JOANNE CLENDINING: It is a big, wide agricultural world out there, from the mountains to the shore, and all points in between.

Did you know that land stewardship is award-worthy?

That aquaculture is seeding the path to a cleaner Bay?

And a classic oyster dish was named after a wealthy businessman?

Don't go anywhere, stories about the people who work the land and feed our state are coming up next on "Maryland Farm and Harvest."

NARRATOR: Major funding for "Maryland Farm and Harvest" is made possible in part by: The Maryland Grain Producers Utilization Board, investing in smarter farming to support safe and affordable food, feed, and fuel, and a healthy Bay.

Additional funding provided by: Maryland's Best, good for you, good for Maryland.

A grant from the Rural Maryland Council, Maryland Agricultural Education and Rural Development Fund.

MARBIDCO, helping to sustain food and fiber enterprise for future generations.

A grant from the Maryland Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Program.

Farm Credit, lending support to agriculture and rural America.

The Maryland Soybean Board and Soybean Checkoff Program, progress powered by farmers.

The Maryland Nursery, Landscape, and Greenhouse Association.

The Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts.

The Maryland Farm Bureau Incorporated.

The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment.

The Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation promoting the importance of agriculture in our daily lives.

The Maryland Pork Producers Association proudly works to educate consumers and advocate for farmers.

Taste what pork can do.

(theme music playing).

(bird chirping).

JOANNE: For Maryland's agriculture community to thrive, it relies on conservation and restoration efforts.

Hi, I'm Joanne Clendining, welcome to "Maryland Farm and Harvest."

This episode is all about land and Bay stewardship, and in Maryland, the concept of soil health and water quality go hand in hand.

Farmers know that a healthy respect for the land will yield rewards in both quality and quantity.

Here at One Straw Farm, they take that philosophy to the next level.

They're proud to be certified organic, offering their CSA customers the very best fruits and vegetables.

Coming up an aquaculture farm is transforming the Chesapeake Bay one shellfish at a time.

But first, an Eastern Shore Farm family's respect for their land and the nearby Bay has earned them one of agriculture's highest honors.

(tractor engine).

♪ ♪ For over 130 years, the Hutchison family has farmed these fields in Talbot County.

We caught up with Kyle Hutchison just in time for the seed barley harvest.

KYLE HUTCHISON: That's one of our parts of our business is growing barley for seed.

It's a six-row barley; it's Secretariat, we also grow some malt barley.

We like to grow barley, and we can generally get pretty good yields with barley, better than wheat, because the seed barley, we get a little bit of premium for it.

It just fits, fits in our operation.

JOANNE: The Hutchison brothers' operation is a 3,400-acre grain and vegetable farm that stands as a living example of land stewardship.

Including planting cover crops to maintain soil health.

KYLE: We plant every acre that we can to cover crop as time allows in the fall.

At some point, you just run out of time.

Um, but yes, it sequesters nutrients, we believe also there's a value to having a living root in the soil all the time, just with the beneficial organisms and fungi in the soil and bacteria.

JOANNE: For Kyle Hutchison, planting cover crops and having a solid nutrient management plan in place is crucial to soil health and for a bountiful harvest.

And of course, water plays a determining role.

KYLE: On our sandy soils, we're, we're really only seven days away from a drought.

I don't care whether it'll the rain three inches today.

We have a lot of irrigation because we are sandy soils.

But at the same time, you need to manage the, the groundwater level because nothing can live in saturated soils.

The plant dies, and then the nitrogen that was there is leached to the environment.

So that's, that's a lose-lose situation.

JOANNE: But water management here means more than irrigation.

The Hutchisons have invested in an underground drainage system and nitrogen bioreactor to keep nutrients in the crops and out of the Bay.

KYLE: Morning, Tim.

BRANDON ZINTER: Morning, Tim.

TIM ROSEN: Morning, Kyle.

Good to see you, Brandon.

BRANDON: How you doing, Tim?

TIM: Been a while.

BRANDON: Thanks for meeting me out here today to look at this, uh, pattern tile system that we have connected a bioreactor to back in January.

JOANNE: Back in 2018, the Hutchisons brought in Allegheny Farm Services to install a tile system to help drain surface and subsurface water away from crops.

KYLE: We, we wanted to put the tile in because this is an irrigated field.

The, the irrigation pivots across the way there, so it can be highly and productive.

Um, but where the tile is, um, was always kind of a wet area that we farmed for many years.

