County Opens Multi-Million Dollar Agricultural Center

County Executive Jim Smith was one of the first proponents of open land preservation in Baltimore back when he served as a councilman. So it seemed fitting that he held the golden scissors used to cut the ribbon or, rather, garland on a $10 million agricultural center Wednesday.

Phase I of the Baltimore County Center for Maryland Agriculture, a 149-acre educational and resource facility for the Maryland farming community in Hunt Valley, is meant to preserve and bolster the state's largest industry. Baltimore County alone accounts for about $300 million in farming.

Smith called the grand opening "fulfilling" for himself, as the county executive will be leaving office at the end of the year. He expressed his accolades to the farmers who founded the county and said he hopes the center would ensure a future for the agricultural industry.

"Their hard work and dedication laid the foundation of the communities we know and love today. Baltimore County is and always has been committed to the preservation of our agricultural heritage," Smith said. "Baltimore County has stood behind our farmers and given them the support they need to prosper."

The center will house agricultural support agencies and volunteers from local, state and at the national level. The building has provided a new headquarters for the Baltimore Soil Conversation District, Maryland Cooperative Extension Service's in Baltimore County, USDA's Natural Resource Conservation Service and the USDA's Farm Services Agency.

A number of research projects are also in the works as well as educational programs involving students from the Baltimore County Master Gardeners training course.

"They're signs of progress that we continue to make throughout the state … this agriculture center is certainly part of that," said Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, who helped push the project forward.

About $2.16 million in funding for the center came from Program Open Space Funding, a state and local initiative. About $1 million came from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund and about $698,000 from the county's general fund.

"The most important thing this center is going to do is help agriculture remain profitable and sustainable into the future," said Ag Center director Chris McCollum.  "We know that helps to have our land preservation goals and it obviously helps the businesses that are the farmers, but more importantly it helps us to demonstrate why we need farming for the non-farming, non-rural group of people."

Phase II of the project may feature a visitor's center or a barn to showcase historic agricultural preservation.

An open house will be held on Nov. 6 at the 1114 Shawan Road address.