Agriculture in Maryland

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Agriculture is an important part of Maryland's economy.

The US state of Maryland has large areas of fertile agricultural land in its coastal and Piedmont zones, though this land use is being encroached upon by urbanization. Agriculture is oriented to dairy farming (especially in foothill and piedmont areas) for nearby large city milksheads, plus specialty perishable horticulture crops, such as cucumbers, watermelons, sweet corn, tomatoes, melons, squash, and peas (Source:USDA Crop Profiles).

## History

[edit]

Slavery and indentured servitude were critical elements of the development of colonial agriculture in Maryland. The first documented Africans were brought to Maryland in 1642, as 13 slaves at St. Mary's City, the first English settlement in the Province.[1] Slave labor made possible the export-driven plantation economy. The English observer William Strickland wrote of agriculture in Virginia and Maryland in the 1790s:

> Nothing can be conceived more inert than a slave; his unwilling labour is discovered in every step he takes; he moves not if he can avoid it; if the eyes of the overseer be off him, he sleeps. The ox and horse, driven by the slave, appear to sleep also; all is listless inactivity; all motion is evidently compulsory.[2]

Marylanders might agree in principle that slavery could and should be abolished, but they were slow to achieve it statewide. Although the need for slaves had declined with the shift away from tobacco culture, and slaves were being sold to the Deep South, slavery was still too deeply embedded into Maryland society for the wealthiest whites to give it up voluntarily on a wide scale. Wealthy planters exercised considerable economic and political power in the state. Slavery did not end until after the Civil War.[1]

The southern counties of the western shoreline of Chesapeake Bay are warm enough to support a tobacco cash crop zone, which has existed since early Colonial times, but declined greatly after a state government buy-out in the 1990s.[3]

Modern urban farms have been established in cities like Baltimore.[4]

## Processing

[edit]

There is also a large automated chicken-farming sector in the state's southeastern part; Salisbury is home to Perdue Farms. Maryland's food-processing plants are the most significant type of manufacturing by value in the state.[citation needed]

## Crops

[edit]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (July 2023)

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### Strawberries

[edit]

In 2017 a total of 210 acres (85 ha) was grown.[5] This crop is grown in all counties and the City of Baltimore.[5]

Gray Mold (Botrytis cinerea) is a common problem as it is around the world.[6] Fernández-Ortuño et al., 2014 finds populations here have resistance to fludioxonil and to thiophanate-methyl.[6] Many are multiresistant.[6]

Hu et al., also find widespread resistance to SDHIs here.[7] They find several etiologies, with various sdhB alleles producing the resistance.[7] H272R resistance to boscalid, H272R or H272Y multiresistance to boscalid and to penthiopyrad, H272Y resistance to boscalid, fluxapyroxad, and penthiopyrad, and P225F or N230I resistance to boscalid, to fluopyram, fluxapyroxad, and penthiopyrad.[7] There appears to be no resistance to benzovindiflupyr here.[7] This is because it is a new substance.[7]

Much of the phytoplasma research here in the 1990s was conducted by the Jomantiene group at USDA ARS Beltsville.[8] This includes the first detection of both Clover Yellow Edge and STRAWB2 in this crop here.[8] This is also the first report of STRAWB2 anywhere outside of Florida.[8]

Black Root Rot  is common here.[9] This is a disease with an uncertain etiology thought to involve several combined pathogens.[9]

## Issues

[edit]

Agriculture in Maryland faces significant challenges from pollution and climate change.[10]

### Pests

[edit]

Farming suffers from weeds as anywhere else, including an unusual multiply resistant ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia) found by Rousonelos et al., 2012 with both ALS- and PPO-resistances[11] and which by 2016 had developed a third, EPSP resistance.[12] This ragweed population is a drag on soybean cultivation and, as of May 7, 2022[update], is the worst multiresistant weed problem in the state.[12]

## See also

[edit]

* Slavery in Maryland

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Chapelle, Suzanne Ellery Greene, p. 24, Maryland: A History of Its People Retrieved August 10, 2010
2. ^ Communications to the Board of Agriculture, on Subjects Relative to the Husbandry and Internal Improvement of the Country, Board of Agriculture, Great Britain (c1790) Retrieved February 2013
3. ^ Gray, Andrew (December 3, 2008). "Preliminary Evaluation of the Maryland Tobacco Authority" (PDF). Maryland.gov. Retrieved July 11, 2025.
4. ^ "At an urban farm in Baltimore, plans for activism, African American history and maybe even a tiny house". The Washington Post. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
5. ^ a b "National Agricultural Statistics Service - 2017 Census of Agriculture - Volume 1, Chapter 1: State Level Data". USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service. 2017. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
6. ^ a b c

* • Ishii, Hideo; Hollomon, Derek W., eds. (2015). Fungicide Resistance in Plant Pathogens: Principles and a Guide to Practical Management. Tokyo: Springer Japan. pp. ix+490. doi:10.1007/978-4-431-55642-8. ISBN 978-4-431-55642-8. LCCN 2015949140. OCLC 919611866. S2CID 11518793. ISBN 978-4-431-55641-1.: 292–283, 284, 286, 287
* • "Controlling plant and fruit diseases in strawberry fields (BS11000)". Hort Innovation. 2017. S2CID 92148982. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
* • Fernández-Ortuño, Dolores; Grabke, Anja; Bryson, Patricia Karen; Amiri, Achour; Peres, Natália A.; Schnabel, Guido (2014). "Fungicide Resistance Profiles in Botrytis cinerea from Strawberry Fields of Seven Southern U.S. States". Plant Disease. 98 (6). American Phytopathological Society: 825–833\. doi:10.1094/pdis-09-13-0970-re. ISSN 0191-2917. PMID 30708635. S2CID 73422921.

