Office of Agriculture Scheduled To Open Next Week In Frederick County

It will combine land preservation with ag economic development specialists.Katie Stevens, Director, Office of Agriculture (Photo from Frederick County Government)Frederick, Md (KM ) Frederick County’s Office of Agriculture is scheduled to open for business next week.   It will hold an open house on Tuesday, February 20th from 4:00 PM until 6:00 PM at its offices at 118 North Market Street.In her State of the County address last fall, County Executive Jessica Fitzwater announced plans to strengthen the support of the industry by combining the county’s agricultural land preservation and economic development sectors. .”By creating the Office of Agriculture, we are making services easier to access and creating more opportunities for collaboration with our farms and our farmers,” Fitzwater said, in a statement. “We have more young producers than any other county in Maryland.  My goal is to ensure farming remains an important part of Frederick County’s bright future.”The Office of Agriculture will be headed up by Katie Stevens, and consist of the County’s agricultural land preservation and agricultural economic development specialists.The new Office of Agriculture will also update the County’s Agricultural Strategic Plan.The County says there are  1,367 farms in Frederick County, citing  statistics from the 2022 Census of Agriculture released by the US Department of Agriculture.  More than 57 percent of the land in Frederick County is zoned for agriculture, and the industry generates $1.08 billion in economic impact in Frederick County, according to a study by BEACON.By Kevin McManus