As Tobacco Loses Currency, a New Cash Crop Blooms

Jamie Raley's family has been farming in St. Mary's County since Abraham Lincoln was president, mostly growing tobacco. But with the drop in U.S. cigarette smoking over the past decade, tobacco no longer pays. So the Raleys cast about for something else that would keep them on the farm.

They discovered petunias. And begonias, marigolds and impatiens.

The Raleys borrowed $318,000 to build a half-acre, climate-controlled greenhouse that could grow tens of thousands of garden flowers and add a tidy income to bolster Jamie's slim government pension.

They are among a growing group of local farmers at the forefront of what could become a revolution in Maryland agriculture. Theirs and 40 other farms in Southern Maryland and the Eastern Shore have created a factory-like network of greenhouses to produce a viable new cash crop for an industry once dependent on tobacco and poultry farming.

The Raleys still farm corn and hay and raise a few Angus cattle, but these days the flowers seem to hold the most promise for a regular payday.

"Either my wife or myself would have had to get a job off-farm to maintain our standard of living," Raley, 53, said of his colorful new revenue stream.

At the center of their new business model is a family nursery operation in eastern Montgomery County with a big contract to supply Home Depot with plants for its stores in the mid-Atlantic.

The collaboration with Bell Nursery helps shelter the family farmers from many of the ups and down that typically haunt growers, but it's hardly a sure thing.

Farmers have to keep flower spoilage down and watch their costs. And there are other risks. Bell can end the relationship at the end of a season, which would force the grower to find another buyer. Also, Bell's only client is Home Depot. If Bell lost Home Depot, farmers would again have to sell elsewhere.

Even with perfect execution, the profits from flowers alone may not generate enough income to keep the family on the farm. But for those who have tried, the income is enough to make farming feasible. Raley last year netted a $15,329 profit from his flowers, but he expects that to soar to $70,000 in two years when he pays off the mortgage on the greenhouse.

"The idea is to try to have as many different ways for farms to make money as possible," said Jok Walsh, who as executive director of Caroline County's economic development authority helped promote the business model.

Under the concept, farmers build half-acre greenhouses -- known as Bell Houses -- with their own money. Bell sells them seedlings in December, then the farmers mature the flowers in their greenhouses for 10 weeks or so, carefully controlling the temperature and watering the plants.