7. ^ a b c d e

* • Sang, Hyunkyu; Lee, Hyang Burm (2020). "Molecular Mechanisms of Succinate Dehydrogenase Inhibitor Resistance in Phytopathogenic Fungi". Research in Plant Disease. 26 (1). Korean Society of Plant Pathology: 1–7\. doi:10.5423/rpd.2020.26.1.1. ISSN 1598-2262. S2CID 219795860.
* • Weber, Roland W. S.; Hahn, Matthias (2019). "Grey mould disease of strawberry in northern Germany: causal agents, fungicide resistance and management strategies". Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology. 103 (4). Springer Science+Business Media: 1589–1597\. doi:10.1007/s00253-018-09590-1. ISSN 0175-7598. PMID 30610288. S2CID 57426551.
* • Hu, Meng-Jun; Fernández-Ortuño, Dolores; Schnabel, Guido (2016). "Monitoring Resistance to SDHI Fungicides in Botrytis cinerea From Strawberry Fields". Plant Disease. 100 (5). American Phytopathological Society: 959–965\. doi:10.1094/pdis-10-15-1210-re. ISSN 0191-2917. PMID 30686152. S2CID 59306404.

8. ^ a b c

* • Jomantiene, Rasa; Maas, J. L.; Dally, E. L.; Davis, R. E. (November 1999). "First Report of Clover Yellow Edge and STRAWB2 Phytoplasmas in Strawberry in Maryland". Plant Disease. 83 (11). American Phytopathological Society: 1072. doi:10.1094/pdis.1999.83.11.1072c. ISSN 0191-2917. PMID 30841287. S2CID 73492082.
* • Naqvi, S. A. M. H. (2004). Diseases of Fruits and Vegetables : Diagnosis and Management. Vol. II. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. pp. xix+686. ISBN 9781402026072. OCLC 56884192.: 465
* • Conci, V. C.; Luciani, C. E.; Merino, M. C.; Celli, M. G.; Perotto, M. C.; Torrico, A. K.; Pozzi, E.; Strumia, G.; Dughetti, A. C.; Asinari, F.; Conci, L. R.; Fernandez, F. D.; Salazar, S. M.; Meneguzzi, N. G.; Kirschbaum, D. S. (2017). "Advances in characterization and epidemiology of strawberry viruses and phytoplasmas in Argentina". Acta Horticulturae (1156). International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS): 801–810\. doi:10.17660/actahortic.2017.1156.118. ISSN 0567-7572. S2CID 90047733.

9. ^ a b

* • Tiwari, U.; Cummins, E. (2013). "Factors influencing levels of phytochemicals in selected fruit and vegetables during pre- and post-harvest food processing operations". Food Research International. 50 (2). Elsevier: 497–506\. doi:10.1016/j.foodres.2011.09.007. ISSN 0963-9969. S2CID 86798280.
* • Kole, Chittaranjan (2020). Kole, Chittaranjan (ed.). Genomic designing of climate-smart fruit crops. Cham: Springer. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-97946-5. ISBN 978-3-319-97946-5. OCLC 1148887625. S2CID 214704116. ISBN 978-3-319-97945-8.
* • Millner, P. D.; Wallace, Henry (2006). "Control of Strawberry Black Root Rot with Compost Socks". Plant Health Progress. 7 (1). American Phytopathological Society. doi:10.1094/php-2006-1016-02-rs. ISSN 1535-1025. S2CID 73588101.

10. ^ Bednar, Adam. "Future of Md. agriculture linked to climate change, reducing pollution". thedailyrecord.com. The Daily Record. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
11. ^ Rousonelos, Stephanie L.; Lee, Ryan M.; Moreira, Murilo S.; VanGessel, Mark J.; Tranel, Patrick J. (2012). "Characterization of a Common Ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia) Population Resistant to ALS- and PPO-Inhibiting Herbicides". Weed Science. 60 (3). Weed Science Society of America (WSSA) (CUP): 335–344\. doi:10.1614/ws-d-11-00152.1. ISSN 0043-1745. S2CID 86234767.
12. ^ a b Heap, Ian (May 7, 2022). "Multiple resistant Ambrosia artemisiifolia from United States, Maryland". The International Survey of Herbicide Resistant Weeds. Archived from the original on May 17, 2022. Retrieved May 7, 2022.

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