On Feb. 13, 2006, more than 100 people, together representing a broad spectrum of Maryland agriculture, gathered in Upper Marlboro for a conference on agriculture, summoned by then-Gov. Robert Ehrlich and hosted by then-Ag Secretary Lewis Riley and the Maryland Ag Commission.
From that session emerged “A Statewide Plan for Agricultural Policy and Resource Management,” a weighty document that detailed 30 recommendations designed to chart the future course for the state’s ag industry.
Those recommendations talked about how to get some black ink on the bottom line of farmers’ ledgers, how to ensure there will always be a base of well-managed farmland, and how to preserve and advance ag research, to encourage ag education, to create a bloc of citizenry whose mission it is to protect and advocate the industry of agriculture.
So, how is all of that going?
The Maryland Ag Commission, which claims at least practical and civic ownership of the Governor’s Ag Conference and its report, wants to know.
It has scheduled an all-day for Tuesday, July 1, a special meeting at the Maryland Department of Agriculture building in Annapolis to review the “Statewide Plan for Agricultural Policy and Resource Management,” and to assess what of that plan has been accomplished and what has not.
That could be an extremely valuable exercise. Representatives of many ag or ag-related organizations and ag industry stakeholders have been invited to address the commission.
It will be an adventure, of sorts (if you can call a meeting scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. and expected to end at 3 p.m. an adventure).
Some recommendations of “The Plan” will be hailed as accomplished. Some will be held up, with some pride, as at least being “in the pipeline.” But some, also, will be lamented as neglected at best, or forgotten at worst.
Of course, that’s what happens to aging conference and seminar reports, as we all know. The conference is hyped, the report appears, there are the usual obligatory statements of support and commitment.
And then the document, as the cliché reminds us, gathers dust on some obscure bureaucratic shelf … as if awaiting resurrection.
The Maryland Ag Commission, to its credit, as about to do that on July 1.
The Ag Commission needs to be applauded for that. After all of its effort, and after the seminar’s endorsement by Gov. Ehrlich, and after “The Plan” has survived the passing of the gubernatorial baton from Ehrlich to O’Malley, the time has come to call in the troops and count heads.
In the broad sense, in the broadest sense, agriculture needs to keep it cool, it needs to keep focused. These are historic times. We have never been here before.
Maryland farmers will need direction, guideposts, if you will. “The Plan” could point the way.