Journalism Fellows Dig into Maryland Farm Scene
After two days of field trips to Baltimore-area farms, the 10 journalists on tour had only scratched the surface of the Baltimore agricultural landscape. But they finished their trip with many insights into the benefits and challenges of sustainable farming. The trip was part of an in-person event that brings together a cohort of the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future’s Food Systems and Public Health Fellowship for Journalists every year.
The 10 journalists comprise the third annual cohort of the fellowship, and the farm visits were an important part of the four-day training session designed to stimulate questions, drive further learning, and inspire food system-related reporting.
The fellows were accompanied by the Center’s senior research associate and independent journalist Tom Philpott, who is a primary steward of the fellowship program, as well as several of the Center’s staff who help to manage and organize the program and expedition.
The farms visited range in size, revenue model, and practices, but all prioritize farming responsibly and serving their communities. One Straw Farm is a certified organic farm in White Hall that does a large volume of business through Community Supported Agriculture. Richardson Farms in White Marsh has a farmers market and deli and catering business and is one of the largest produce sellers in the region, while Albright Farms in Phoenix raises cattle, hogs, and poultry, and sells produce and eggs, as well. All three are family owned and operated. The Black Butterfly Teaching Farm is the smallest farm the fellows visited, with about nine acres in Curtis Bay, on land owned by the City of Baltimore and under the jurisdiction of the city’s Recreation and Parks division.
Joan Norman, who owns and operates One Straw with her husband, shared some of her experiences with the bureaucratic aspects of produce farming, as well as some of the nuances to what it requires to be certified by the Maryland Department of Agriculture and the Real Organic Project.
“Labor is our biggest cost,” she said, pointing to the buildings that house the farm’s seasonal workers.
Fifteen seasonal workers from Mexico live on site; two are citizens and 13 have H2A visas that must be renewed every year in Mexico City.
“I’d love to see a five-year visa program,” Norman said. “I’d pay for that if it was possible.”
Rebeca Pereira, an agriculture reporter from New Hampshire, appreciated hearing the unvarnished opinions from Tom, Jesse, and Jonathan Albright at Albright Farms.
“They talked extensively about reforming the H2-A visa program, the need to create pathways to citizenship and to lengthen the validity of each visa,” said Pereira. “They spoke candidly about their expenses, from insurance to utilities, characterizing themselves as multimillionaires who can barely pay the bills.”
At the Black Butterfly Teaching Farm, executive director Denzel Mitchell explained the eight different production models that the farm is exploring as part of its teaching mission. Those models include beekeeping, cut flowers, small fruit production, and more.
“We have three goals here,” said Mitchell. “We demonstrate different production models, we produce food and beauty for Baltimore food systems, and we train new growers.”
The teaching farm takes its name from a term coined by a Morgan State researcher, Lawrence Brown. The “black butterfly” is a metaphor for Baltimore’s racial segregation, much of which resulted from redlining and housing segregation laws. On a map, the predominantly Black and underinvested neighborhoods in East and West Baltimore fan out to the north and south, resembling the wings of a butterfly, while the “White L” is a north-south corridor representing more affluent neighborhoods.
In addition to the aforementioned goals, Mitchell also plans for it to serve as an incubator for new farmers.
“It’s no accident that this farm is located here, just south of Cherry Hill, one of Baltimore’s oldest Black neighborhoods,” said Mitchell.
Neenma Ebeledike, a journalist from California, found that the farm visits deepened her understanding of food systems, converting abstract concepts into reality.
“I saw firsthand the work required to grow food sustainably, the challenges farmers face in balancing environmental stewardship with economic pressures, and the critical role local agriculture plays in strengthening community health,” said Ebeledike.
The journalism fellows’ immersion experience included not only farm visits, but also presentations by Johns Hopkins University experts and researchers. Presenters spoke on topics such as systems thinking, protein sources, climate change, and occupational health and risk assessment.
This year’s cohort will join the community of fellows from 2024 and 2025, almost 30 in all. With Philpott guiding them, they will help to inform each other about reporting trends in food systems and amplify the food systems angle in news stories.