MARYLAND AGRICULTURE AT THE CROSSROADS

 Over 350,000 people are employed in some aspect of agriculture, making it the largest commercial industry in Maryland.  

Agriculture also remains the single largest land use in the State with 2.04 million acres or roughly 32% of land area used for farming in 2006.   In 2006, there were 12,000 Maryland farms, averaging 170 acres each.   In 2006, total farm expenses were $1.12 billion, while per farm expenses averaged $92,585.   Net farm income was $246 million, while income per farm averaged $20,230.

Maryland agriculture is at the crossroads.   Indeed, Maryland agriculture is nearing a potentially critical juncture in terms of its future viability.   With an aging farmer population and skyrocketing real estate prices due to development pressure, it appears possible that much remaining farmland, as well as the opportunity for agriculture production on that land, might be in danger of disappearing.

The skyrocketing cost of farmland has confronted young Maryland farmers with an insurmountable difficulty in their ability to purchase farmland for the first time.

Well aware of this fact, the 2006 General Assembly approved law to establish the Incentives for Agriculture Task Force.   At its first meeting on November 15, 2006, I was nominated to serve as

co-chair of the Task Force.   In 2006, the General Assembly authorized the Next Generation Farmland Acquisition Program – NGFAP - in the Agricultural Stewardship Act of 2006 with a provision for up to $5 million in annual state funding.   To date, no funds have been provided.

During 2007, the Task Force on Agricultural Incentives made the NGFAP one of its top recommendations for the General Assembly to act on.  I have introduced Senate Bill 434 to get the Next Generation Program up and running this coming year.   The legislation will provide a total of $5 million in State general fund support spread over 4 years.

The NGFAP represents a partial solution to the problem of increasingly expensive farmland.  It is a reasonably well-financed and rapid response-type farmland easement purchase option program to help facilitate the transfer of farmland to a new generation of farmers.   NGFAP was developed by the Maryland Agricultural and Resource-Based Industry Development Corporation- MARBIDCO.

The design of this program would enable MARBIDCO to purchase an option on extinguishing the development rights on farm property being purchased by a qualified young farmer.  By selling the option to MARBIDCO, the young farmer would be able to meet the cash flow or equity requirements that a commercial lender would normally require in an agricultural business plan before approving a mortgage loan.

The NGFAP has been recommended as a top priority for State funding by the following Maryland advisory commissions and study groups:

 

• The Young Farmers Advisory Board
• The Maryland Agricultural Stewardship Commission
• The Maryland Agricultural Commission in its “Statewide Plan for Agricultural Policy and Resource Management”
• The Incentives for Agriculture Task Force
• The “Reality Check” Program for smart future land planning

Assembly approval of SB 434 represents a crucial part of the solution for the preservation of Maryland Agriculture.  

The 2006 General Assembly has already approved the NGFAP.   However, it has not funded the program.   It is time for the State of Maryland to put its money where its mouth is with respect to preserving Maryland Agriculture as a vital state industry.


 

Chronic Maryland Doctor Shortage

Examined By Senate Committee

In response to Maryland’s health care provider shortage, the Senate Committee on Education, Health & Environment Affairs, over which I preside as Vice-Chair, held a briefing on February 20. Participating in the briefing was the Secretary of the Department of Health & Mental Hygiene and various representatives of the medical community. This briefing was one of a series of briefings held over the past few years to examine Maryland’s shortage of doctors, nurses and dentists and find solutions to this serious and growing problem.

Maryland, the wealthiest state in the nation with the acclaimed best hospital in that nation, Johns Hopkins Hospital, has a deepening doctor shortage that must be addressed.

A January 2008 report conducted by the Maryland Hospital Association, Maryland State Medical Society and MedChi, which represents over 7,200 doctors, shows that Maryland is 16% below the national average for the number of physicians in clinical practice.

The worst doctor shortages are in the rural areas of southern and western Maryland and the Eastern Shore. Southern Maryland has critical shortages in 25 of the 30 types of doctors and is 83.3% below the national level for active practicing physicians. Western Maryland has shortages in 20 of the 30 types of doctors and is 66.7% below the national level for practicing physicians, while the Eastern Shore has shortages in 18 of the 30 types and is 60% below the national level. These severe shortages of practicing physicians is expected to worsen by 2015 unless decisive steps are taken to recruit and retain doctors, especially in areas of primary care, oncology and surgical and emergency medicine.

To add to the dilemma, nearly 10% of all clinical physicians are 65 years or older and 33% are 55 years or older. By 2015, 32% of the current physician workforce is expected to retire. In addition, only 52% of the residents trained at the state’s medical schools practice in Maryland. That percentage is projected to sink to 25% by 2015.

