BALTIMORE — At the Maryland State Fair, fairgoers can check out the The Dairy Bar which serves fresh ice cream straight from the farm. Every scoop supports the next generation of farmers.
The Dairy Bar offers seven Hershey’s flavors plus a special “flavor of the day” from one of 11 Maryland’s local creameries.
Watch as Kara Burnett talks to the young farmers
One of those farms is Broom’s Bloom Dairy in Bel Air.
"Our ice cream will be featured here Monday. It'll be one of our signature flavors dirt, which is a chocolate-based ice cream with Oreo cookies and chocolate chips," said Herdsman Belle Dallam.
Dallam says her family’s farm is excited to share its flavors.
“I think the customers love knowing exactly where their food is coming from. We milk all of the cows on the farm and then process that milk directly on the farm. We turn it into an ice cream mix and drive it to our ice cream store which is also right on the farm,” Dallam said.
All proceeds go back to the Maryland Farm Bureau’s Young Farmers Program, which helps support young people in agriculture through grants, scholarships, skill-building, and leadership development.
“It’s not always easy being a farmer,” Dallam said. “A lot of things can happen that affect your income and outcome, but with the Farm Bureau you always have their support.”
Kendall Abruzzese, Operations Coordinator with the Maryland Farm Bureau, says the program also helps educate consumers.
“When you see the cows in the Cow Palace and then come here for ice cream, it makes that connection that your dairy really does come from those cows, not just from the shelves at the grocery store,” Abruzzese said.
The average age of a farmer in the U.S. is 58, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Census of Agriculture. Abruzzese says programs like this are crucial to keeping the next generation in the industry.
“Dairy, especially in Maryland but across the country, is slowly dying off,” she said. “But we’re not going to get milk from anywhere else, our milk does come from cows.”
Maryland is home to more than 340 dairy farms, and Abruzzese says many of them supply local creameries as well as the Maryland-Virginia Dairy Co-op, which provides milk for Hershey’s ice cream.
"Each day we do seven Hershey's flavors which are just our basic flavors, and then we feature a flavor of the day, from a local Maryland creamery. This year we're excited to have 11 I think it's the most that we've ever worked with," Abruzzese said.
CARNIVAL HOURS:
Thursdays: 5pm-Close
Fridays: 10am-close
Saturdays: 10am-close
Sundays: 10am-close
Labor Day Monday: 10am-close
For the full state fair schedule, click here.
