Above: Maryland’ s farms are diverse, reflecting different landscapes, markets, and production systems, from poultry and grain operations on the Eastern Shore to livestock and diversified farms serving local and regional markets.
agriculture depends not only on what happens on farms, but also on the strength of regional food systems, market access, and institutional purchasing. Yet those efforts are often poorly aligned with conservationoriented programs. A farmer may change management, invest in infrastructure, or take on a transition period, but those changes are hard to sustain if products cannot be sold at prices that reflect production costs.
This tension is especially visible in institutional purchasing. In Maryland, there is a significant gap between current procurement levels and the goal of sourcing 20 percent of food locally. People we heard from did not describe a lack of interest in local sourcing so much as the practical challenges of making it work at scale. Processing, aggregation, distribution, procurement rules, logistics, and buyer relationships can all stand in the way.
At the same time, promising work is underway. Initiatives that connect producers with distributors,
processors, and buyers, like the Chesapeake Agricultural Innovation Center and Montgomery County’ s Community FarmShare program, help address barriers while strengthening the relationships needed for resilient regional food systems. Regeneration goes beyond the fence line by asking that communities intentionally create food systems to support local producers, strengthen agricultural economies, protect natural resources, and give residents better access to food grown closer to home.
Farmland preservation and land access are also essential to this work, because regenerative agriculture depends on a farmer’ s ability to think and invest over time. When land is protected from development pressure and farmers have secure, affordable access to it, they are better positioned to build soil health, plant trees or buffers, improve grazing systems, invest in infrastructure, and make management decisions with long-term stewardship in mind. Without that land security, regenerative practices can be harder to justify, especially when benefits accrue gradually and require sustained care.
More than encouragement, farmers need practical conditions for success that reduce risk and make
6 plenty I autumn harvest 2026