Poolesville, Maryland.

That made, you know, that made it special, the award being Maryland.

But being recognized by peers that you've done a good job, are doing a good job, um, it is an honor.

JOANNE: But the work is far from over, regardless of any awards or honors, the Willards are always looking forward to the future.

BILLY: Whether it's farming or any other business being able to adapt and change is critical for success and survival.

Because that's where progress is made.

Because if you're not growing, you're dying.

JOANNE: Billy Willard's commitment to the land and to his family's legacy are his gifts to the generations of Willard's who follow.

And did you know the Governor's Agriculture Hall of Fame includes 50 farm families from 23 counties who have been honored for their high standards of conduct; personal values; contributions to their community; and performance leadership, innovation, and achievement in agriculture?

♪ ♪ All right, it's time to test your agriculture expertise.

Here is our thingamajig for the week.

Any idea what it could be?

Here's a hint, this tool will turn animal feed into bite-sized pieces.

Stay tuned and we'll have the answer at the end of the show.

No creature better exemplifies dedication and unconditional love than a dog.

On this week's farm pics, we give you some pics of our viewers' very good boys and girls, enjoy.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ JOANNE: We've all seen deer grazing lazily on a farmer's field, hoping they don't run out into traffic.

But deer also present a significant challenge to farmers by way of crop damage.

Through a partnership between farmers, hunters, and processors, deer populations are controlled and at the same time feed the hungry.

(tractor engine) ♪ ♪ Maryland farmers can rely on a few things.

One is that at some point in the season, Mother Nature is gonna throw them a curve ball.

And when it happens, it's highly likely their farm community will have their back, which is a good thing, especially for farmers like Rob Davis of Rich Levels Grain because every year Rob can rely on over 10 grand of crop damage from deer.

Thankfully, he's not fighting this battle alone.

ROB DAVIS: Luke, I appreciate you coming out and taking a look.

LUKE MACAULAY: Yep.

ROB: Uh, we've got quite a bit of deer damage on this farm.

LUKE: You're not the only one.

JOANNE: Dr. Luke Macaulay is an extension agent from the University of Maryland.

LUKE: Thought about repellents or fencing, have you considered those yet or?

JOANNE: Who specializes in management of the white-tail deer population.

LUKE: We do a combination of research and outreach to the public.

So I like to do applied research where we can test uh, practical applied methods to reduce deer damage.

JOANNE: Today he's bringing his expertise combating deer damage to the field.

ROB: This field map is what I wanted to show you.

So you can see in the middle of the field here, we're high 200 bushels per acre.

LUKE: Mm-hmm.

ROB: And this red right around the edge is maybe 50.

LUKE: Yeah, that hurts.

JOANNE: There is generally four methods in managing deer: fencing, hunting, repellents... LUKE: And then your last one, which you're doing right here, is working on the habitat or diversion fields where you give 'em other something else to eat that they might want more than crops though.

ROB: Yeah, the alfalfa has worked well.

LUKE: Mm-hmm.

ROB: If I ride back here in the evenings, there'll be 30 or 40 deer out on the alfalfa.

LUKE: Yeah, it's uh...

ROB: We know that it's working.

LUKE: Yeah.

ROB: Uh, somewhat.

JOANNE: It just may not be working well enough.

LUKE: If you're gonna do repellents or you're gonna do diversion crops like this, you need to also have hunting 'cause you just if you have too many deer, they're gonna hold their nose and eat through the repellent.

Or if you have too many deer, they'll eat all this habitat and continue to expand their populations and move on into the, the crops as well.

JOANNE: Like it or not, the most efficient way to manage a damaging deer population is through hunting.

Primarily the thinning of the does.

LUKE: You need, you need to get after those does, 'cause they're the ones that are growing the new, the new generation and... JOANNE: The Maryland Department of Natural Resources has been aggressively addressing deer management since the 1950s.

Today, there are special permits that allow year-long hunting on farmland damaged by deer, which sounds like a hunter's dream.

Problem is no antlers.

ROB: We definitely have, have a bit of a challenge with some hunters just wanting to kind of trophy hunt and... LUKE: Right.

ROB: Let all the does walk by and, and, and wait until that big buck walks by.

LUKE: Right.

JOANNE: Not all hunters are looking for trophies or battling deer damage.

There are many like Payton Campbell who just harvested her first deer that wanna help her local farmers and give back to her Frederick County community.

PAYTON CAMPBELL: Yeah, this is my first time hunting.

JOANNE: And her first time donating her harvest to Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry.

An organization founded in Maryland that has grown nationwide with a mission to distribute donated game meat to local food banks.

KENNY CAMPBELL: We've been donating to The Farmers and Hunters, uh, for about 10 years now.

Everybody needs something to eat sometimes, so it helps everybody out and makes her feel good.

JOSH WILSON: Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry is a ministry that helps solve several problems, deer population and hunger.

