JOANNE CLENDINING: From the mountains to the shore, Maryland's growing by leaps and bounds, did you know, researchers are fighting back against a rising tide, that harvest time is a family affair, and some wines begin in the hive?

Don't go anywhere, stories about the people who work our 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 Check-Off program, progress powered by farmers.

Wegmans Food Markets, healthier, better lives through food.

The Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts.

The Maryland Nursery, Landscape and Greenhouse Association.

The Maryland Farm Bureau Incorporated.

The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment.

Baltimore County Commission on Arts and Sciences.

And by... [theme music playing].

[birds chirping].

JOANNE: The farming community in Maryland is made from tough and resilient stock.

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

Farming takes a special inner drive to keep at it, especially in the face of a changing world.

We're in Frederick County, at the historic Daniel James Farmstead, dating back to the 18th century.

It's part of a preservation district whose present-day owners are determined to keep that drive alive long into the future.

Coming up, a long-time family farm in Northern Maryland is the perfect example of the sticktoitiveness necessary in today's agricultural world.

But first, speaking of a changing world, more often than not, farmers in our low-lying counties are faced with the crop-killing combination of sinking land and rising seas.

And researchers are hard at work tackling this all-too-common problem.

♪ ♪ WENDELL MEEKINS: This corn stand was a 100% corn stand, I mean it was probably one of the best stands that I've had in five years here.

And then we had a two-day event where a surge tide came in with a full moon and it just destroyed this field.

JOANNE: Wendell Meekins farms 1100 acres in Dorchester County.

He's experiencing what many farmers in Maryland's low-lying counties are facing, a changing landscape that's altering how and what they farm.

WENDELL: Now we've been dealing with this problem for a long, long time, we're in a low-lying, flat area, near the Bay, many tributaries off of the Bay here that we're trying to farm around.

JOANNE: With nearly 12,000 miles of shoreline, the Chesapeake Bay region is particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels.

Frequently, entire communities have become susceptible to ever-increasing extreme tidal surges.

KATE TULLY: People sort of talk about climate change as if it's something that's going to happen, but if you talk to somebody here, it's happening already.

It has been happening.

JOANNE: Kate Tully is the director of the University of Maryland's Agroecology Lab.

Her research explores the intersection of agriculture and ecology.

WENDELL: So this is the area where the flood occurred.

KATE: Oh, yeah.

That's like a classic sign of saltwater intrusion there.

Did you plant that then?

WENDELL: This was planted, it had the same stand, it's planted at 32,000 population, 30,000 seeds to the acre and it was 100% germinated stand.

KATE: Mm-hm.

So this whole thing, you had planted it, exactly the same, and then you can see almost perfectly, here where the salt has cut in.

What we're seeing here is saltwater intrusion which is the landward movement of sea salts and as those salts move in, a lot of our traditional crops like corn, and soy, they really can't tolerate high salt levels and so because of that they're basically being burned and then you end up with a field like this.

JOANNE: Corn and soybean fields that are only inches above sea level rely on drainage ditches to disperse storm water.

But during extreme tides, the surge can breech the buffer zones designed to minimize runoff and flood crops in a brackish sea.

WENDELL: We're losing so much yield potential, because if you look right here, you know this is naturally what this field should have yielded.

This is, this is what we should have harvested off of this crop, you know, with the rains and the fertilization that we put in.

And as we, as we got into the tide cycle that that corn just dwindled down and the plant just decreased in size until you falled, you fall off to, you can see the decrease in yield potential, until you just fell off into, nothing.

JOANNE: When traditional crops like corn and soybean can't survive a rising tide, many farmers look to alternative crops, but that's easier said than done.

KATE: Salt tolerance is such a complex genetic trait.

So it's one thing to germinate in the salty soil, then it's another thing to, to grow vegetatively, like this.

And then it's another thing to actually reproduce.

RESEARCHER: All right, come take the tape.

RESEARCHER: Yep.

JOANNE: Kate and her team will take measurements of the flooded area, collecting soil samples every five meters at varying depths.

NATE SPICER: These core samples will give them a soil solidity profile.

So here you can see classic examples of a redox features in anaerobic soil.

So the gray, soil that's been depleted of iron and the red is wherever iron concentrations occur, usually along pore spaces or roots that have dug into the soil, so this is a very, you know, classic example of a, you can almost call it a wetland soil and it shows how wet that these soils actually get, especially at this depth.

