Farmers Rejoice As Grain Elevator Reopens In South County: Reports

LOTHIAN, MD - The Lothian grain elevator reopened Friday, saving Anne Arundel County farmers a costly drive to the Eastern Shore to store their harvest. 

Perdue previously owned the grain elevator and planned to close it, but the county announced in March that it would buy the site for $1.25 million instead. The county soon after found a new operator, returning a local option to farmers.

Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman called the reopening “probably the most impactful local government action on behalf of agriculture in the history of our county.”

“When it’s time to harvest the corn, the beans, or the wheat grown on over ten thousand acres of our county, it needs to get trucked somewhere for storage on its way to market,” Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman said in a press release. “The closer that somewhere is, the quicker that field can get harvested. Without a local elevator, growing grains just isn’t feasible. We’ve already lost thousands of acres of our county’s farmland, and we can’t afford to lose more.”

Fourth-generation farmer Rob Whittington thinks he would have left agriculture if the Lothian grain elevator would have closed permanently.

“Pretty much going out of business,” Whittington told WMAR. “For a small farmer who only does a few acres compared to some of these big guys, it was probably going to be the end for us. We’d quit.”

For more reactions to the reopening, read WMAR's full story. To learn more about why the county bought the grain elevator, read Pittman's press release.

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