And so we kind of sit in the middle of the farmers, the hunters, the food banks, and make connections that enable hunters to donate some of their extra harvest to feed people in need.

JOANNE: The donation process is streamlined with 22 participating butchers across Maryland.

JOSH: Right now, we are receiving about 1400 donated deer per year across the state of Maryland.

JOANNE: Josh's goal is to see that number rise.

JOSH: Currently, about one and a half to 2% of the deer harvested in Maryland are donated to our program.

If more hunters become aware of their opportunity to donate and maybe take an extra deer out of the field for the farmers and still feed their own family while donating to our program.

CLINTON SUMERS: We have a pickup today from the Frederick Rescue Mission, they're coming to pick up probably 600 pounds of meat today.

VALERIE MOORE: The Frederick Rescue Mission's, obviously one of our huge tenants right now is food.

So we serve breakfast and lunch 365 days a year.

We also serve groceries five days a week.

You know, we have folks that that's what they grew up on, and the ability to provide that to someone is huge.

VOLUNTEER: We're coming right to you guys.

JOSH: We know that crop damage is a significant issue across Maryland, but by nature, farmers are providers.

We know they don't wanna waste anything, whether it's a crop or an animal.

So for them to harvest those extra deer and donate them in a way that it will make a difference for those who are struggling with food insecurity, is just a big part of the picture.

VOLUNTEER: Here you go, enjoy.

RECIPIENT: Thank you.

JOANNE: Since 1997, The Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry program has donated over 1,250 tons of venison to area food banks.

And did you know, Maryland's deer population is estimated to be around 230,000 as of 2023.

The population has remained stable for the past two decades.

The DNR reported that deer hunters harvested 72,642 deer during the combined 2023 and 2024 archery, firearms, and muzzleloader seasons.

Coming up, Al samples brandy distilled from Maryland's fruited plains.

But first farming responsibly relies on a standard set of principles known as Best Management Practices.

We take a look at how that has evolved on this week's "Then and Now."

♪ ♪ It was the early 1920s, Hugh Hammond Bennett, a prophetic soil surveyor, warned the U.S. government about the dangers of poor soil management.

However, his words were unheeded for decades over tilling, overcultivation, and an extended drought led to a tipping point in soil erosion.

Violent winds whipped up desolate fields and storms of dust ravaged the American Midwest in what is now known as the Dust Bowl.

Then in 1935, Bennett testified before Congress once again with one slight difference.

A 10,000-foot-high dust storm blew in from the Midwest and swept through the Capitol.

Bennett's pleas were heard and the Soil Conservation Service was created.

Best Management Practices, or BMPs, such as contour plowing, strip cropping, and terracing were promoted to prevent such ecological disasters from occurring again.

Today, the Natural Resource Conservation Service operates field offices in every county, providing technical and financial support to farmers seeking to implement BMPs.

The lessons learned from the Dust Bowl era have transformed Better Management Practices from crisis to conservation, linking the challenges of then to the solutions of now.

When it comes to distilled alcohol in Maryland, it's best known for its rye and corn whiskey.

But on this week's, "The Local Buy" Al lends a hand at a distillery where the fruits of their labor are in every bottle, Al?

♪ ♪ AL SPOLER: You know, I think brandy gets a bad rap.

A lot of people think it's the stepchild of the spirit's world, the kind of thing that old men drink in smoke-filled rooms.

But when I think of brandy, I think of the rolling hills of Normandy.

I think of autumn fruit harvest.

But... (truck horn blares).

I don't think of this.

This is Hyattsville, Maryland, just two miles northeast of D.C.

It's a diverse and welcoming community that may not have France's rolling hills, but it does share its joie de vie.

Well, this is Hyattsville, Maryland's Arts District, which is a perfect spot for Sang Froid Distillery.

It's a small artisan distillery and it specializes in locally sourced, Dutch gin, rye whiskey, and my favorite brandy.

Today I am meeting co-owner Jeff Harner, who's taking a break from processing this season's pears for brandy.

Now, you've opened this place in, uh, 2018.

JEFF HARNER: Correct.

AL: But you had to be interested in brandies before then, I'm guessing.

JEFF: That's true.

So the, the spark for this came from, uh, about 2011, 2012 when, uh, I had my first bottle of French apple brandy Calvados.

AL: Mm-hmm.

JEFF: And that's about when I started getting interested in grafting our own varieties of apples after learning that most of the commercial orchards in the United States aren't growing the types of apples that make good cider and good brandy.

AL: Mm-hmm.

JEFF: And so what we have here is a collection of some of the apples that we've grafted ourselves from our orchard, they're not pretty.

A: No, they're not.

JEFF: But, but apples made for brandy, uh, generally aren't that good looking.

AL: Yeah, yeah.

