♪ ♪ HOST: It's a big wide agricultural world from the mountains to the shore.

Did you know research is underway to breed the perfect wheat, that cow breeders around the world are buying a farm's genes, and an annual agricultural celebration brings farms, and chefs together?

Don't go anywhere.

Stories about the people who grow our food, plus, the local buy are coming up next on Maryland Farm and Harvest .

ANNOUNCER: 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...

Rural Maryland Council, a collective voice for rural Maryland... 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... Wegmans Food Market: Healthier, better lives through food...

The Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts... CHILD: The Maryland Agriculture Educational Foundation promoting the importance of agriculture in our daily life.

ANNOUNCER: And by...

The Maryland Nursery Landscape and Greenhouse Association...

The Maryland Seafood Marketing Fund...

The Maryland Farm Bureau Incorporated...

The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment... And by... Closed Captioning has been made possible by Maryland Relay, empowering those who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech disabled to stay connected by phone.

♪ ♪ HOST: We've seen advances in farming technology in the way we plant and harvest crops, and in the machinery that we use around the farm to make those jobs easier.

But there are a few technological advances in agriculture that we can't see.

Hi, I'm Joanne Clendining.

Welcome to the 10th anniversary season of Maryland Farm and Harvest .

Today, agriculture sits at the intersection of science and innovation.

Farmers must embrace the changes and adapt to new techniques or pivot in a new direction.

In this episode, we look at technological advances in breeding, in animals and plants, that start at the genesis of life.

Coming up... a look back to season one and a dairy farm that's harvesting genes to build a better cow.

But first, we're all too familiar with Maryland weather.

A humid environment that keeps us all sticky and damp.

Well, like humans, some of the crops we grow aren't fans of our weather either.

Now, a University of Maryland research project is breeding wheat that'll hang tough in the face of what mother nature throws at it.

♪ ♪ You're looking at a field of dreams.

That is, if you're a Maryland wheat farmer or a University of Maryland wheat research scientist.

The dream, a perfect hybrid wheat that is both adaptable to Maryland's heat and humidity and resilient to a host of crop killing diseases.

There's just one catch.

DR. VIJAY TIWARI: None of the wheat line is perfect.

That means, if you're looking for wheat that has all the component together, it can fight scab, leaf rust, tan rust, heat, drought.

That is not possible.

JOANNE: Well, it was a dream, but thanks to small seed scientists, Dr. Vijay Tiwari and his team, within this field might be a wheat hybrid that gives Maryland farmers what they yearn for: higher yields, disease and heat resilience, and most importantly, a profit.

JOHN ERWIN: And so, we really focus on trying to develop wheat that is disease resistant, to make sure it can survive the heat and humidity and make- so our research often focuses around how to make agriculture successful in Maryland.

JOANNE: And it all begins at the University of Maryland's plant research growth facility in College Park, Maryland, where small grain breeders work alongside small grain pathologists to study and cross pollinate the most resilient and profitable traits of Maryland's wheat.

Hybrid wheat is produced with traditional plant breeding techniques and it can be a slow go.

I mean, you're watching wheat grow.

Luckily, they've sped up the process.

JOHN: So, one thing we do here is we accelerate the entire breeding process by something called "speed breeding" where we trick the wheat plant into thinking winter has passed.

And so, instead of getting one breeding cycle a year, we're getting four breeding cycles a year.

So, we're quicker, faster, and more productive in our wheat breeding program than almost anywhere else you can look.

JOANNE: With the speed breeding complete, Maryland's future wheat seeds are sent to the 920 acre central Maryland Research and Education Center located in Clarksville, Maryland for planting, and a lot of hands-on study.

It's been seven months since planting and each one of these hedge rows is one seed variant of Maryland wheat.

Wheat diseases are responsible for 15 to 25 percent of yield loss.

Names like powdery mildew, fusarium head blight, tan spot and leaf rust can keep a farmer up at night.

But UMD'S wheat pathogen research is already showing marked reductions in some diseases.

DR. VIJAY: Hey guys.

TAYLOR SCHULDEN: Hey.