But we'd always, we would lose nutrients and nitrogen because of the saturated soils.

JOANNE: The drainage system feeds a 40-foot by 35-foot underground bioreactor made up of wood chips and other organic material designed to treat the water before it enters the nearby stream.

KYLE: So, there are bacteria that live in the wood chips, in the bioreactor and they convert the nitrate to... TIM: Just nitrogen gas makes up 78% of our atmosphere.

So, it's not adding any kind of additional pollutant or anything else.

You know, it's a natural process that happens in any kind of a wetland environment that we have around us.

JOANNE: Depending on rainfall amounts.

These drainage systems require routine maintenance to dial in the proper water flow into the bioreactor and avoid overflow.

KYLE: Maybe what I noticed was the bottom there.

'Cause if it's coming through there, it's not going into the bioreactor, right.

You see it bubbling up.

TIM: Yeah, I see it bubbling down there.

That probably just means that bottom boards not seated right.

So, we can, we can readjust those.

KYLE: Okay.

TIM: Um, we'll probably have to close off the upstream side so that water doesn't, you know, just want to flow out the tile there and make it a little more, more difficult for us.

So, move some boards around and see what happens here.

KYLE: I guess it takes a little bit of trial and error to get it set right based on the conditions.

You know, every site's a little bit different.

TIM: There's conservation drainage in action.

KYLE: There you go.

JOANNE: For the Hutchisons, practices like this are part of a bigger commitment, maintaining soil health for the long term.

It's what contributed to being the recipient of the 2024 Aldo Leopold Conservation Award.

KYLE: So, it's just something ingrained that we've always done, and we're just continuing it.

It's, it's, I view it as a continuum.

It's not; we never quite get there.

You're always kind of looking for new ways to improve your management and, uh, trying to improve the environment and the place that you live at the same time.

JOANNE: And with that commitment comes a sense of responsibility both to family and to the Bay.

TIM: The Hutchison brothers have been doing conservation measures across their properties for decades, and their conservation measures go beyond what they've done with Shore Rivers, but also with the district and other, uh, non-profit partners here.

So, they've been a real leader in conservation in the state of Maryland, uh, as well as in Talbot County.

BRANDON: The Hutchison Brothers are probably at the forefront, uh, of most of what we do here.

Uh, they're implementing not just bioreactors, but they're active participants in cover crop.

They've done waste storage structures, grass-lined waterways, lined outlets.

JOANNE: The Hutchison Brothers' story is one of family, farming and stewardship.

By caring for their land, they care for the Chesapeake Bay and for generations to come.

When farmers join forces with conservation orgs like Shore Rivers to help keep nutrients and sediment on land where they belong, it's a win for everyone.

♪ ♪ All right... it's time to test your inner agronomist.

Here is our thingamajig for the week.

Do you think you know what it is?

Here's a hint.

This tool will put a lid on it.

Stay tuned, and we'll have the answer at the end of the show.

If you ask a farmer what they love most about farming, high on the list would likely be memories of the good old days.

Well, we asked you all to send in picks from yesteryear.

Here are just a few.

Enjoy.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ JOANNE: A cutting-edge indoor oyster hatchery was built as a laboratory for scientists to tackle some of the Chesapeake Bay's most pressing health concerns.

(tractor engine).

On a windy morning in Talbot County, the crew of Tilghman Island Seafood loads cages of spat on shell onto their boat.

An oyster planting vessel aptly named the Bivalve.

NICK HARGROVE: Well, first of all, welcome to Tilghman Island, and we're on the Knapp's Narrows here right now.

Today we just loaded up the Bivalve with roughly nine million, um, baby oysters that are gonna be planted up in Eastern Bay this afternoon.

JOANNE: Nick Hargrove's crew are planting spat on shell or baby oysters.

And they may be small, but the Bay depends on them.

NICK: I think more oysters in the Bay is good for everybody.

Um, oysters are filter feeders.

They help extract the nitrogen and phosphate outta the water.

They help to keep the algae levels down and the algae blooms down, which helps keep the water clearer.

So, um, when I first started in this industry, um, we had no hatcheries that were privately owned in the state of Maryland.

So, we were very limited to the amount of larvae that we were able to get, which really put a hindrance on our restoration work.

JOANNE: But the Bivalve story doesn't end here and doesn't start here either.

Rather, the story begins here on a glass slide.

