O’Malley’s farm help comes at right time

It’s easy, living in the resort area with its hotels, highrise condominiums, restaurants and shops not to think about the problems of the county’s agricultural industry.

More specifically, the thought of poultry farmers grappling with new and more stringent environmental regulations and trying to cope with the damage done by this winter’s storms is as far from the coastal consciousness as the cornfields of Nebraska.

Yet, the financial scope of Worcester County’s farming operations is more than significant. According to figures compiled by the Delmarva Poultry Industry, Worcester is the nation’s 26th largest producer of broiler chickens (Sussex County, Del., holds the top spot).

That translates into somewhere between $160 million and $170 million in sales a year, according to the Department of Agriculture, and that doesn’t count the $23 million sales value of the grain grown to help feed the industry.

But there’s more than economic impact to consider. The push to preserve farmland as a buffer against sprawling development is contingent upon farmers being able to enjoy decent profits. Unfortunately, more and more people in recent years seem to want the farms without the farming.

That’s why Gov. Martin O’Malley’s intervention in the poultry farm dilemma is so important. The help poultry farmers will receive in complying with new environmental regulations and restoring operations after a damaging winter is the right thing to do at the right time.

Times are tough enough without another economic blow and while residents of the coastal communities might not think so, losses in the farm economy would have a direct impact on their own wallets.

People on the beach might not know any farmers, but they would surely miss their presence were their numbers to decline drastically. Besides, when the American per capita consumption of chicken is more than a pound a week, it has to come from somewhere.