DR. VIJAY: What's up?

What you guys are doing here?

TAYLOR: Oh, we're just scoring for rust right now.

You absolutely see no rust possible development on these leaves whatsoever.

DR. VIJAY: And what is the background of this line?

TAYLOR: I believe it's a jagged mutant line that we're working with currently right now.

DR. VIJAY: Oh, wow.

So, you got jagged line that is resistant to leaf rust and scab?

TAYLOR: Yeah, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

DR. VIJAY: This is amazing.

JOANNE: Discoveries are sprouting up all over this crop.

ADAM SCHOEN: Straw strength is good.

JOANNE: Andy Shoen and his team... ADAM: These ones down there... JOANNE: ...have been breeding for higher yields.

ADAM: A big thing that we're looking at is spike length and straw strength.

Because you can have a really nice big fat spike that's going to give you a lot of fat seeds, but if it isn't able to make it through the winter and through the storms, it's not going to do you any good.

You know, we live in a time now, where we have a big toolbox of ways to be able to do this.

A lot of technologies that go along with breeding, but at the end of the day, it's going to be going in the field and looking at them with our own eyes and selecting the ones that are going to produce a good product for the farmers around here.

JOANNE: The University of Maryland's research teams will return to this field every week for the next two months monitoring the crops progress until finally, it's harvest time.

The wheat is at its peak and Maryland's research teams are back and searching for plants with the best disease resistance, strongest stalk and highest yields.

ADAM: One thing, if you look at this like a nice golden color showing that there's, that the stems are clean, that they're not a lot of disease on them, the heads don't have a lot of disease on them.

We have these nice big golden red seeds that we don't see any disease on them.

JOANNE: Once, all the variants qualities have been logged, it's time to cut, tag and bag the seeds, but it's a delicate process.

Some lines may carry diseases, so they need to keep all variant seeds separated to make certain each line is pure for future testing in the lab.

There is one question, however, that can only be answered in the field.

As the combine collects the wheat kernels, it monitors moisture, weight, and most importantly, its yield.

In 2021, Maryland's average yield was 71 bushels per acre.

All the work Dr. Tiwari and his team has put into making a more resilient wheat comes down to what this crop yields.

(tractor noise) MAN: Oh, hot dog.

110 bushels.

DR. VIJAY: Look good.

MAN: Oh, yeah.

JOANNE: That is a 43 percent improvement, and just in time.

It's been suggested that by 2050 agriculture will need to produce about 50 percent more food to offset population growth.

The wheat Dr. Tiwari and his team are producing today will continue to improve and, within a short time will be in the hands of Maryland farmers.

JOHN: I think, it's going to have a huge impact.

What we're doing here will help farmers be resilient and survive.

JOANNE: At this time, Dr. Tiwari and his team are three years into a five year study that they hope will produce the next generation of Maryland wheat.

And did you know Maryland farmers grow about 160,000 acres of winter wheat and in 2021, around 79 bushels per acre or a total of 12.6 million bushels were harvested, worth 82.2 million dollars.

♪ ♪ All right, it's time to put your agricultural aptitude to the test.

Here is our thingamajig for the week.

Now, if you've been watching since season one, you might have an inkling as to what it is.

Here's a hint.

It's not used to kill vampires and it's a tool that's made the job a whole lot easier.

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

Decades of dairy cattle breeding has garnered this five generation Hagerstown Farm top honors for its milkers and its genetics program has peaked the attention of buyers from around the world.

A look back to the genesis of our show from season one.

♪ ♪ It's a big day at Palmyra Dairy Farm.

Everyone is cleaning up, even the cows, getting ready for a special visitor from the East.

Mr. Kasumi Ito has traveled from Hokkaido, Japan to this Hagerstown farm in search of world class dairy cows.

He won't be buying the cows, but he might buy their genetics in the form of frozen embryos.

KASUMI ITO: We are looking for elite genes....Holsteins.

JOANNE: Maryland's cow herds offer fine offspring.

Their genetic material known as elite genes are valued throughout the world.

This fourth generation dairy farm is run by the Shanks and Creeks.