KATE: Mm-hm.

JOANNE: The soil samples will go back to the lab for salt content analysis.

But this initial site survey reveals a hard fact that many farmers and landowners will have to come to terms with, that saltwater intrusion is here to stay and to possibly make some challenging choices.

KATE: There's a history of cultivation in Maryland and especially in Dorchester and Somerset counties that you know, people have been practicing agriculture for a very long time and so it's really kind of heart-wrenching in some ways to say, well, you know, this field isn't gonna produce corn and it's probably not gonna produce sorghum or any other grain crop again.

So we have to sort of think about ok, but how else can we manage these lands?

JOANNE: One strategy suggests that establishing natural zones in flood-prone areas can provide landowners with other options.

KATE: If you think of it as "Ok, well now I'm gonna allow some of the native species to grow here, that's great habitat, now I can do some more deer hunting or other waterfowl hunting..." and you kind of shift your perspective, then these landscapes can look productive again.

JOANNE: The 54 soil and six water samples taken by Kate's team confirm what was visually apparent.

The results showed moderate to extreme soil salinity, higher than many fields sampled in Dorchester County.

For Wendell, it's information that could determine how or if he farms these fields.

WENDELL: It has to be a profitability standpoint, you know, because I'm coming in and I'm putting in all these inputs into these crops and I only get a third of the yield, it's not worth doin' for me.

KATE: If it were my land, I would feel devastated by seeing my way of life completely changed.

And yet, that's the reality on some of these farms.

♪ ♪ JOANNE: All right, it's time to test your hand tool know-how.

Here is our thingamajig for the week.

Do you think you know what it is?

Well here's a clue, and it's open for interpretation.

With this tool in your hand, it can do what you need it to do.

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

Hey, we know how hard a farmer's day can be, but when you look out over those crops and see the results of your hard work, it makes it all worthwhile.

Here are some pics of those fields of plenty.

Enjoy.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ When it's harvest time, it is all hands on deck and as third-generation farmers working over 1800 acres of land and raising over 600 head of cattle, the Rose brothers have their hands full.

♪ ♪ Fall mornings on a farm can be some of the most beautiful.

Like these golden skies covering golden fields.

The Rose family of Clear Meadow Farm have been reaping the rewards of these fields since 1943.

That's when Harold "Hap" Smith started a dairy farm with 100 Holsteins.

His dream?

To provide for his family and leave something for the next generation.

For the next 30 years, both the farm and the family grew.

By the mid-70s, daughter Nancy married David Rose and the new generation switched gears.

ZACH ROSE: And they started out as a dairy farm and then in '76 they sold the dairy cows and we pretty much went to grain and a little bit of beef.

JOANNE: Over the years, the farm and family continued to grow.

By the time the third generation took the reins in the early 2000s, the farm had grown to several thousand acres and 600 head of beef cattle.

Sons Zach and Greg had the same dream as their grandfather, provide for their family and leave something for the next generation.

ZACH: I think the biggest thing that our parents instilled in us was hard work.

That's what they instilled in us as kids, you know, work hard and you will succeed.

JOANNE: And since taking over, they have done just that.

ZACH: Greg and I came along, expanded the grain operation, we do a lot of custom work, a lot of hay, we do trucking, really expanded our beef operation to include cow, calf, and then you know, our freezer beef plus we have a market that we sell beef out of.

JOANNE: The Clear Meadow Market provides the local community access to Clear Meadow's all-natural beef and pork, along with offering dairy, produce, and seasonal offerings from neighboring farms.

ZACH: There's a lot of work to do it that way, you know, we feel like we have a better control of the whole thing.

JOANNE: That philosophy extends to all arms of Clear Meadow's business.

ZACH: We have six to eight tractor-trailers on the road every day.

GREG ROSE: We kind of pride ourselves on doing as much as we can ourselves and not outsourcing anything.

So right now we're taking a tractor-trailer to the field that we are harvesting corn in.

ZACH: We haul a bit of everything.

That was part of my diversification too, and then mainly to keep you know, guys busy in the off-season, when we're not, you know, needing them in the fields.

My dad has always said, "You're only as good as the guys that work for you."

If you don't have good guys that work for you, you know, you can't do what we do.

That's the biggest thing is managing all the guys that we have and keeping everything efficient.