This oyster began its life just two weeks ago in this laboratory.

STEPHAN ABEL: We're a, uh, 501c3 nonprofit, um, and we were basically formed to produce oyster larvae and seed for the industry to support the industry.

Stephan Abel founded Ferry Cove Shellfish 20 years ago with a simple goal in mind: grow oysters, not by the thousands, not by the millions... STEPHAN: We're looking right now about 1.5 billion to 2 billion, uh, oyster larvae that'll be produced.

JOANNE: And it all starts right here.

And despite the ticking computers and humming engines, a much simpler trick is used to breed oysters, a slight shift in temperature and a sacrificial lamb, well oyster.

If they don't start spawning.

STEVEN WESCHLER: What we do is we shuck one and then we stimulate them with gametes from either a male or a female oyster.

JOANNE: In other words, they'll use the reproductive cells from one oyster to trigger spawning mechanisms in other oysters.

But they have to keep a close eye on these shellfish.

STEVEN: We're looking to see if we can detect any release of any kind of gametes in the water.

Once we've distinguished what sex they are, we put 'em in their own, um, buckets of females and eggs, um, that way we can control fertilization.

JOANNE: And staff collect the oysters as they begin to spawn.

Then place them into separate containers.

From here, the eggs and sperm are collected.

After the eggs are collected and fertilized, the newly formed embryos are transferred to vast, highly engineered larval tanks.

Here, temperature and oxygen levels are monitored, and algae is automatically pumped into their tanks.

STEPHAN: Ferry Cove is very unique.

It's one of the more advanced hatcheries in the country.

What we've done is we've employed an awful lot of computer controls in the facility to simplify the tasks for staff, including these algae bioreactors that are behind me here that are fully automated.

They'll run for several months at a time, automatic feeding.

Um, so in essence, the oysters are on a nonstop, uh, algae buffet.

JOANNE: Because of the automation and constant monitoring of these systems.

Ferry Cove operates with just seven employees.

And after a couple weeks of feeding and nurturing, these oysters are ready for the next stage of their lives.

First Ferry Cove provides them with a shell, ground up or whole.

Fortunately, they have a few thousand to spare.

STEPHAN: Hatchery notoriously don't make a lot of money.

Um, it's, it's almost like the Walmart model where we do high volume, low cost, because the margins are really tight.

JOANNE: Even on this grand scale, it comes down to one small moment.

This oyster's foot finding an old shell to hold fast.

Once attached, these baby oysters are ready to be sold to watermen like Tilghman Island Seafood.

STEPHAN: In 2010, there were hardly any growers that were doing aquaculture, and now there's several hundred.

So, the demand for product is there.

It's just a matter of producing it.

JOANNE: By 2011, the Bay's oyster population had crashed down to just 3% of what it was in the 1800s.

But Ferry Cove Supply is what keeps aquaculture operations like Tilghman Island Seafood, working and planting these young oysters back into the Bay.

NICK: Since the onset of Ferry Cove, um, we've been able to do hundreds of millions of oysters every year now.

You know these oysters here, yes, it may be nine million oysters on that boat, but they can produce 90 million oysters when they decide to spawn.

JOANNE: From a drop of water in a lab to millions planted in the Bay.

Ferry Cove could be the future of rebuilding what was once lost.

Coming up, Chef Jordan Lloyd proves that oysters can be eaten year-round.

But first on this week's, "Ask a Farmer How It Works," Josh Ernst shows us how he tackles weeds, and it's electric.

♪ ♪ JOSH ERNST: I' Josh Ernst, and I'm here to answer questions about how we weed our crops.

Farming non-GMO crops, people ask what we do about weeds, and we're limited with the, uh, control options that we have.

Um, weeds, especially in soybeans, can become a little bit challenging.

So, we purchased this weed zapper last year.

Um, it is used for electrically controlling weeds by zapping them with electricity.

Let me show you how it works.

So, on the inside of this, there's a generator and a transformer.

The generator that is driven by the PTO, will send electricity to this transformer.

I believe it's 10 to 15,000 volts is what's going to the front of machine.

Once the bar touches the weed, it'll ground out and basically send that current through the weed, and typically kills it.

Disadvantage to a weed zapper is that it only kills what comes outta the canopy, so it's a multipass machine, but it's a lot cheaper than herbicides.

I've figured that we can run, uh, one field 10 times for the cost of hiring a local co-op to come and spray it.