Contributing further to the shortage, the reimbursement for Maryland doctors is low. The Maryland Health Care Commission reports that the state’s physicians are in the lowest 25 percentile of the nation in terms of reimbursement level.

The Maryland Physicians Workforce Study recommends several changes to recruit and retain physicians in Maryland, which include:

· Making physician reimbursement rates nationally competitive. On average, Maryland emergency room doctors get 20% less than those in Northern Virginia.

· Adopting loan forgiveness programs to attract and retain residents in rural areas.

· Partnering with hospitals in the three rural regions to identify potential residents for positions in those areas.

· Requiring private insurers to reimburse newly credentialed physicians retroactive to the date they applied to the insurer for credentialing. Currently, only Medicaid and CareFirst provide such reimbursement.

· Requiring Maryland teaching programs to establish doctor rotations in regions and hospitals with shortages.

In addition, I have co-sponsored SB 459 with Senator "Mac" Middleton of Charles County. The bill establishes a 15-member Task Force to Review Physician Shortages in Rural Areas. Serving on the panel will be representatives of state agencies, medical schools, hospitals, higher education and the General Assembly.

The Task Force is directed to study the recruitment and retention of primary care physicians in rural areas, as well as efforts and programs to encourage physician practice in these areas. The panel is also charged with making recommendations on ways to encourage more primary care physicians to practice in Maryland’s rural areas.

It should be noted that currently state law does not specifically address health care in rural areas. According to the National Rural Health Association, while nearly 25% of the populations in lives rural areas only about 10% of the nation’s physicians practice there.

If little or nothing is done to address the growing problem of Maryland’s and rural Maryland’s physician shortage the consequences will be played out in shrinking patient access to medical care, seeking care for minor ailments in already overcrowded hospital emergency rooms and fewer specialists on call to respond to emergency surgeries. Preventive medical care, which brings down health care costs, will become less and less a part of the medical care picture. Thus, we can expect the deepening doctor shortage to make the cost of medical care skyrocket and the quality of health care to plummet.

March 25, 2007



Veterans’ Service Bill expanded to give better benefits



By Maryland Senator Roy Dyson



There have been a lot of concerns about the way veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan have been treated at Walter Reed Army Hospital. This issue has dominated the news and is disgraceful to these great service people. I am very pleased the President has established a bi-partisan commission led by former Senator Bob Dole, a World War II veteran who was severely wounded and knows what the long path to recovery is like.



There also reports that incidents of mental health problems including suicide, drug use and alcoholism are becoming a major problem for these returning veterans. This is obviously something that will get worse as the war continues.



Whether you are for or against these wars, there is nobody who will deny that the men and women fighting for our freedoms overseas are true heroes. We need to do everything in our power to help them.



Last year, the General Assembly recognized this potential tsunami when it passed The Veterans Advocacy and Education Act of 2006 which I was proud to co-sponsor. This bill passed both the Senate and House unanimously and was signed into law by Governor Ehrlich (Chapter 290).



This Act accomplished many worthwhile goals.



Chief among them was that it established an outreach and advocacy program within the Maryland Department of Veterans Affairs to ensure that veterans are informed of available federal and state services, benefits, and assistance. Along with providing much needed assistance to our veterans, this program allows another avenue for issues related to veterans to reach the Governor and the General Assembly.



The 2006 Act also established a Task Force to Study State Assistance to Veterans. The purpose of this task force is to make recommendations on the availability and accessibility of services for veterans, the efficiency of existing services, the feasibility of establishing new services for veterans, and the potential impact of an increased number of veterans returning from military service.



The task force was to have submitted its final report by December 2007, but due to new information related to veterans’ mental and physical health who are returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, Senate Bill 873 was introduced this year to address this situation.



This bill, which I am a co-sponsor, was recently heard in my Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee. This legislation extends the December 2007 Task Force to May 31, 2009.



The Veterans Advocacy and Education Act of 2006 provided some other valuable services for our veterans.



It established the Veterans of the Afghanistan and Iraq Conflicts Scholarship Program. This program provides Maryland higher education scholarship funds for active duty members of the armed forces who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, along with members of the reserve of the Maryland National Guard who were activated for these conflicts. The program also makes the spouses and children of these veterans eligible for these scholarships.



Maryland will continue to be proactive in making sure that our veterans receive the best help possible. They deserve nothing less. If you are a veteran and are not receiving quality service, please do not hesitate to contact me at (301) 858-3928 or (301) 994-2826.