Visitors from DC

This past Monday we had the pleasure of hosting a large group at our farm for an agricultural attaché tour, along with representatives from the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA), and the Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA), including our state's Secretary of Agriculture!

How did this all come about? Last year Farmer Mike reached out to MDA to invite Secretary Kevin Atticks to come visit One Acre Farm and learn about small-scale farming in the Montgomery County Ag Reserve, not entirely expecting that he would say yes! But he did, so a group of MDA folks and other county officials came to tour the farm and learn about what we do here.

Coming back to spring of 2024, Farmer Mike received an email from Secretary Attick's office about this attaché tour. The plan was to visit multiple farms and other agricultural businesses in the area and they wanted to include ours in the lineup. Which we were more than happy to do!

So on Monday afternoon, several large buses roll onto the farm and out pours a large group of 50 or so people. There were representatives from 22 embassies, agricultural attaché, from different countries around the world. Farmer Mike talked about the starting of the farm, how he acquired land and got the business up and running, and then we walked around to show them what's growing this time of year.

We got some great questions about the day-to-day operation, how we grow vegetables sustainably, how we get our produce to consumers (thanks CSA members!), and much more. These tours are never long enough to get to every question, but we tried to cover as much ground as possible. It's always so nice to see our farm through new eyes and appreciate what we accomplish every day.

A big thank you to NASDA, MDA, and all the embassy representatives who came out to see the farm! We had a great time and appreciated the conversations we had.