Md. Dairy Farmer Fights to Diversify His Operation
Submitted by Editor on Fri, 09/19/2008 - 1:00pm.
Chris Torres
Staff Writer
GLEN ARM, Md. — Bobby Prigel is one of the last dairy farmers left in Baltimore County.
The owner of Bellevale Farm is the fourth generation on the farm that goes back to the late 1800s. Prigel has seen dairy farms in his county literally disappear from what was once a few hundred thriving farms to a mere eight that are in operation today.
What used to be a thriving industry in Maryland, with more than 6,500 dairy farms in the 1960s, has declined to about 750 dairy operations statewide, according to information provided by the Maryland Department of Agriculture this week.
Prigel is trying to preserve his family’s legacy for the next generation with the big city only a few miles away.
In 1997, he preserved his farm by selling its development rights to the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation (MALPF).
About 15 years ago, he started placing his animals on pasture, with the hope of selling milk to the more lucrative organic market. Now fully certified organic, he sells his milk to Horizon Organic.
With the local food movement starting to take hold in his area and only outskirts away from one of the country’s most densely populated areas, Prigel made the decision a couple of years ago to shift his business to retail.
“We know we are going to have to sell our milk direct to the consumer if we are going to survive,” Prigel said.
Being that his land is in preservation, Prigel has had to go before county and state officials to receive the necessary permitting to build a 9,000-square-foot creamery and retail establishment on the farm. The cost of the project, he estimates, will be over $1 million.
It’s his hope that he can take the 1.5 million pounds of milk his 180 Jerseys produce each year to make butter, artisan cheeses and even ice cream right on the farm for the local community to enjoy.
“With everybody talking about buying things locally, it’s really the perfect time for it,” he said.
Permits are not cheap though. He set aside about $5,000, knowing full well that it would not only have to go to paying for the permits, but also legal fees to get those permits.
Unfortunately for Prigel, those fees have ballooned to nearly $60,000.
Why?
A group of people who believe Prigel’s farm should be kept in open space have used the legal system to try to stop the farm from expanding.
The group has persisted in its opposition despite the fact that the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation itself approved the project and that Prigel has also received approval from county officials, twice, claiming his use of the land is for agricultural purposes.
According to Prigel, the Long Green Valley Association once supported his idea of building the creamery but have since become obsessed with the notion of keeping his land as open space, without regard to what he wants to do for his business.
“I thought we were preserving ag land and wanting to save farms,” he said.
The association, a local community group, along with several farmers, has appealed the case to Baltimore County’s Board of Appeals, claiming that the building’s use is only allowed on land zoned for commercial use.
“It’s the use of the structure, its size and what is operating there that’s the crux of our battle,” said Sterling Leese, legal administrator for J. Carroll Holzer, an attorney representing the association and several other community members.
Another attorney, Mike McCann from Towson, Md., is representing the group in a case against MALPF.
The suit filed with the Circuit Court for Baltimore County by the association and dairy farmers John and Susan Yoder, Prigel’s neighbors and fellow dairy farmers, claims MALPF violated the easement agreement on Prigel’s nearly 200 acres by allowing him to build a “commercial property” on land preserved for agricultural use.
Prigel sold his development rights for more than $1 million.
The association claims it is a commercial property because even though the easement agreement allows for the operation of machinery and primary processing of ag products, the suit claims Prigel is going beyond that by processing milk and other products that should be considered “secondary processing.”
The suit also claims Prigel intends to accept milk from other dairy farms and that the milk would be processed at the creamery.
Ed Blanton, an attorney and small organic farmer who has known the Prigels for 45 years and is a former president of the Long Green Valley Association, claims the land is also in the middle of a federally designated historic district, which Blanton claims was established largely because of the work of local community members and was supposed to be preserved as open space.
Blanton also claims the Prigels failed to get environmental testing, which he said is required by the federal government when someone wants to build in an historic district.
“I think Bobby has been misled by other people into believing what he is doing is all right,” Blanton said. “I am a farmer myself and obviously sympathize with him and what he wants to do to improve his business. Unfortunately, there have been a lot of people, including myself, who have been wanting to preserve the valley as open space.”
