The Urban Agriculture Department of University of Maryland Extension-Baltimore City strives to provide the most current research-supported, environmentally friendly methods for growing food, ornamentals, livestock, and native plants in Baltimore City.  

If you are thinking about becoming an urban farmer, starting a community or a school garden, or just want to increase your knowledge base about home gardening, then University of Maryland Extension- Baltimore City (UME-BC) can help! 

  • Home gardening

    Home Gardening Questions

    The UME Home and Garden Information Center has a lot of helpful resources, including an Ask an Expert digital hotline.

  • vegetables credit UMD AGNR.JPG

    Farming Related Questions

    If you have a farming-related question, please start by looking over the Frequently Asked Questions at the Urban Agriculture website. If you don't see something relevant to your question there, please contact Neith at nglittle@umd.edu

Classes/Training/Development

UMD Extension offers a wide variety of educational classes and events throughout the year. Highlighted below are annual classes offered by the Urban Farming Program in Baltimore City. To be notified when registration for these classes opens, be sure to bookmark the UME calendar, subscribe to Urban Ag E-News, and follow us on social media (Facebook, Instagram). 

Beginning Farmer Course

Each winter we offer a course for aspiring and beginning farmers as part of the UMD Extension Maryland Beginning Farmer Success Program. The course usually starts in late January or early February and meets weekly through the end of March. This course is a an introduction at a basic level to a variety of important farming topics, including soil science, marketing, pest management, farm finances, food safety, crop rotation and livestock. 

Farmer Field Schools

During the growing season we offer a variety of hands-on workshops and field schools on farms across Baltimore City. 

Urban Farmer Winter Meeting

It is a tradition in Extension to partner with local farmers' associations to organize an annual winter farmers' meeting, where farmers can socialize with their peers and brush up their knowledge and skills. In Baltimore we partner with Farm Alliance of Baltimore to offer an annual Urban Farmers regional winter meeting. 

Food for Profit

Food for Profit is a one-day workshop designed to help people who want to make and sell "value-added products" work through the maze of local and state regulations, food safety issues, and business management concepts that all must be considered in setting up a commercial food business. This adaptation of Penn State Extension’s popular course has been specifically tailored to Maryland’s food production regulations, food entrepreneurial resources, and marketing opportunities. We try to offer this session annually in both Baltimore City and Baltimore County.