JOANNE: Which is a mighty large task when you farm thousands of acres of corn, wheat, soybean, and more, across four counties and two states.

But the brothers prefer to share the management load.

GREG: Whether it's trucking or it's you know taking soil samples and spreading our inputs, we feel like we know our land better than anyone so we know, you know, the best ways to find the nutrients, take soil samples, and kind of zone management our fields.

ZACH: In the crops operation, we're using all the latest technology to try to do the best that we can do for the environment, for the Bay, we're so close to the Bay.

We're always very conscientious of what we're putting on the ground, how we're applying it to the ground, and we also have to do it in a very economical and environmental manner.

JOANNE: By using the latest technology, they are able to prescribe only what is needed to secure a positive yield.

ZACH: We keep records of all our yields.

Every pass that we do across the field is GPS-timestamped and recorded.

So we can record and go back five years to everything we've ever done.

JOANNE: Through technology, diversification, and responsible farming, this generation of the Rose family is keeping their grandfather's dream alive and hoping for the future.

ZACH: Greg and I both have three boys, and Greg's got a girl as well, we just hope that they want to farm one day.

You know I've heard my dad tell people that if it wasn't for Greg and I, he wouldn't have done what he did, so we hope we can just keep passing that on through the next generation.

That's our goal is to make this farm sustainable for the next generation, environmentally and economically.

JOANNE: Coming up, Al visits a winery that's famous for its honey wine.

But first, since its domestication in southern Mexico, over 10,000 years ago, corn has become one of the world's most prominent crops.

But this crop that's used to make everything from cereal to biofuels has gone through many changes.

From then, 'til now.

♪ ♪ Take a look at this graph showing the number of corn bushels grown per acre in the United States.

Corn yields stayed almost unchanged for 70 years, and then, boom!

They started shooting up in the late 1930s.

So what happened?

First, let's take a step backwards.

Before the 1930s, corn breeding happened randomly.

The silks on an ear could be pollinated with any corn plant in the field.

But in the 1930s, scientists found the could select for certain traits, say, disease resistance, by breeding an ear of corn with its own pollen.

Then they could combine the disease-resistant corn with corn bred for something else, like a high kernel number.

This created an even stronger hybrid corn.

This hybridization, combined with the introduction of commercial fertilizers and pesticides brought yields higher than ever before.

As you might expect, new hybrids started to make old varieties obsolete.

In Maryland, Silver Queen corn was the gold standard in sweet corn from the late 50s through the 80s.

It tasted great when picked fresh and paired with steamed crabs.

But by the 90s, Silver Queen had been dethroned by corn bred to be sweeter and less susceptible to diseases.

Silver Queen is so iconic, some recipes still call for it, even though it hasn't been grown for years.

In 1996, the first genetically modified corn resistant to pests and herbicides was introduced and yields soared every higher.

Today, farmers average around 171 bushels of corn per acre and with new varieties with even higher pest resistance on the horizon expect that number to keep growing.

Transforming fruit into drink is a challenge accepted by a specific type of farm.

In fact, it might be Al Spoler's favorite kind of farm.

Who is Maryland's next generation of winemakers?

Let's find out, on this week's "The Local Buy."

♪ ♪ AL SPOLER: The delicious grape has been used as a food source for thousands of years.

They can be eaten fresh, right off the vine, dried into raisins, processed into jams and oils, or crushed for drinking as a sweet juice.

But the most famous and perhaps popular use is to make wine.

Winemaking has taken place in Maryland since colonial times, but it was in the 1980s when it really took off with over 100 wineries today.

RACHEL LOEW LIPMAN: When you think about the Maryland wine industry and the grape growing industry, in 1980s, right, when, when there was, there's a first initial small boom, there wasn't a huge amount of knowledge of what varieties would do very well in Maryland.

AL: After a lot of experimenting, they did figure it out, growing reliable French-American hybrids as well as popular vinifera varieties.

Maryland wine industry is old enough that a lot of the original winemakers are wondering who they're gonna leave their business to when it comes time to retire.

Well here at Loew Vineyards in Mount Airy, that decision has already been made.

RACHEL: So these tanks here in this room... AL: Rachel Loew Lipman is a woman on a mission to carry on the family tradition.

And although she had spent time helping her grandparents make the wine that bore her family's name, it wasn't always clear that this is what she could do for a living.

RACHEL: I thought that in order for me to own a vineyard and a winery, I had to um, be a man in his 60s with white hair and a mustache.

