Maryland Grain Farmers Make $426 Million Investment

Maryland grain farmers are in the middle of a $426 million investment that has a significant economic impact on dozens of businesses, rural communities and, in fact, the entire state, according to the Maryland Grain Producers Association (MGPA). 

“This multi-million dollar investment, perhaps better known as planting, occurs in just a few weeks every spring,” said Jason Scott, MGPA past-president and farmer from the Eastern Shore.  “It’s a tremendous investment, but one that also is subject to Mother Nature and the whims of outside markets.”

The investment made by farmers includes everything from seed to fertilizer to all the other inputs it takes to get the crop in the ground and growing. Those purchases come from local seed dealers, cooperatives and dozens of other businesses that benefit from farmers planting corn, wheat, hay, barley, soybeans, and more. 

“To put this $426 million investment into perspective, compare it to construction investments in Baltimore,” Scott said. “To build stadiums for the Ravens and Orioles, construction spanned several years and cost about $330 million.  While the facilities are valuable economic investments, it is only a fraction of the investment farmers make each and every spring.”

On average, grain farmers spend more than $284 per acre to get the crop in the ground and off to a good start, based on estimates by the University of Maryland Extension.  Multiplied by the 1.5 million acres estimated to be planted in grain in the state by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, provides the $426 million investment by Maryland grain farmers. 

That investment doesn’t include the whole story, though. “Those dollars get circulated through communities and the entire state,” Scott said. Using an economic multiplier of 2.37 for grain crops from the Center for Agricultural and Natural Resource Policy, planting grain this year will actually provide over a one billion dollar economic impact across the state.

Those estimates don’t include land costs or the expense of harvesting, hauling and storing the final crop. All those costs come later and provide their own economic impact.

“While the dollars invested in getting the crops off to a good start are impressive, it also doesn’t include the value of those crops once they are harvested,” Scott said. “From feed to fuel to fiber, those crops are worth a whole lot more than just bushels of grain sold into the market.”

Grain harvested this fall will be used as feed for livestock and poultry, which results in high-value protein products that Marylanders and people all over the world enjoy. Ethanol is another important market. That process involves taking corn or barley and creating two products – fuel that helps keep gas prices $0.50-$0.75 lower than they otherwise would be, and millions of tons of dried distillers grains, another high-protein feed product for livestock and poultry.

The bio-renewable material Polylactic Acid (PLA) is made from starch-rich plants such as corn and wheat.  PLA is used in everything from plastic cups to fabrics and replaces its petroleum-based counterparts in the process.

“It’s a big investment farmers make every year in the hope Mother Nature will cooperate and they’ll get a good crop,” Scott said. “In the end, everyone in the state benefits many times over.”