John Yoder said it is wrong that Prigel accepted money to put his land into preservation and is now wanting to build on it by accepting grants and loans.
“We all sold our development rights and we knew we couldn’t develop when we got our money for it,” Yoder said. “He went across the road on a good piece of ground and is putting in a receiving station. It’s turned into a full blown commercial thing.
“It’s just wrong, that’s all,” he added. “It’s an historical valley and we’d like to keep it that way. I’m upset with how it’s being done.”
But even with all of his legal issues, Prigel has been surprisingly calm about the whole thing.
“This really hasn’t bothered us,” he said. “It actually has helped us out.”
Earlier this month over Labor Day weekend, a benefit was held to raise money to cover Prigel’s legal fees.
More than 600 people paid $25 to enjoy hot dogs, hamburgers and a roasted pig, all locally made, to show their support for Prigel and his family.
The event raised close to $30,000.
It was organized by Stephen Belkoff, a resident of the area who lives three miles away from Prigel and is director of the International Center for Orthopaedic Advancement at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore.
Belkoff has no connection to Prigel personally. But when he saw a story on the proposed creamery and the legal trouble Prigel was in, he was outraged and decided to take action.
“It’s kind of a three-prong attack here,” Belkoff said of the group supporting Prigel. “There are people interested in farming, interested in Prigel and people outraged at the land association.
“This civic association is sort of a political action committee, they basically fight everything,” he said. “They basically just want the valley to stay exactly the way it was. Over the last 20 years, they pretty much have alienated everybody.”
Prigel and his wife Pam never expected the support they got from the community. They didn’t even know most of the people who came to the picnic.
“There was so many local people. People we didn’t even know,” Pam said. “It’s just awesome that people stopped in and showed their support.”
“Nothing has happened like this before in my life,” Bobby Prigel said. “The people around here support farming.”
The couple said they hold no hard feelings against their detractors.
For Bobby, the main issue is about preserving the farm for his three kids and giving them a future in an industry that is struggling to secure a future.
“This is all about the next generation,” he said. “I would find no joy in farming if I couldn’t preserve my farm for my kids.
“I think dairy farmers have to find another way other than conventional farming to survive.”
Chris TorresStaff Writer
GLEN ARM, Md. — Bobby Prigel is one of the last dairy farmers left in Baltimore County.
The owner of Bellevale Farm is the fourth generation on the farm that goes back to the late 1800s. Prigel has seen dairy farms in his county literally disappear from what was once a few hundred thriving farms to a mere eight that are in operation today.
What used to be a thriving industry in Maryland, with more than 6,500 dairy farms in the 1960s, has declined to about 750 dairy operations statewide, according to information provided by the Maryland Department of Agriculture this week.
Prigel is trying to preserve his family’s legacy for the next generation with the big city only a few miles away.
In 1997, he preserved his farm by selling its development rights to the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation (MALPF).
About 15 years ago, he started placing his animals on pasture, with the hope of selling milk to the more lucrative organic market. Now fully certified organic, he sells his milk to Horizon Organic.
With the local food movement starting to take hold in his area and only outskirts away from one of the country’s most densely populated areas, Prigel made the decision a couple of years ago to shift his business to retail.
“We know we are going to have to sell our milk direct to the consumer if we are going to survive,” Prigel said.
Being that his land is in preservation, Prigel has had to go before county and state officials to receive the necessary permitting to build a 9,000-square-foot creamery and retail establishment on the farm. The cost of the project, he estimates, will be over $1 million.
It’s his hope that he can take the 1.5 million pounds of milk his 180 Jerseys produce each year to make butter, artisan cheeses and even ice cream right on the farm for the local community to enjoy.
“With everybody talking about buying things locally, it’s really the perfect time for it,” he said.
Permits are not cheap though. He set aside about $5,000, knowing full well that it would not only have to go to paying for the permits, but also legal fees to get those permits.
Unfortunately for Prigel, those fees have ballooned to nearly $60,000.
Why?
A group of people who believe Prigel’s farm should be kept in open space have used the legal system to try to stop the farm from expanding.
The group has persisted in its opposition despite the fact that the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation itself approved the project and that Prigel has also received approval from county officials, twice, claiming his use of the land is for agricultural purposes.
