MARYLAND MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, INC.
Statewide Agenda for Sustainability, Ownership, and Economic Independence
From productive households to productive land, thriving enterprises, and stronger communities.
Maryland Ministry of Agriculture, Inc. believes that people and communities become stronger when they possess the knowledge, land, tools, and productive enterprises necessary to provide for themselves.
Our agenda is to expand Maryland’s capacity to grow food, own productive land, develop agricultural businesses, and manufacture useful goods. We seek to build lasting household and community wealth while reducing the continued need for state and federal government assistance.
We invite families, educators, community organizers, real estate professionals, businesses, and public officials to advance this work through the resources and responsibilities available to them.
What we stand for
Productive households.
Help families turn available space into sources of food and practical learning through backyard homesteads, vegetable gardens, fruit trees, food preservation, and responsible animal husbandry. Encourage chickens, quail, and other suitable animals where household capacity and local requirements allow.
Land ownership and stewardship.
Create pathways from backyard production to purchasing larger tracts of land for farming, livestock, forestry, and enterprise. Promote informed purchasing, responsible land management, and ownership arrangements that protect participants and support future generations.
Agricultural income and enterprise.
Help people move from consuming to producing—and from producing to earning. Support practical education in growing, harvesting, processing, pricing, marketing, and distribution so agricultural activity can contribute to household income and local employment.
Manufacturing and productive industry.
Advance opportunities to turn agricultural and forest resources into finished goods. Our long-term agenda includes food processing, responsible lumber production, wood products, fiber production, and textile development. These enterprises should grow from demonstrated demand, suitable infrastructure, skilled labor, and sound business planning.
Education that produces capability.
Connect classroom instruction with practical work. Through CREMTF and additional partnerships, equip youth and adults with skills in food production, preservation, preparedness, stewardship, entrepreneurship, and ownership. Expand specialized instruction as forestry, manufacturing, and textile initiatives develop.
Community cooperation and economic independence.
Build networks that share knowledge, coordinate purchasing, connect producers with customers, and support locally owned businesses. Encourage the reinvestment of earnings into productive assets, workforce development, and community infrastructure.
How anyone can advance this agenda
Families can begin with a manageable food-growing project, learn to preserve the harvest, and track what production contributes to household needs.
Homeowners can convert suitable yard space into productive homesteads and consider appropriate poultry or other food-producing animals.
Teachers and school leaders can connect agriculture with science, mathematics, financial literacy, career exploration, and hands-on learning.
Community organizers and faith leaders can recruit participating households, identify learning sites, organize shared resources, and connect residents with instruction.
Realtors and landowners can help identify suitable properties and connect prospective buyers with qualified guidance on agricultural uses, infrastructure, and ownership costs.
Farmers, tradespeople, and business owners can mentor participants, provide technical expertise, develop purchasing relationships, and create training or employment opportunities.
Elected officials and policymakers can advance policies that enable responsible food production, productive land access, agricultural education, processing capacity, and viable local enterprise.
The policy direction we support
MD MOA advocates for policies that make it more practical for Maryland residents to:
Grow food and responsibly keep appropriate food-producing animals.
Acquire, retain, and steward productive agricultural land.
Establish school and community agricultural learning programs.
Bring agricultural products to market through clear, workable requirements.
Develop suitable food-processing, forestry, lumber, and textile enterprises.
Strengthen Maryland’s agricultural output while protecting soil, water, public health, and neighboring communities.
Our standard for progress
We measure progress through what people can sustain: productive growing spaces, land ownership, usable skills, food harvested and preserved, viable businesses, earnings after costs, and employment opportunities.
Household food production is a starting point. The broader ambition is ownership of the land, knowledge, infrastructure, and enterprises that help communities meet their needs and shape their economic future.
MD MOA’s agenda is to cultivate producers, prepare owners, develop enterprises, and strengthen Maryland’s ability to sustain its people.