It's a very unique thing, you don't see a lot of 'em, probably because it's, you know, it's kind of a specialty thing.

But for us, with what we're doing with non-GMO crops, we don't have any options.

And so, we're trying to use it to keep our weeds at bay because weeds can be pretty challenging in non-GMO, non-GMO crops.

JOANNE: On this week's "Farm to Skillet," Chef Jordan Lloyd prepares Oysters Rockefeller, but with an Eastern Shore twist.

(pan sizzling).

JORDAN LLOYD: What do you do when you want some great oysters during those hot summer months?

Those months without an "R?"

I'm Chef Jordan Lloyd of Hamilton House Events and Catering, and I'm here to dispel the myth that you can't have oysters during those hot summer months.

I'm here with Tilghman Island Seafood with my good buddy, Mr.

Nick Hargrove, who just harvested some beautiful gems from the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

Hey Nick.

NICK: Hey, chef, how's it going?

JORDAN: Good man.

Great to see you.

NICK: Yeah, you as well, man.

We're just getting back in here.

I wanna show you two different types of oysters we caught this morning.

JORDAN: Oh, fantastic, fantastic.

What do you got there?

NICK: Well, these here are the ones that come off of our bottom leases.

JORDAN: Okay.

NICK: Um, as you can see, they're much dirtier, heavy-shelled oyster.

JORDAN: Oh yeah.

NICK: Um, they get really large.

JORDAN: Yes, sir.

NICK: Um, these oysters here have came off our cages.

JORDAN: Oh okay.

NICK: Um, as you'll see with these oysters, is these are actually considered triploids.

Um, they grow much faster, although that the shells are thinner.

The meats are usually typically fatter this time of year.

JORDAN: Mm, so for me as a chef, I'm looking at these for oyster stew, oyster casseroles, things like that, where I'm looking for more of the half shell or the Rockefeller or the Casino in this kind of oyster.

NICK: Exactly, exactly.

JORDAN: Well, Nick, here we are in the month of June, and you've got a great harvest of oysters here.

Tell me a little bit about that of myth, about the months, you know, without an "R" and you can't have oysters, you know, where, where's the, where's the real truth of that?

NICK: So that all originated when the oyster season started from October to April.

Now that the aquaculture is on the, on the rise, we're able to provide oysters all year long.

Um, after certain months, we're required to be in at a certain time so the oysters don't get too hot on the boat.

And then we allow 'em to chill in our coolers overnight before we can deliver 'em to the restaurants.

After the chilling process is done, the oysters are 100% safe to eat.

JORDAN: Yeah, I don't know about you, but I want oysters just as bad in June as I want 'em in January.

NICK: I agree with that.

JORDAN: I am so ready to hook up these oysters with a delicious Oyster Rockefeller.

NICK: Alright, well, let's get going.

I got some oysters that I caught yesterday inside the plant there, and we'll get a box ready for you so you can get to it.

JORDAN: Let's do it.

NICK: Alright, here you go, buddy.

Here's your box of oysters.

JORDAN: Thank you, Nick.

These look gorgeous.

I really appreciate it.

NICK: No problem, don't forget to call me when dinner's ready.

JORDAN: You got it, brother, I'll be callin'.

NICK: Yeah, all right, thank you.

JORDAN: Thank you so much.

Nothing gets fresher than these beautiful oysters straight out of the Bay.

Now let's go see a friend of mine for some farm-fresh greens.

Hello, Miss Becca.

BECCA BUCKLER: Hey, Jordan.

JORDAN: How you doing?

BECCA: Good, how are you?

JORDAN: Great to see you.

Great to be out on the farm here today with you.

BECCA: Yeah, what are you looking for today?

JORDAN: I'm just looking for some bright, beautiful greens.

We do have Lacinato kale, that's the Italian dark, dark green.

JORDAN: Love that.

BECCA: Uh, we've got Swiss chard.

JORDAN: Okay.

BECCA: Arugula?

Mustard greens?

JORDAN: All kinds of good options.

BECCA: All sorts of stuff.

Do you wanna take a look?

JORDAN: I would love to.

BECCA: All right.

JORDAN: Wow, Becca, it looks really incredible out here.

BECCA: Thank you.

JORDAN: Let's check out this chard, beautiful.

Wow, look at this.

The colors are so vibrant.

BECCA: Yeah.

JORDAN: Well, can we harvest some... BECCA: Oh yeah, yeah.

