Maryland Public Television’s (MPT) popular original series Maryland Farm & Harvest, now in its sixth season, features farms and other locations in Baltimore, Howard, Montgomery, and Prince George’s counties during a new episode airing Tuesday, December 18 at 7 p.m.

Maryland Farm & Harvest takes viewers on journeys across the state, telling stories about the farms, people, and technology required to sustain and grow Maryland’s number one industry: agriculture. During the past year, MPT’s production team has filmed episode segments at more than four dozen farms in preparation for the new season. Segments featured on the upcoming episode are:

• 97-Year-Old Farmer (Montgomery County). They say farmers never truly retire, but Charles Koiner of Koiner Farm in Silver Spring takes that to a whole new level. At 97, Charles still farms full-time, with the help of his 72-year-old daughter, Lynn Koiner. For years, Charles has refused to sell his property. Now, to show their appreciation, community members, including founder Kate Medina, have created theCharles Koiner Center for Urban Farming to help ensure the farm will stay in agriculture long after the Koiners are gone.
• Preparing the Barn for Winter (Howard County). As temperatures dip, farmers need to winterize barns used to house livestock, just as homeowners winterize their homes. Farmer Dale Hough of Woodcamp Farm in Mount Airy takes viewers through the winterizing process and introduces them to the beneficiaries of his efforts: an adorable litter of piglets.
• Farm to Foodbank (Baltimore County). Since 2010, the Maryland Food Bank has partnered with local farms through the Farm to Food Bank Program, which provides fresh, local produce to the one in nine Marylanders who don’t have enough to eat. One of these farms is First Fruits Farm in Freeland, a non-profit Christian ministry founded in 1998 by Rick and Carol Bernstein, which produces about two million pounds of food each year. The segment describes how the Bernsteins and other farmers work with the food bank through contract growing, donations, and gleaning. Carmen Del Guercio, CEO of the Maryland Food Bank, also is interviewed during the segment.
• The Local Buy: Pea Shoots (Prince George’s County). The Local Buy segment host Al Spoler visits Owl’s Nest Farm in Upper Marlboro to learn from farmer Liz Whitehurst how she grows and harvests pea shoots. Al then visits Timber Pizza in NW Washington, D.C. to taste the harvest in a seasonal salad. The recipe is available to viewers at mpt.org/farm.

Agriculture continues to be Maryland’s largest commercial industry, contributing more than $17 billion in revenue each year. The state currently has some 12,200 farms – 84 percent of them family-owned – and nearly 6,000 full-time farmers. These farms account for more than two million acres, which translates into 40 percent of Maryland’s land being used for agriculture. Approximately 350,000 Marylanders are employed in some aspect of agriculture.

More than six million viewers have tuned in to Maryland Farm & Harvest since its fall 2013 debut. The series has taken MPT viewers to nearly 250 farms, fisheries, and other agriculture-related locations during its first five seasons, covering every Maryland county, as well as Baltimore City and Washington, D.C.

Maryland Farm & Harvest airs on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. on MPT-HD and is rebroadcast on Thursdays at 11:30 p.m. and Sundays at 6 a.m. Each show also airs on MPT2 on Fridays at 7:30 p.m. More information about the series is available at mpt.org/farm, and viewers can join the conversation on social media at the hashtag #MDFarmHarvestFans. You can find Maryland Farm & Harvest pages on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The Maryland Department of Agriculture is MPT's co-production partner for Maryland Farm & Harvest. Major funding is provided by the Maryland Grain Producers Utilization Board.

Additional funding is provided by Mid-Atlantic Farm Credit; Maryland's Best; the Maryland Agricultural Resource-Based Industry Development Corporation; the Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation; and the Maryland Soybean Board.

Other support comes from the Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts; Wegmans Food Markets; the Maryland Nursery, Landscape & Greenhouse Association; the Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc.; the Rural Maryland Council; the Maryland Seafood Marketing Advisory Commission; the Maryland Farm Bureau, Inc.; Mar-Del Watermelon Association; and the Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission.

About MPT

Launched in 1969 and headquartered in Owings Mills, MD, Maryland Public Television is a nonprofit, state-licensed public television network and member of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). MPT’s six transmitters cover Maryland plus portions of contiguous states and the District of Columbia. Frequent winner of regional Emmy® awards, MPT creates local, regional, and national television shows. Beyond broadcast, MPT’s commitment to professional educators, parents, caregivers, and learners of all ages is delivered through year-round instructional events and the super-website Thinkport, which garners in excess of five million page views annually. For more information visit mpt.org.