[laughs].

And I think part of it is because when you are in high school and they say, "Ok if you're gonna, if you're interested in chemistry, you can become a chemist or a scientist, if you're interested in biology, become a doctor."

It is not very common to hear, "Oh, you're interested in plants," or "you're interested in biology, oh, you can, you can grow grapes."

AL: Getting degrees in plant sciences and then her wine-making certification, Rachel prepared herself to manage the family operation.

It's harvest season now and today Rachel is busy making one of the 12 varieties of wine that Loew's produces.

And I'm here to help.

RACHEL: Pour it in, very slowly.

AL: OK. RACHEL: Very slowly.

AL: And what temperature is the water?

RACHEL: This is uh, it's about 35-37 degrees Celsius.

AL: Is it going to start bubbling soon?

RACHEL: It will once we uh, once we get everything in there.

That's a little fast, that's a little fast.

AL: Do we have to give it food, some kind of sugar or something?

RACHEL: Yeah, we'll give it a little bit of uh, some of the Cabernet Franc juice.

AL: Oh wow.

RACHEL: Yeah.

Now pour just a little bit.

AL: Just a little bit, okay.

RACHEL: Yeah.

AL: Yeasties it's lunchtime.

[laughs].

Here we go, just a little bit.

RACHEL: A little bit more is okay.

AL: Making wine has been part of the Loew family history since the 19th century in Poland.

By the start of 1930, they owned five prominent wineries specializing in honey wine.

But then both business and family were swept up by the horrors of the Holocaust.

RACHEL: And since the family was Jewish, up until really about World War II, they were all destroyed.

Including the people.

My grandfather was really essentially the, the only survivor of his family, it was a large family of over 80 people, and he had these beautiful memories of the sweet smell of mead and honey wine fermenting in barrels.

It's actually, it's a really beautiful smell.

AL: Arriving in America, William Loew enjoyed a career at the Food and Drug Administration, and married his wife, Lois.

But eventually, his ancestral relationship to wine-making was too strong to ignore.

RACHEL: And they found this plot of land, 37 acres, and established Loew Vineyards.

AL: The challenges of running a vineyard are numerous and several years ago Rachel had to start over, in several places with all-new vines.

Just looking around here, you've got so many baby plants, you guys must have really been walloped.

RACHEL: Yeah, 70% of our property was really affected by that herbicide drift and so what we decided was, you know, the vines that were struggling that were not doing very well, we took them out.

AL: Mm-hm.

RACHEL: And so these are, uh, this is Chancellor, we planted about, so now we have a full two acres.

AL: Oh, that's a good grape.

RACHEL: Yes, it's a really nice variety that we, that we work with.

MAN: Coming down.

AL: Fortunately during the setback, Rachel developed some relationships that were key to keeping the winery going.

Acquiring local grapes to continue production.

RACHEL: And so we work very closely with all Maryland-grown fruit, our biggest sources are two in western Maryland and one in Chesapeake City, so it's a little bit north of Baltimore.

AL: Well Rachel, we've been watching you make the wine, now the best part, we get to taste it.

What do you have here for us?

RACHEL: So I have a dry honey wine and a Cabernet Franc.

AL: Yeah, Cab Franc is my favorite Maryland wine, no, no question about it.

It grows so well here.

RACHEL: You know it's one of those, it's the patriarch of, of all wine grapes and it really does adapt very well to our environment.

AL: Wow, that takes me right back to the Loire Valley.

RACHEL: Yeah, we're very proud of it.

AL: You should be.

RACHEL: Thank you.

AL: And if our friends at home want to learn more about Loew Vineyards, just go to our website at MPT.org/farm look it up, we have lots of good information for you.

For "The Local Buy" I'm Al Spoler, Joanne.

JOANNE: Thanks Al, 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 clue is that it's open for interpretation, with this tool in your hand, it can do what you need it to do.

This is a vintage can opener.

You punch this point into the center of the top of the can, then push the curved blade into the edge and work it around until the top is cut off.

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 Check-Off program, progress powered by farmers.

Wegmans Food Markets, healthier, better lives through food.

The Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts.

The Maryland Nursery, Landscape and Greenhouse Association.

The Maryland Farm Bureau Incorporated.

The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment.

Baltimore County Commission on Arts and Sciences.

And by... [water lapping].

[bird chirping].

♪ ♪