First cousins, Michael Creek and Ryan Shank, both with four year degrees, are skilled dairymen and entrepreneurs.

MICHAEL CREEK: I've messed with cows that have sold for a million dollars.

I've handled them, pulled calves out of them, milked them from the first milking to the last milking.

RYAN SHANK: We have exported embryos to nine different countries anywhere from South Africa to Japan, Germany, South America, Australia, New Zealand.

JOANNE: The cousins face two big questions today.

Will Mr. Ito buy Palmyra's elite genes?

And, will this man be able to flush embryos from Palmyra's herd of Ayrshires and Holsteins, both popular dairy breeds?

Exactly seven days ago, Dr. John Heizer dropped by for an AI call.

That's farm speak for artificial insemination.

Today, he's seeing if it worked.

Spoiler alert, his pregnancy test is a bit graphic.

DR. JOHN HEIZER: She be pregnant.

JOANNE: These ladies now bear microscopic embryos.

It's up to the long arm of the vet to flush those new embryos, so they can be frozen and implanted around the nation or around the world.

DR. HEIZER: It's me.

We're actually, going to place, actually a Foley catheter.

It's much like a urinary catheter you get at the hospital.

If you go to the hospital, into a particular place in the uterus where we can maintain it there and we're going to actually run fluid into the uterus and run it back out.

So, it's like-- flushing the uterus.

The embryos are now in the uterus, and so we run the fluid in and they're very microscopic, and very small, so they'll come out.

JOANNE: Meanwhile, Dr. Heizer has set up his microscope across from the barn to filter the flushed fluid in search of embryos, genetic gold for the Shank and Creek families.

Like, so many Maryland farmers, they've learned to diversify to develop an alternate income stream.

Michael Creek has ventured into cheese making circles.

MICHAEL: This is our cheese room, our farm office.

JOANNE: With his degree from Cornell and help from mom, Michael launched Palmyra cheeses now sold to restaurants and gourmet markets.

MICHAEL: We did farmer's markets mainly for advertisement and publicity.

Our best seller and retail block size, and that's our Chesapeake Bay cheddar.

We tell everybody that you can put Old Bay in bubble gum and sell it in Maryland.

JOANNE: It's all part of a family effort to build the Palmyra brand, be it through cheese, showing cattle and selling embryos stored here in liquid nitrogen.

MICAH EL: All coded.

So, that's the bulls identification number, as far as what stud he's from.

JOANNE: First cousin Michael, Ryan, Mark, Evan, and Aaron learned the dairy business from their parents, Ralph Shank and his sister, Mary Creek.

MARY CREEK: This is a brush for the cows.

It's something that they really enjoy.

It's part of cow comfort and it'll go up around their heads and over their backs and down across their sides, and it'll rub around their bottom, and sometimes they line up, and wait to get to it.

JOANNE: Mary is dairy royalty of sorts, named 2012 Dairy Woman of the Year at the World Dairy Expo in Wisconsin.

MARY: Other than when I got married and the birth of my four children, this comes right in there as one of the top things that has ever happened to me.

JOANNE: Back at the barnyard, Dr. Heizer reports on the flush.

DR. HEIZER: I think we got, nine or what we consider good, and I think we'll get five that we can export to a foreign country for the owner, which makes it a payday for everybody.

Everybody's happy, good flush.

RYAN: The ones that he's going to freeze today hopefully, are about a thousand bucks a piece.

The Holsteins, some of them can get up to 15 to 1800.

JOANNE: And if you think all the romance is gone from the family farm cow, the doc reminds us it's not all about dollars and embryos.

DR. HEIZER: I still have a few farmers that'll just flush what, for lack of a better term, their favorite cow because she's been around a long time, she's been an easy keeper, she milks good and she has heifers and they like her.

JOANNE: As for Mr. Ito, Ryan tells us he did buy six embryos.

A little bit more of Maryland to populate the world, at least the dairy world.

Brothers, Michael, Mark, and Evan Creek were recently honored as outstanding Young Ayrshire breeders from the Ayrshire Breeding Association.

Their breeding and genetics operation continues to draw buyers from around the world.

