Supporting Family and Small Farms in Prince George’s County: Tools for Sustainability and Growth

Abstract

In recent years, Prince George’s County, Maryland has experienced a significant loss of farmland resulting in widespread, negative impacts across the environmental, economic, and social sectors. Our project, Supporting Family and Small Farms in Prince George’s County: Tools for Sustainability and Growth, set out to identify the challenges that family-owned and small farmers face in Prince George’s County and to create a resource toolkit to support these farmers. Reducing the barriers that family-owned and small farms face in Prince George’s County is crucial to improving food access, environmental health, and agricultural economic opportunities. Our team completed a thorough literature review, attended farm visits, and conducted expert interviews with both farmers and stakeholders to research the topic. We identified the major barriers to family-owned and small farming to be rising input and production costs, decreasing revenue, urbanization, and changes to federal policies. Despite these barriers, there are many local, state, and federal programs that provide financial, educational, and technical support that are outlined in our resource toolkit. Going forward, we propose eight recommendations: centralize financial opportunities online, provide regulatory support staff, connect farmers with local students interested in social media, advocate for improvements in agricultural zoning and permitting regulations, create additional farm incubator spaces, serve marginalized farmers, create an infrastructure grant program, and develop an online volunteer portal. We believe that through these actions, Prince George’s County can strengthen its investment in family-owned and small farms, thus having a long-lasting impact on the environmental, societal, and economic development of the county.