Outside the Farm-to-Table symposium hosted by Montgomery County Council member Laurie-Anne Sayles, tables laden with greens from Sandy Spring Gardens appeared under a banner declaring the “Kalebration.”
Sayles was quick to point out that with 93,000 acres of land set aside for agriculture, “We have the largest ag reserve in the nation.”
But, she said, there’s not enough food produced in Montgomery County that eventually finds its way to the tables of county residents.
Sayles said she became acutely aware of the issue when she considered creating a Restaurant Week event during which local restaurants would spotlight locally produced agricultural products and ran into a snag: a lack of a connection between farmers and restaurant owners.
At the symposium on Monday, Sayles said the lack of coordination between producers and marketing even appears at local farmer’s markets.
“We run them every weekend, and most of the produce and products are coming from outside of the state of Maryland, and we need to change that,” she said.
Sayles is bullish about the goods produced in the county, saying, “We have some of the best produce, meat producers, vineyards, wineries, breweries, cideries,” but the public isn’t familiar with those products.
“Our restaurants are the perfect conduit to bring local, healthy food right to the consumers,” while fueling the local economy, she said.
Consumers often cite the cost of eating healthy and fresh fruits and vegetables, or meats produced on a smaller scale.
“It’s all about supply and demand,” Sayles said. “When you have more demand, you will increase the supply, and that will drive down costs.”
“We’re not going to have healthier communities or drive down health care costs if we do not do our job as policymakers,” she added.
Greg Glenn, co-founder and CEO of Rocklands Farm and Winery in Poolesville, said even established farms seem to fly under the radar in Montgomery County.
“We’re accessible, we’re relevant, we’re available,” he said, adding that he’d like to see more of a spotlight on the possibilities for marketing the county-grown goods.
Craig Rice, the CEO of Manna Food Center, a food bank that has been feeding an increasing number of county residents in the aftermath of government job cuts and the government shutdown, said he’d like to see more support for local farmers.
“To ensure that we have more crops that are grown and produced to be able to support local food banks, local purchasing, whether it’s restaurants or schools,” he said.
Maryland Rep. April McClain Delaney spoke at the symposium and said among the questions she was seeking to answer was, “How can we supplement and cross-collaborate in this time of very dynamic instability?”
McClain Delaney explained that farmers have faced a tsunami of challenges.
“They’ve got inflationary pressures all the way from increased costs with labor due to immigration and other issues,” McClain Delaney said. “They’re definitely feeling it in costs — in terms of selling below the cost of production, and/or not having any market to sell to.”
Allison Schnitzer, co-executive director of the Montgomery County Food Council, told WTOP there is a ready market for locally grown produce.
“There are people in our county who are conscious of buying local … promoting the resiliency of our food system,” she said.
On Wednesday, two county council committees will hear from state agriculture officials on agritourism.
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