According to Prigel, the Long Green Valley Association once supported his idea of building the creamery but have since become obsessed with the notion of keeping his land as open space, without regard to what he wants to do for his business.
“I thought we were preserving ag land and wanting to save farms,” he said.
The association, a local community group, along with several farmers, has appealed the case to Baltimore County’s Board of Appeals, claiming that the building’s use is only allowed on land zoned for commercial use.
“It’s the use of the structure, its size and what is operating there that’s the crux of our battle,” said Sterling Leese, legal administrator for J. Carroll Holzer, an attorney representing the association and several other community members.
Another attorney, Mike McCann from Towson, Md., is representing the group in a case against MALPF.
The suit filed with the Circuit Court for Baltimore County by the association and dairy farmers John and Susan Yoder, Prigel’s neighbors and fellow dairy farmers, claims MALPF violated the easement agreement on Prigel’s nearly 200 acres by allowing him to build a “commercial property” on land preserved for agricultural use.
Prigel sold his development rights for more than $1 million.
The association claims it is a commercial property because even though the easement agreement allows for the operation of machinery and primary processing of ag products, the suit claims Prigel is going beyond that by processing milk and other products that should be considered “secondary processing.”
The suit also claims Prigel intends to accept milk from other dairy farms and that the milk would be processed at the creamery.
Ed Blanton, an attorney and small organic farmer who has known the Prigels for 45 years and is a former president of the Long Green Valley Association, claims the land is also in the middle of a federally designated historic district, which Blanton claims was established largely because of the work of local community members and was supposed to be preserved as open space.
Blanton also claims the Prigels failed to get environmental testing, which he said is required by the federal government when someone wants to build in an historic district.
“I think Bobby has been misled by other people into believing what he is doing is all right,” Blanton said. “I am a farmer myself and obviously sympathize with him and what he wants to do to improve his business. Unfortunately, there have been a lot of people, including myself, who have been wanting to preserve the valley as open space.”
John Yoder said it is wrong that Prigel accepted money to put his land into preservation and is now wanting to build on it by accepting grants and loans.
“We all sold our development rights and we knew we couldn’t develop when we got our money for it,” Yoder said. “He went across the road on a good piece of ground and is putting in a receiving station. It’s turned into a full blown commercial thing.
“It’s just wrong, that’s all,” he added. “It’s an historical valley and we’d like to keep it that way. I’m upset with how it’s being done.”
But even with all of his legal issues, Prigel has been surprisingly calm about the whole thing.
“This really hasn’t bothered us,” he said. “It actually has helped us out.”
Earlier this month over Labor Day weekend, a benefit was held to raise money to cover Prigel’s legal fees.
More than 600 people paid $25 to enjoy hot dogs, hamburgers and a roasted pig, all locally made, to show their support for Prigel and his family.
The event raised close to $30,000.
It was organized by Stephen Belkoff, a resident of the area who lives three miles away from Prigel and is director of the International Center for Orthopaedic Advancement at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore.
Belkoff has no connection to Prigel personally. But when he saw a story on the proposed creamery and the legal trouble Prigel was in, he was outraged and decided to take action.
“It’s kind of a three-prong attack here,” Belkoff said of the group supporting Prigel. “There are people interested in farming, interested in Prigel and people outraged at the land association.
“This civic association is sort of a political action committee, they basically fight everything,” he said. “They basically just want the valley to stay exactly the way it was. Over the last 20 years, they pretty much have alienated everybody.”
Prigel and his wife Pam never expected the support they got from the community. They didn’t even know most of the people who came to the picnic.
“There was so many local people. People we didn’t even know,” Pam said. “It’s just awesome that people stopped in and showed their support.”
“Nothing has happened like this before in my life,” Bobby Prigel said. “The people around here support farming.”
The couple said they hold no hard feelings against their detractors.
For Bobby, the main issue is about preserving the farm for his three kids and giving them a future in an industry that is struggling to secure a future.
“This is all about the next generation,” he said. “I would find no joy in farming if I couldn’t preserve my farm for my kids.
“I think dairy farmers have to find another way other than conventional farming to survive.”
