From the front page of the DelMarva Farmer – October 9, 2007
Md. honors one with Bi-Centennial designation
By Stephanie Jordan
Staff Reporter
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Six farms were honored last Tuesday, receiving designations as Maryland Century farms. Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, along with Maryland Secretary of Agriculture Roger Richardson, presented citations to each family.
“The best agricultural preservation program is an economically healthy agriculture industry,” Richardson said. “Farming has formed the foundation of
our nation’s economy for hundreds of years. The farm families we honor today are stewards of the land who have maintained family traditions and a continuity of agriculture important to our communities and our economy.”
“I know you’re under a tremendous amount of pressure,” O’Malley told the families. “But we need you to help make the continual miracle of agriculture happen. I want to thank you for preserving the greatness of our state.”
Villa de Alpacas Farm at Villa de Sales in Aquasco, Md., received a Bi-Centennial designation at the ceremony. The 46-acre alpaca farm is operated by Mittie Forbes Simmons and her daughter Angel Forbes Simmons. Originally, the farm produced tobacco and raised horses.
The five other farms, all located on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, received Century Farm designations.
Homeland Farms in Federalsburg, Md., is a 102-acre farm operated by R. Jack and Delores Waldis. The farm produces wheat, barley, corn and soybeans, and the original home, dating back to the 1800s, is still in use.
Waddles Venture of Preston, Md., is a sixth-generation farm operated by David and Margaret Ann Rogers. Its 100 acres are used to produced grain, poultry and timber.
The Moore family farm of Cordova, Md., is a 156-acre farm operated by William and Monica Moore. The farm produces wheat, corn beans and hay, as well as poultry.
Matilda’s Delight in Willards, Md., is a 22-acre timber farm operated by Charles and Jennifer Lewis. The farm also has produced corn, soybeans, tobacco, and truck crops, and raised sheep, pigs, cattle, turkeys and chickens.
Scarlett’s Tara, also of Willards, Md., is operated by Scarlett and Frederick Fears. The 60-acre farm is pasture, woodland and wetlands, although it originally produced tobacco and truck crops before transitioning into corn and soybeans.
“We’re very fortunate to have been offered the opportunity to buy the family farm,” said Monica Moore, of the Moore family farm. “We hope that it will enrich our children’s lives as it has ours.”
The Maryland Century Farm program began in 1994; since that time, 134 farms (about 1 percent of the state’s 12,000 farms) have been honored with a Century Farm designation. Four of those farms have received a Bi-Centennial Farm designation.