JORDAN: ...for the Rockefeller today?

BECCA: For sure.

JORDAN: What's the best approach to harvest it?

BECCA: So, I just look for leaves that look good, that are on the bigger side, but, um, still bright green.

And then I just cut 'em low down, 'cause you know, the stems on Swiss chard are, are delicious.

JORDAN: Yep, we're gonna incorporate that for sure.

That'll bring some fun color to this Rockefeller.

Woo.

BECCA: And here's our Lacinato kale.

JORDAN: Oh, I love this.

Look at this big blue hue.

BECCA: Yes.

JORDAN: Wow, and this comes by a few different names... BECCA: Yeah, so... JORDAN: Lacinato kale, right?

BECCA: ...people call it dinosaur kale, because it looks kind of prehistoric.

JORDAN: Yeah.

BECCA: Uh, or Tuscan kale, you know, because Italian variety.

Yeah, you can just, this, we just like snap it right off, so.

JORDAN: Okay.

BECCA: Grab whatever, looks good.

And as you can see, I, I think I planted more than I needed this year, so I got tons of it.

JORDAN: Becca, thank you so much for, uh, just, you know, allowing us to come out on your farm and... BECCA: Oh, it's my pleasure, thanks for coming out.

JORDAN: Welcome to Hamilton House Events and Catering here in Eastern Maryland.

I'm excited to be preparing Oysters Rockefeller in the thick of summer.

Before we can do anything, though, we gotta open up these oysters.

And just open that thing up, just like that, come across, crack that open, slide it down, open it up.

And we got this beautiful oyster ready to go.

Dozen oysters, shucked, clean, ready for its creamed kale and Swiss chard.

To really get this started, we have to start with a beautiful cream sauce, which is a classic mother sauce called bechamel.

We're gonna steep our milk with these beautiful spices, we gotta develop some character in this cream.

We have our beautiful greens here, we're just gonna run our knife through.

Doesn't need to be small.

It can be very simple, very chunky, it's gonna all cook down really beautifully.

So, our bechamel is really coming together.

I'm gonna strain this right in here.

We want to cook this kale down just a little bit so it really breaks down really easily.

We're gonna bring our mixture over here, and then just one by one, we're gonna very carefully just top each one.

And you just put a little bit of breadcrumb on top.

So, these are ready to go in the oven.

We'll see you in about 10 minutes.

So, we bring these oysters out.

Oh my gosh, they're looking good.

Oh my goodness.

I cannot believe what we just created together.

Well, here you have it, Oysters Williwaw.

Now I gotta tell you, I've been waiting for these oysters all day, and I have to snag a bite.

Mm-mm.

Outstanding.

Go get this recipe, mpt.org/farm.

You're gonna love it.

JOANNE: That looked delicious.

Be sure to check out mpt.org/farm for all our recipes and resources.

Plus, you can watch all "Farm and Harvest" episodes there as well.

Also, don't forget to follow us on social media for show updates, pictures, and videos.

Now, hold on.

We're not done yet.

Remember our thingamajig.

Did you guess it?

Our hint was that this tool will put a lid on it.

This is a bottle cap press.

You'd lift the handle, place a bottle here, the cap goes here, and press down.

Bingo, you just capped a bottle.

Congratulations if you got it right.

Join us next week for another thingamajig, along with more stories about the diverse, passionate people who feed our state.

I'm Joanne Clendining, thanks for watching.

(music plays through credits).

NARRATOR: Major funding for "Maryland Farm and Harvest" was made possible in part by: The Maryland Grain Producers Utilization Board, investing in smarter farming to support safe and affordable food, feed, and fuel, and a healthy Bay.

Additional funding provided by Maryland's Best, good for you, good for Maryland.

A grant from the Rural Maryland Council, Maryland Agricultural Education and Rural Development Fund.

MARBIDCO, helping to sustain food and fiber enterprise for future generations.

A grant from the Maryland Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Block Program.

Farm Credit, lending support to agriculture and rural America.

The Maryland Soybean Board and Soybean Checkoff Program, progress powered by farmers.

The Maryland Nursery, Landscape, and Greenhouse Association.

The Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts.

The Maryland Farm Bureau Incorporated.

The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment.

The Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation promoting the importance of agriculture in our daily lives.

The Maryland Pork Producers Association proudly works to educate consumers and advocate for farmers.

Taste what pork can do.

(bird chirping).

♪ ♪