The Delmarva Farmer

08/30/2025

⛄ When seasonal agricultural employees face winter layoffs, they’re often eligible for unemployment benefits — especially when the farm plans to rehire them in spring, according to Ag Law attorney Nicole Cook’s analysis.

(Editor’s note: Nicole Cook is an environmental and agricultural faculty legal specialist at UMES. This column should not be interpreted as legal or financial advice for the reader.) Employment, on many farms, is seasonal in nature. Because of this, agricultural employers and employees frequently ...

08/29/2025

🔍 In his “Keeping the Farm” column, Loren Unruh, acting state conservationist for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, reflects on how Delaware farmers are using EQIP programs to implement cover crops, improve drainage, build manure storage and boost resilience on their land.

(Editor’s note: Loren Unruh is the acting state conservationist for Delaware NRCS.) As you may have already heard, I recently was selected as the acting State Conservationist for Natural Resource Conservation Service in Delaware. My career started with the Soil Conservation Service — later chang...

08/28/2025

🌲 Slash walls — made from red maple, oak, white pine and hickory — stand over 8 feet tall and span 20 feet wide at the base. They cost roughly one-third as much as woven wire fencing and offer habitat benefits while protecting young forest growth.

PENNSYLVANIA FURNACE, Pa. — Want to keep deer out of your fields but really can’t afford high-quality fencing? If the field is near enough to a harvestable woodlot, consider building a “slash wall.” On 1.5 acres of fenced-in area at the woodlot demonstration area of the Penn State Russell E....

08/27/2025

🚜 In Cambridge, Md., Webb Dulin completed a new 50‑by‑60‑ft building this May and wasted no time transferring his cherished collection of antique tractors and farming memorabilia from his farm and trucking business — creating a hands-on tribute to agricultural history.

CAMBRIDGE, Md. — At first, Webb Dulin just shrugs and shakes his head when asked why he’s collected enough antique farming and family items to fill out a new barn on his Dorchester County property. But then he tells the truth. “I just like history, like preserving it and like to know where you...

08/26/2025

🚧 PSEG, which is managing the construction of high-voltage utility line across Maryland, including many farms, has formally requested U.S. Marshals protection after survey crews faced violent threats — from racial slurs to threats of gunfire — while attempting property surveys across Baltimore, Carroll and Frederick counties.

BALTIMORE — Surveyors working land for a proposed high-voltage transmission line in central Maryland say they’ve been threatened with gunfire and warned that dogs would be turned loose on them. Now the utility behind the project wants federal protection. In an Aug. 15 motion, New Jersey-based PS...

08/25/2025

🔪 Stauffer’s Butcher Barn in St. Mary’s County just received a combined $200,000 grant and $250,000 forgivable loan from the Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission and the Maryland Agricultural & Resource-Based Industry Development Corporation — to expand into fully USDA-inspected retail meat processing in Southern Maryland.

HUGHESVILLE, Md. — After more than a decade of starts and stops, Southern Maryland farmers may soon have a USDA-inspected, after-slaughter meat processing facility in their own backyard. Stauffer’s Butcher Barn in St. Mary’s County has been awarded the first-ever package of funding through the...

08/25/2025

We’re always looking for your best photos to submit for what is now the 2025 Photo Contest. Show everyone what is going on this time of the year in your neck of the woods.

Send in a favorite that show farm life — YOUR farm’s life — whether it’s still life, with kids or grandkids, equipment, produce and livestock or pets.

Hurry and squeeze in your entry now so we can share it with our readers! Just e-mail a favorite to [email protected] with “2025 PHOTO CONTEST” in the subject line.

08/24/2025

➗ From calculating feed rations to dosing medications, livestock professionals rely on math every day. Read how precision counts in the pigsty and beyond.

(Editor’s note: Dr. Rich Barczewski is a Professor Emeritus with Delaware State University.) One of the regular topics of conversations around my house centers around our personal experiences dealing with folks making change at retail establishments. Simple things like making change should be a no...

08/23/2025

🤖 At Ag Progress Days, Penn State engineers showcased robots tackling real farm tasks — from precision seeding to fertigation in tree fruits — spotlighting agtech's rise in the field.

PENNSYLVANIA FURNACE, Pa. — Robots are coming. Actually, they’re already here. Think of the robots used to vacuum homes or cut the grass. Agricultural university robot engineers are working on ways to improve seeding and harvesting. That could include picking grapes in a vineyard or chopping cor...

08/22/2025

🐂⚾ At Bristol Motor Speedway, cattle farmers scored a win — literally — during the historic MLB “Speedway Classic” event. A fascinating blend of agriculture and America’s pastime, right on the track.

BRISTOL, Tenn. — “Take me out to the ballgame, that’s where the beef is” could have been the theme song for a historic baseball game here on Aug. 2 when the  Atlanta Braves defeated the Cincinnati Reds 4-2 at Bristol Motor Speedway. A coalition of beef farmers from five states knew that ...

08/21/2025

Richard Wilkins, 66, of Staytonville, passed away Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. He was born Sept. 25, 1958, to Hirschel and Eliza Wilkins. Richard began farming in 1972, and throughout his farming career, he always followed the principle that the land...

08/21/2025

🌱 Facing rising salt encroachment from the Chesapeake Bay, University of Maryland researchers have created a decision-support tool to help farmers manage salinized fields and protect yields.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Salt water from the Chesapeake Bay is pushing farther inland, damaging crops and leaving Eastern Shore farmers with less space to make a living. Now, University of Maryland researchers are developing an online tool to help landowners and their advisors weigh their options befor...