January/February Events—click events for more information

2/18 - Crop Operations Us-ing Manure & Fertilizer Class

2/18 - Basic Irrigation Man-agement Class

2/18 - Backyard Greenhouse Class

2/19 - Women In Ag Pre - Conferences

2/19 - Soil Fertility & Con-servation on the Small Farm

2/20 - MidAtlantic Women In Agriculture Conference

2/22 - Mt Top Fruit & Vege-table Conference

2/24—Farming: Pencil to Plow Course

2/27—GAP Food Safety Training

3/3—GAP Food Safety Training

3/11—GAP Food Safety Training

More events can be found on our site under “events”

hile the Southern Maryland Agricultural

Development Commission (SMADC) focuses their efforts on the five South-ern Maryland Counties; many of the initiatives of SMADC reach beyond these borders of South-ern Maryland.

“SMADC provides vision, sup-port and research in terms of education, grants, marketing and promotion as it incubates new farm and food industries. As new farm economies are be-ing formed, SMADC helps to streamline regulations and re-duce obstacles. With Maryland FarmLINK, SMADC is building an on-line farming community to

share ideas, announce training opportunities, provide re-sources, and be a source for selling, leasing, and or farming land in the state.”

Maryland FarmLINK provides agriculture communities with access to available farmland, equipment, events and educa-tional resources. Users can log into the site for free which al-lows them to view more de-tailed information about listed properties and equipment. Us-ers are also added to a listserv which sends a weekly update about events and news. The site also offers Realtor resources which will help educate Realtors about providing assistance to those wanting to sell, lease, or buy farmland. One of the most exciting components of the site is the Mentor Match Program. Read more about the Mentor Match Program on the next page.

February 2014 Volume 1, Issue 4 Photo: courtesy of Southern Maryland Agriculture Development Commission

Meet a Partner—SMADC

BEGINNING FARMER SUCCESS

Extension.umd.edu/newfarmer

Farmer Spotlight Keyes Creamery is a dairy farm business in Havre de Grace, Maryland. The Keyes family rais-es 200 Holstein cows, heifers and claves and uses the milk that is collected during the graz-ing season to produce cheese and ice cream. Their premium ice cream can be found in sever-al flavors ranging from tradi-tional classics like Vanilla to trendy flavors like Cappuccino Crunch. Keyes Creamery prod-ucts can be found at local farm-ers markets. Find out more about Keyes Creamery:

Keyes Creamery Website

I Have . . .

Access to Land

Determined Enterprise

Found a Mentor

Use Maryland FarmLINK to find

a mentor today!

Interview with Megan Keyes from Keyes Creamery, a local Dairy Farm Business.

Click below to view the video.

Click to view more videos

Find A Mentor. Be A Mentor.

Following advice from a successful and experienced farmer

can provide a smoother and more fulfilling entrance into

farming for profit for a beginning farmer. Maryland Farm-

LINK aims to pair mentors and mentees through their

Mentor Match Program. Potential mentors and mentees

should first familiarize themselves with the eligibility re-

quirements which are listed on the Maryland FarmLINK

site. Applications for both mentors and mentees are evalu-

ated based on area of interest, experience level, land availa-

bility, and future goals, to name a few. There is no charge to

apply and no charge to selected mentees. The mentors are

paid a $750 stipend through funding provided by Maryland

Beginning Farmer Success to support their mentoring obli-

gation to their mentee. Click here to learn more.

Mentee Application Mentor Application

t may not feel like it, but Spring will eventually be upon Maryland in the next month or two. Be pre-

pared by participating in an upcoming University of Maryland Beginning Farmer Training Event.

Click the titles to learn more.

Up Coming Beginning Farmer Programs

Andrea Rice

amrice@umd.edu

301.868.9410

“This project was supported by the Beginning Farmer and Ranch-er Development Program of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA, Grant #2012-49400-19552. To find more resources and programs for beginning farmers and ranchers please visit www.Start2Farm.gov, a component of the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program.”

The University of Maryland Extension programs are open to any person and will not discriminate against anyone because of race, age, sex, color, sexual

orientation, physical or mental disability, religion, ancestry, national origin, marital status, genetic information, political affiliation, and gender identity

or expression.

Click here to receive this newsletter every month

To submit information for the monthly newsletter please contact the Beginning Farmer

Success Project Coordinator, Andrea Rice at amrice@umd.edu

Basic Irrigation Management for Those New to

Irrigation

February 18th 9:00—11:30 a.m. Rockawalkin Community Hall 6772 Rockawalkin Rd, Hebron, MD 21830

Learn about irrigation methods, soil evaluation for

irrigation, water sources, irrigation timeframes and

strategies, and considerations for fertigation.

Farming: Pencil To Plow

February 24th 6:00—9:00 p.m. Salisbury Area Chamber of Commerce 144 E Main St Salisbury, MD 21803 Business planning, market research, government regulations, budgeting, cash flow projections, and reviewing income statements and balance sheets.

Starting a Second Career in Local Food – Com-

mercial Food Production and Marketing for the

New Farmer on Small Acreage

January 21—April 1 6:00—8:45 p.m. Montgomery County Extension Office Agricultural History Farm Park Derwood, MD 20855 Learn about marketing, small ruminant produc-tion, soils, crop planting, season extension, busi-ness planning, pest management, irrigation, equip-ment and plasticulture.

Beginning A Successful Small Farm

April 3—May 15 7:00—9:00 p.m. Frederick County Extension Office 330 Montevue Lane Frederick, MD 21702

Topics include finding a farm enterprise, soil fertil-

ity, pasture systems, weeds in pastures, cover

crops, and adding animals into your farm.