Tilling, disking, harvesting, raking, baling.

Just a few of the jobs made easier with a farmer's best friend.

No, not their dog.

Here's a look at the relationship between a farmer and their tractor, both then and now.

Before steam engines picked up steam during the mid-1800s, man and animal power were relied on for farming and harvesting.

Teams of one to 40 horses would pull everything from plows to a new-fangled combination harvester that combined reaping, threshing and cleaning.

Once, steam engines were brought onto farms, equipment adapted and the reliance on animals lessened.

The tractor got its start in the 1900s when Charles Parr and Charles Hart started manufacturing and selling tractors powered by two cylinder engines.

In 1916, around 100 different manufacturers were in the tractor business, and by 1923, the car company Ford had control of 75 percent of the tractor market.

Those early tractors and combines rolled on steel wheels, which tore up the ground and damaged crops.

In the early 1930s, farmers got fed up with the damage to their fruit trees, which caused another breakthrough to roll on in, rubber tires.

By 1940, 95 percent of new tractors rode on rubber.

Power takeoffs, three point hitches, and even cushion seats were other key developments during this time.

Today's tractors still follow the same basic design that was popularized during the 1940s.

Today's tractors and combines begin to feel more like, a jet cockpit than a farm machine.

These high-tech machines are a new breed of precision agriculture.

Like, the farmers themselves, technology never rests, but with proper management and implementation, technological advances can make a farmer's life that much easier.

Every summer, the Maryland Department of Agriculture hosts a gathering of local chefs who whip up tasty treats, and Al Spoler had the hardship assignment to attempt to try them all.

On this week's the local buy.

Al?

♪ ♪ AL SPOLER: If you've ever had any doubt about the variety of food produced here in Maryland, this event will lay it to rest.

I'm here at Governor Hogan's "Buy Local Cookout," an annual event that I really look forward to.

Now, what we have are literally dozens of chefs who have been working with dozens of farms and watermen to bring you, the very best that Maryland has to offer.

The governor's buy local cookout takes the farm to table concept to the next level.

What I love to see are inventive ways to reimagine simple dishes like the Smoky Watermelon Gazpacho from Chef Keema Johnson.

Chef Keema, where'd you learn tricks like this?

This is great.

CHEF KEEMA JOHNSON: You know, I went to a French culinary school and then I studied under Chef Cindy Wolf in Baltimore.

AL: Really?

CHEF KEEMA: So, if you know her, you know that she's really into impacting a lot of flavor into just about everything.

AL: Oh, for sure.

CHEF KEEMA: And so, soups are one of my favorites.

AL: Well, she's one of Baltimore's best.

CHEF KEEMA: Yeah, absolutely.

AL: That means, you're going to be too.

CHEF KEEMA: Thank you very much.

AL: Cheers.

CHEF KEEMA: Cheers.

AL: Mmm.

CHEF KEEMA: Tasty?

AL: It is, very tasty.

It's got a ton of flavor.

CHEF KEEMA: Thank you very much.

AL: And just the hint of smoke.

It's not overwhelming or anything like that.

CHEF KEEMA: And not overwhelming with watermelon either, there shouldn't be.

AL: No, that's really nice.

Is there any tomato in this as well?

CHEF KEEMA: Little bit.

AL: Little bit.

I can taste it.

It really is gazpacho, no question.

I'm always intrigued by chefs who step out of the norm.

CHEF JOHNTAY BEDINGFIELD: Yeah, buddy.

AL: Especially, when it comes to seafood.

I give you guys a lot of credit for doing stuff with catfish.

JOHNTAY: Yeah, it's cool, right?

I think it's a pretty blank palate.

It probably gets a bad rep because it's not the most attractive fish, but super flavorful.

This is marinated in some buttermilk and then the Fresno Chili hot sauce, bread and butter pickles cut out the heat and then we use the same pickles to make the coleslaw.

AL: Folks, if you haven't tried Chesapeake Bay catfish, you really ought to.

We got to eat up these little guys.

They're too many of them, but they're really, really good.

Aaron, what's about to happen here?

