Maryland farmers are using new technologies to produce more crops and better protect the environment.
To that end, The Mill in Whitehall hosted a crop exhibition on Wednesday to teach farmers how to improve soil health.
“We hope farmers continue to find better ways to do things that have less impact on their communities and more impact on their yields,” said Ben Hashon, a partner at The Mill.
Hassion said some of the new tools that can help improve soil health include drones, different types of fertilizers and biological pesticides. Right now, they are testing a number of products to see how they affect crops.
“They've figured out how to get 800 bugs in a container,” Hussion says, “and the physical bugs have to be looked at under a microscope. They're also got bacteria and fungi and things like that that all co-exist nicely, and farmers are being encouraged to put them strategically in the soil.”
“They nourish and bring to life the natural life in the soil,” he added. “When you bring life to the soil, you can use less fertilizer.”
Farmers are only one part of the equation, but they said they're doing their part: Using less fertilizer means less of it will end up in Maryland's waterways.
“This is really important to us because we're in the Chesapeake Bay region, so when we get heavy rains, soil erosion is a big concern,” said Zach Rose, vice president of Clear Meadow Farms. “We grow a lot of cover crops, so anything we can do to increase yields is a good thing.”
He also said he wants to leave the soil and land in good condition for future generations.
“We want to make sure it's environmentally sound and leave it in a better state than when we found it,” Rose said.
