My office announced this week that we are under contract to purchase a grain elevator. Strange, yes, but read on. It’s a great story of government at its best.
Two years ago in January, Perdue Agribusiness sent a notice to local farmers that its grain elevator in Lothian would be closed by the end of March.
An elevator is a place where nearby farmers sell grain. It has large storage silos where the grain is stored and then shipped out later for use in food or animal feed products. It’s important that the elevator be close to the farms, because during harvest each farmer hauls a lot of loads to that elevator in a short period of time while they harvest their fields.
Without the Lothian elevator, farmers in our county and our neighbors to the south would be hauling grain to the Eastern Shore or Baltimore County, far enough that many would choose not to plant in the spring.
Anne Arundel County has lost much of its farm acreage to development and can’t afford to take more farms out of production. Keeping farms commercially viable is a goal in our General Development Plan, Plan2040, because it’s a cost-effective way to maintain green infrastructure, and rural lands place fewer demands on county budgets than developed land. Our Department of Health reminds us that preserving our ability to grow fresh food is good for our health, and our Office of Emergency Management says it protects us when food supply chains are blocked by disasters. Farming isn’t just good for farmers, it’s good for everyone.
That’s why I got a bit worked up about the Perdue announcement two years ago. I was quoted in the Capital, saying that the decision was, “an assault on the people who have made this company’s extraordinary growth possible.” To his credit, Perdue CEO Randy Day took my call after that and completely disarmed me by saying they hadn’t handled the situation well and would keep the elevator open for up to two years, hoping that a suitable buyer could be found to keep accepting grain from local farmers.
During that time I heard rumors about interested buyers being unable to close the deal. My friends at Anne Arundel Farm Bureau where I used to serve on the board, the Southern Maryland Agricultural Development Commission (SMADC), Calvert County Commissioner and former Secretary of Agriculture Buddy Hance, and our ag team at Anne Arundel Economic Development Corporation were getting nervous late last year. Perdue confirmed that the two-year clock would run out at the end of March this year, and the elevator would close.
That’s when Senator Sarah Elfreth, who represents Lothian and south county in the General Assembly, called with the idea of using state dollars to purchase the facility. She convened stakeholders and elected leaders in a series of calls to study the idea, and together we generated political support for the investment. But we needed an entity that could close the deal with Perdue, hold the title to the land, contract with an operator, and do all of that before the check would arrive from the state in the new fiscal year. It looked like Anne Arundel County was the only entity that might be able to pull that off.
“A grain elevator,” I was asked by my staff? “You want to buy a grain elevator? What the hell is that?”
I explained, and before long our real estate people in Central Services were negotiating a purchase contract with Perdue - for a grain elevator.
It’s not yet a done deal, but we’re close. Here is where it stands:
Governor Moore’s new Secretary of Agriculture, Kevin Atticks, immediately understood the opportunity. He got the Governor’s support to add to the enthusiasm we’d already generated in the General Assembly, so $1.5 million to reimburse the county for the $1.25 million purchase plus some needed improvements is working its way through the budget process this week.
We have until June to complete an appraisal, an environmental assessment, and most importantly, win the support of the County Council for the purchase. I believe all three will happen and the deal will close. Then what?
First, we put out an RFP for an operator. We know there are multiple qualified and interested potential bidders, and Perdue has pledged to help in the transition. Next, we continue the work that we started with stakeholders and SMADC to add other agricultural support uses at the site. The idea that has generated the most interest is to establish a local mill to produce Lothian flour from local grains. Another is to create top-grade compost by mixing manure from local horse farms with food scraps from restaurants in Anne Arundel, Prince George’s and even Washington D.C.
What we’re really getting here is an agricultural support center right off of Route 4 near Route 301, the crossroads of Southern Maryland, that can connect farm producers with the markets that sustain them.
And it’s happening because people came together across levels of government, across political parties, and even across county lines to deliver for an industry that our future depends on.
Until next week…
Steuart Pittman
Anne Arundel County Executive