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Farmers and environmental conservationists are often thought of as being in something of a turf battle, but members of each side worked to find common ground during a conference this week put on by the Accokeek Foundation.

Nearly 80 farmers, environmentalists and policymakers from around the region, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture's senior adviser for sustainability, Jill Auburn, attended the day-long conference Dec. 9 at the National Wildlife Visitor Center Patuxent Research Refuge in Laurel.

The goal of the conference, "Common Ground: Growing Agriculture, Restoring the Bay," was to discuss the future of farming, which includes ways to attract young people to the profession and how to sustain the economics of agriculture while also protecting the nation's land and watersheds.

While no specific agreements came out of the conference, participants discussed ideas that included the need to diversify farming methods, research new technology and improve training techniques for young people interested in the business.

The Chesapeake Bay Trust, a nonprofit organization based in Annapolis that promotes public awareness and participation in the restoration and protection of the Chesapeake Bay, helped sponsor the event. Wilton Corkern, the Accokeek Foundation's president, said the trust's support represented a commitment from farmers and environmentalists to collaborate in the future.

"We had a tremendous diversity in terms of backgrounds and points of view, and there was a lot of common ground. For the most part, people take the need to restore the bay as a given, and it also serves as a metaphor for all kinds of environmental and civic responsibilities that go along with the business," Corkern said. The Accokeek Foundation is dedicated to preserving the land of Piscataway Park and also runs Colonial and ecosystem farms.

Allen Hance, Chesapeake Bay Trust's executive director, said farmers and conservationists should be on the same side.

"Agriculture is really a preferred land use throughout the region," Hance said. "Agriculture production can, and often is, done in ways that meet water quality objectives."

Farmers and environmentalists often disagree on where the balance lies between economical farming and protecting the earth.

But nothing will work, participants said, unless it maximizes the triple bottom line: people, planet and profit.

Auburn, with the USDA, said people in agriculture realize farming won't succeed without meeting all three demands.

"What's changing is that we're thinking about opportunities that come from stacking all goals on top of each other," Auburn said. "We're looking for practices that advance all three of those together."

Joan Norman, an organic vegetable farmer in Baltimore County, told a story that seemed to sum up how farmers can adapt in ways that are favorable to all sides. She detailed her farming friend's stubbornness to stop feeding his chickens environmentally unfriendly antibiotics even though several died in every flock. Norman tried to convince him that her naturally fed chickens were healthier and lived longer, thus making them more profitable in the long run. Eventually, he listened, and now his chickens are not dying as often, Norman said.

"He said, ‘For all these years I've been told what to do, so that was the way I did it. I sort of stopped thinking for myself,'" Norman said.

According to 2007 census data, which is the most recent farm data available, Prince George's County has 375 farms covering more than 37,000 acres. That is down from 452 farms in 2002 covering about 45,000 acres.

Nick Place, the associate dean of the University of Maryland Extension, said discussions like those at the conference are the best way to move forward.

"As you think about more and more people to feed on less and less land, we have to come up with strategies and mechanisms for sustaining and holding onto the land that we have right now," Place said. "It's going to take collaboration and networking. We have to do more of these kinds of things, bringing people together to facilitate those dialogues and discussions and to learn from one another."

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