Grow Maryland is a new non-profit that formed to support small and value-added food producers, as well as, agritourism throughout Maryland. Partnering with the Rural Maryland Council, they will host the first ever Grow Maryland Summit this December to bring together farmers, producers, agencies, communities, and stakeholders to discuss and promote Maryland’s agriculture.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2016, 8AM-4PM
CHESAPEAKE BAY BEACH CLUB, KENT ISLAND
500 Marina Club Road, Stevensville, MD 21666
The impetus for this first convening comes on-the-heels of the recently published “Value-Added Agriculture: A Regional Focus” report supported by the Baltimore Metropolitan Council and conducted by Grow & Fortify, LLC. Briefly,
“Value-added agriculture (VAA) is a growing component of Maryland’s agricultural landscape in the Baltimore metropolitan area (BMA), incorporating the City of Baltimore and Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard Counties. VAA—the business of transforming a raw agricultural material into a product with much more value—is considered both agricultural processing and manufacturing, and yields the additional benefits of job creation and tourism in unique locations.”
GROW MARYLAND SUMMIT
The Summit will bring together an estimated 150+ attendees from Maryland’s robust and diverse value-added agriculture industry, which includes everything from apples, ales, agritourism and angus. The morning will include a panel of experts who will provide an overview of the value-added landscape, including updates on some of the latest industry studies. In the afternoon, breakouts will include tracks on innovation, law and liability, trends, and tourism, as well as starting small, and scaling up.
Preservation Maryland is very pleased to support the Summit and participate as speakers: Executive Director Nicholas Redding and Field Director of our Ellicott City Preservation Resource Center Renée Novak will both speak on how value-added agriculture and heritage tourism can go hand-in-hand for a mutual benefit.