But Jeff's Allegany County orchard where those apples grow along Martins Mountain's ridge line, gives those rolling French hills a run for their money.

JEFF: So when we were researching where we wanted to build our orchard, we found that Western Maryland has a long history of apple growing.

AL: Oh yeah.

JEFF: And so when we found a property, we found out that there was actually at one point over 5,000 acres of orchards in this part of Maryland.

AL: My goodness.

JEFF: And when apples are kind of left to their own devices, they tend to go, go feral and go wild.

AL: Uh-huh.

In 2017 when Jeff purchased the abandoned orchard, there was more wild than orchard.

Now you have a big job in kind of rebuilding this orchard.

Man, how's that going?

JEFF: It's a lot of work.

AL: Yes, a lot of hard work, but perhaps more important is... JEFF: Patience.

So the saying about apple trees is the best time to plant them is 10 years ago.

The next best time is 10 years and one day less.

Uh, so we're gonna be waiting a while until these trees reach maturity.

And in the meantime we'll still keep gathering apples from the existing trees that are on the orchard.

And so in 10, 15, or 20 years, we'll hopefully be an 100% a state-grown brandy producer.

AL: In the meantime, they are pulling in fruit from local providers.

JEFF: In here is about 2000 pounds of pears that we processed last week.

AL: Oh my gosh.

JEFF: Yep.

So after these are fully fermented, we will pump that pear wine into these stills.

And then distillation's a very simple process, we're just gently heating that wine to separate the alcohol from the pear.

AL: These beautiful copper stills will heat the fermented pears, distilling the alcohol into vapor, then condensing it back into a concentrated spirit.

The whole process takes about 45 days.

JEFF: Our goal is to capture that brightness and freshness of the pear when it's at its peak ripeness.

AL: Well, I would sure like to try a little of the stuff, to see if... JEFF: I thought you'd never ask.

AL: ...passed the test.

JEFF: Okay.

AL: Hmm, I'm back in France.

That is really stunning.

JEFF: Thanks.

AL: Really stunning.

Uh, and it, it is very complex.

I'm not surprised, you've got a bunch of different things going into the blend.

JEFF: Yeah.

Every year's harvest is a little bit different in terms of the proportions of the apples.

Uh, in fact, this year was a very poor harvest.

Apples tend to be biennial bearing, so one year they'll be very heavy, the next year they'll be less heavy in terms of the, the amount of fruit that's on the tree.

So this was a down year.

AL: Oh, well, but you had the pears.

JEFF: We did, we did.

AL: Okay, good.

Now you got all this distilling equipment in the back, that's good for other things other than brandy.

JEFF: That's right, we're also making grain spirits.

AL: Mm-hmm.

JEFF: So we do some whiskeys as well as some Dutch-style gins.

AL: Oh, nice.

That's kind of small back there, do you ever get the temptation to expand a little bit?

JEFF: Yes, uh, we've been capacity limited from day one.

AL: Mm-hmm.

JEFF: And, uh, we recently purchased a property in Takoma Park that we'll be able to expand our production in.

AL: Oh, great, I'm sure it's gonna be really popular 'cause your product is excellent and I think a lot of people are gonna want to come here.

We're gonna put all sorts of information on our website at mpt.org/farm so you can learn more about it.

For "The Local Buy," I'm Al Spoler, Joanne?

Thanks, Al.

Be sure to check out mpt.org/farm for all our recipes and resources.

Plus you can watch all "Farm and Harvest" episodes there as well.

Also, don't forget to follow us on social media for show updates, pictures, and videos.

Now, hold on, we're not done yet.

Remember our thingamajig?

Did you guess it?

Our hint was that this tool will turn animal feed into bite-sized pieces.

This is an antique corn silage cutter.

This cutter would've been used in the field.

The corn stalks were fed in here and cut into small segments for blowing up into a silo or loading directly into a wagon.

The silage was fed to livestock.

Congratulations if you got it right.

Join us next week for another thingamajig along with more stories about the diverse, passionate people who feed our state.

I'm Joanne Clendining, thanks for watching.

(music plays through credits).

NARRATOR: Major funding for "Maryland Farm and Harvest" is made possible in part by the Maryland Grain Producers Utilization Board, investing in smarter farming to support safe and affordable food, feed and fuel, and a healthy Bay.

Additional funding provided by Maryland's Best.

Good for you.

Good for Maryland.

MARBIDCO, helping to sustain food and fiber enterprise for future generations.

A grant from the Maryland Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Program.

Farm Credit, lending support to agriculture and rural America.

The Maryland Soybean Board and Soybean Checkoff Program.

Progress powered by farmers.

The Maryland Nursery Landscape and Greenhouse Association, The Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts.

The Maryland Farm Bureau Incorporated.

The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment.

The Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation, promoting the importance of agriculture in our daily lives.

And by Baltimore County Commission on Arts and Sciences.

(bird chirping).