Halfway between the Choptank River and the Delaware line in Dorchester County, Black Gold Farms’ Nicole Wickham and Megan Davidson are helping make sure that hungry Marylanders have easier access to fresh and nutritious local vegetables, while also keeping unwanted produce from spoiling or being unnecessarily thrown away.

Over the past 15 years, Black Gold has grown from produce provider to passionate partner.

“Our customers have specifications for product, and anything that didn’t meet that specification was likely to hit the dirt pile out back, unless we found a place where we could put it to use elsewhere, and that’s where it all started—with donations during harvest,” shared Nicole.

The next season, the farm expanded their relationship with the Maryland Food Bank, joining our Farm to Food Bank Program, led by Amy Cawley. The program engages farms across the state to provide produce to food-insecure Marylanders in need.

“We started doing fundraising events, so the food bank could use the money towards whatever their needs were. In more recent years, we have been specifically planting crops (based on Amy’s feedback) to donate back to the food bank,” she added.

Different Experiences Lead to a Unique Perspective

Hailing from a potato family in an agricultural community in western New York state, Nicole moved to what she calls “big city living” in Orlando but has been happy to “return to a rural agriculture” community, serving as Black Gold Farms office administrator for 14 years.

Nicole’s experience offers her a unique perspective on Maryland, explaining why she believes so much of Maryland’s agriculture still takes place on the Eastern Shore.

“Over here, we have towns that were established in the 1600s, and I’m pretty sure farming was all they were doing back then to make a living,” she said. “But on the western side, industrialization hit them earlier than here, so that’s probably why we still maintain such a rich agricultural community here,” she continued.