CHEF AARON DIXON: Greatness is about to happen.

AL: Greatness.

All right.

We have a contest going on, I guess.

AARON: Yes, we do.

AL: Find some of the best food.

This looks like it's a contender.

What do we have here?

AARON: Some grilled summer veggies, a little bit of citrus, a little bit of vinaigrette, all together, brought all together.

AL: And it all looks so fresh and beautiful.

I think there might be an award in your future, AARON: Hopefully.

Fingers crossed.

AL: While, most cookouts are a relaxed affair, this buy local cookout demands a competitive spirit.

Before the event is open to the public, each chef prepares in plates their signature dish and sends them to the judges' table, where a panel of sophisticated palates are eager to taste the entries.

I got to tell you, with all these amazing creations, I'd be hard pressed to pick a winner, but I'd have fun trying.

I caught up with Governor Hogan in between bites.

GOVERNOR LARRY HOGAN: And there's a lot of hardworking people.

All the people here, the farmers, the growers, the producers, you know, the waterman.

Everybody's done such a great job and worked hard, but... AL: We have to love our farmers and Waterman.

GOVERNOR HOGAN: Absolutely.

I mean, there's a reason why we have a farmer and a waterman on our state seal.

That's right.

A lot of people forgot that.

AL: That's right.

GOVERNOR HOGAN: St. Mary's County and the mother county.

AL: This is his last buy local cookout as governor.

I bet it's the one thing, he'll miss most.

GOVERNOR HOGAN: Well, can't go wrong with either one of those.

Is that a beef dog?

AL: And of course, a ubiquitous figure in Maryland agriculture is none other than Joe Bartenfelder.

Secretary Bartenfelder.

You've had this job for about eight years.

Has it been fun?

JOSEPH BARTENFELDER: Absolutely.

I get to represent a profession that I have an absolute passion for and represent the folks that I've known most of my life and they're like family and I love them like family.

Farmers are really the first stewards of the land and they really, truly are.

AL: Yeah, yeah.

Folks, have you been enjoying yourselves today?

MAN #2: Yeah, we've been having a great time.

AL: What's your favorite food that you've taste so far?

MAN #3: Oh, blackened catfish.

I love the blackened catfish, by chef James over there and he just did a fantastic job.

AL: And this wouldn't be a celebration of Maryland agriculture without trying what the Chesapeake is known for, oysters on the half shell.

You got one already for me.

Can I try it?

WOMAN: I do, yes.

That's... AL: What is this one?

WOMAN: Skinny Dipper.

AL: Skinny Dipper?

I've done that.

Mmm, this is really good.

Beautifully fresh, fabulous taste.

I love them.

Thanks so much.

WOMAN: No, thank you.

You got a little oyster schmutz on your nose.

You got the full experience.

AL: I sure did.

(Woman laughs) Wow, what a great time I've had today.

All this great food, wonderful friends.

I've seen so many people, I've worked with over the years.

It's been fun.

If you'd like to learn more about some of the farmers and the chefs that we've been talking to today, go to our website at mpt.org/farm and look it up.

We'll be glad to share that with you.

For the local buy, I'm Al Spoler.

Joanne?

JOANNE: Wow.

Good stuff.

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?

You know what it is?

Our hit was, it's a tool that made the job a whole lot easier.

This tool is called a "Dibbler."

Besides it's funny name, it's used to make a small hole in the ground so seeds, seedlings, and small plants can be planted.

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.

Closed Captioning has been made possible by Maryland Relay, empowering those with hearing and speech loss to stay connected.

♪ ♪ ANNOUNCER: 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.

Rural Maryland Council, a collective voice for rural Maryland.

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... Wegmans Food Market: Healthier, better lives through food...

The Maryland Association of Soil Conservation Districts... CHILD: The Maryland Agriculture Educational Foundation promoting the importance of agriculture in our daily life.

ANNOUNCER: And by...

The Maryland Nursery Landscape and Greenhouse Association...

The Maryland Seafood Marketing Fund...

The Maryland Farm Bureau Incorporated...

The Keith Campbell Foundation for the Environment... And by... ♪ ♪