A museum at a Baltimore college is opening its doors to an exhibit that traces the city's early food and farm practices, according to a published report.
"Federal Foodies: From Farm to Table in Early Baltimore" has been on display at the Homewood Museum at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. Scheduled to run through April 29, the exhibit will be augmented by Historic Farm Day on April 1.
Historic Farm Day focuses on Baltimore's early agricultural history and the Homewood farm. Built in 1801, Homewood was the summer resort for Charles Carroll Jr., whose father signed the Declaration of Independence from Maryland.
Now the primary campus of Johns Hopkins University, the property once encompassed 130 acres and entailed fields of grain, fruit orchards and vegetable gardens. The property had a farmhouse, an ice house, a smoke house, dairy products and cattle.
Set to kick off by paying tribute to Historic Farm Day, the exhibit will feature interactive activities and demonstrations.
Visitors who partake in Farm Day may enjoy educational activities that are set up both indoors and outdoors and are germane to gardening and farming.
The full senate of West Virginia is preparing to debate whether the state Department of Agriculture should oversee operations at deer farms, according to West Virginia Metro News.
The state senate finance committee earlier this week passed the bill, which proposes pulling the responsibility away from the Department of Natural Resources.
"The biggest thing we're trying to accomplish is the slaughter and sale of our animals for venison product on the open market," deer farm owner Jack Oliver in Marion County told the publication. "Last year alone I sold $12,000 worth of semen out of my bucks. We sell breeding stock. We sell antlers. We sell semen out of our animals, we sell urine out of our animals. There are endless amounts of ways to make money."
But the rules do not permit the sale of meat to restaurants as venison.
The Register Herald reports Frank Jezioro, director of the Department of Natural Resources, said earlier this month that the department he leads should oversee deer farms.
He said one of the biggest threats to the industry is disease, which would cause significant damage to the wild deer industry, which is valued at $250 million.
Next month will see a conglomerate of government agencies, universities and an advocacy for farming merge efforts to assemble an international trade conference in Virginia, according to a press release.
The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, the Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, the Agricultural and Applied Economics Department of Virginia Tech and the Virginia Port Authority are slated to host the Governor's Conference on Agricultural Trade. The conference aims to assist companies that are embarking on an export supply program while also offering workshops regarding agricultural products' international trade.
"Virginia's agricultural exports are a very bright spot for our farmers and for Virginia's economy overall," said VDACS commissioner Matthew J. Lohr. "Every dollar of exports creates another $1.40 to $1.60 in supporting activities to process, package, finance and ship agricultural products."
Lohr cited North American, Asian, African and European nations as being the ones among the list of recipients of exports from Virginia.
The Washington Post reports Russia presently uses 29 Holstein bulls that were reared in Virginia and exported across the Atlantic last month. April will see 30 additional Holstein bulls exported to Russia.
The conference is scheduled for March 13 and 14 in Richmond.
While most people get into farming because they're interested in growing produce or raising livestock, there are many other considerations they have to make. After all - applying for a farm land loan means that a person will be attempting to buy a large tract of land. The responsibility of that kind of ownership can bring farmers into contact with many other economic forces.
For example, many agricultural operations chose to lease their land or grant permission to chemical and energy companies for drilling and exploration. In particular, some Pennsylvania farmers found themselves in business with the natural gas industry and have since felt the repercussions of hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking.
Two dairy farmers will be appearing at Skaneateles First Presbyterian Church in Skaneateles, New York, this week to share their thoughts about doing business with energy companies and the effects that the process had on crops, livestock, the land and their financial positions. This is the sort of information that is essential to take into account before engaging in some kind of agricultural operation. Consider that while farming may be the reason that a person applies for a farm land loan, other opportunities or situations might arise that cause them to use their land differently.
