County Executive Responds to Pleas to Save Nick's Organic Farm

It's been more than a month since Maryland's Montgomery County informed organic farmer Nick Maravell that he will need to vacate the land he's tilled for more than 30 years. The County wants the farmland to build soccer fields, a move that will kill a thriving agricultural operation that produces organic grains and seed for consumers and area farmers.

Foodies, activists, and concerned Montgomery County citizens quickly organized to protect Nick's Organic Farm, with more than 1,500 Change.org members petitioning County Executive Isiah Leggett to let Maravell keep his lease. Now, Leggett has responded to our demands — and dismissed them.

Leggett is sending a form letter response to everyone who contacts his office about saving Nick's Organic Farm. Leggett defends the County's actions in destroying a farm to build soccer fields, claiming that we "must step forward in creative ways to advance positive youth development through the provision of sports opportunities." He added that he realizes that "some may prefer this private use of public land [Nick's Organic Farm]; this public asset [soccer fields] can better serve a broader public interest and clear unmet need in the county."

Leggett uses a lot of pro-youth rhetoric to defend the County's commandeering of Nick's Organic Farm. And while soccer fields can certainly improve a community and help out the region's kids, Leggett fails to realize one major fact — an organic farm can serve an even greater benefit.

"Few counties have a nationally recognized organic farmer growing organic feed and seed," says Kristina Bostick, Senior Conservation Associate with the Montgomery Countryside Alliance, a farmland conservation non-profit. "It is not a resource that can be planned — we are lucky and need to hang on to the farm as the hub of our local food system."

Indeed, Nick's Organic Farm is one of the only agricultural operations in the region that produces organic feed and seed. Without Nick's, many of Maryland's farmers would need to drive upwards of four hours away to obtain organic seed and livestock feed for their farms. Nick's is a crucial cog in Montgomery County's budding sustainable food system, and his operation should be saved — not destroyed to build soccer fields.

The fact that Leggett wants to sacrifice sustainable food for soccer fields is bad enough, but the even more egregious part of this story is how the County went about taking the land. Maravell has leased his 20 acres of farmland from the Montgomery County Board of Education (BOE) for 31 years without a problem. Then on March 7th, Maravell was informed that the BOE was not renewing his lease. Instead, the BOE would lease the land to the County, and Maravell would need to vacate the property in a mere two weeks. There was no public hearing on the issue, no public vote, no informing Maravell ahead of time — nothing.

The County eventually granted Maravell an extension, giving him until January of 2012 to leave the land known as the Brickyard Road tract. But that offer doesn't excuse the complete lack of transparency involved in this whole process. Many people in the county have come to depend upon Nick's Organic Farm. To shut him down without so much as a public hearing is downright unfair.

That's why Montgomery Countryside Alliance has started a petition on Change.org. The non-profit asks Leggett to not only protect Nick's Organic Farm, but to create a Food Policy Council that would use the farm as a center for agricultural and environmental education.

Montgomery County officials claim to care about establishing a thriving local food system. Tell them to show it. Sign Montgomery Countryside Alliance's petition asking County Executive Leggett to save Nick's Organic Farm.

Photo credit: barockschloss via Flickr