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The US state ofMaryland has large areas of fertileagricultural land in its coastal andPiedmont 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 ascucumbers,watermelons,sweet corn,tomatoes,melons,squash, andpeas (Source:USDA Crop Profiles).
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 atSt. Mary's City, the first English settlement in the Province.[1] Slave labor made possible the export-driven plantation economy. The English observerWilliam 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 atobaccocash crop zone, which has existed since early Colonial times, but declined greatly after a state government buy-out in the 1990s.[3]
Modernurban farms have been established in cities likeBaltimore.[4]
There is also a large automatedchicken-farming sector in the state's southeastern part;Salisbury is home toPerdue Farms. Maryland's food-processing plants are the most significant type of manufacturing by value in the state.[citation needed]
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In 2017 a total of 210 acres (85 ha) was grown.[5] This crop is grown inall counties and theCity of Baltimore.[5]
Gray Mold (Botrytis cinerea) is a common problem as it is around the world.[6] Fernández-Ortuñoet al., 2014 finds populations here have resistanceto fludioxonil andto thiophanate-methyl.[6] Many aremultiresistant.[6]
Huet al., also find widespreadresistance to SDHIs here.[7] They find severaletiologies, with varioussdhB alleles producing the resistance.[7]H272Rresistance to boscalid, H272R orH272Y multiresistance toboscalid andto penthiopyrad, H272Y resistance to boscalid,fluxapyroxad, and penthiopyrad, andP225F orN230I resistance to boscalid,to fluopyram, fluxapyroxad, and penthiopyrad.[7] There appears to be noresistance to benzovindiflupyr here.[7] This is because it is a new substance.[7]
Much of thephytoplasma research here in the 1990s was conducted by the Jomantiene group atUSDA ARS Beltsville.[8] This includes the first detection of bothClover Yellow Edge andSTRAWB2 in this crop here.[8] This is also the first report of STRAWB2 anywhere outside ofFlorida.[8]
Black Root Rot is common here.[9] This is a disease with an uncertainetiology thought to involve several combined pathogens.[9]
Agriculture in Maryland faces significant challenges from pollution and climate change.[10]
Farming suffers from weeds as anywhere else, including an unusualmultiply resistant ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia) found by Rousoneloset al., 2012 with bothALS- andPPO-resistances[11] and which by 2016 had developed a third,EPSP resistance.[12] This ragweed population is a drag onsoybean cultivation and, as of May 7, 2022[update], is the worst multiresistant weed problem in the state.[12]
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