Local farmers are hall of famers

John A. Prouty honored for lifetime of service to agriculture

Friday, Feb. 5, 2010

John A. Prouty of Huntingtown has been a farmer all his life. But more than that, he has also been a key leader in the agricultural community and mentor to a generation of younger local farmers.

Due to his contributions both on and off the plowing field, Prouty and his family were inducted into the Governor's Agricultural Hall of Fame on Thursday.

The Proutys join the families of James and John Briscoe and Y.D. Hance as the third family from Calvert County to be inducted into the hall of fame.

"I'm overwhelmed," said Prouty, who turned 87 last December. "It's something I had never dreamed of being inducted and here I am."

Prouty attended the University of Maryland's agricultural school from 1940 to 1943 before serving a couple years in the U.S. Navy's Medical Corps. When he returned home, Prouty immediately began helping his father on the 160-acre family farm. Prouty grew tobacco, corn and wheat and also had raised a number of livestock.

"When my father came here there was no crop, there was no ground that was worth anything … we've built it up so much since then," Prouty said. "I was a farmer from the first."

But nowadays, Prouty's knees keep him from working much in the fields, so his son, John C., has taken hold of the reigns. Also a private attorney, the younger Prouty didn't study agriculture in college like his father, but he had a great teacher growing up.

"I consider every year I worked here was another course, another class," said John C., who will join his father and mother, Margaret, in the hall of fame.

The Proutys, like almost all farmers in the region, have stopped growing tobacco. In its place, they grow more grains — wheat, barley, rye — corn, soybeans, heirloom tomatoes and cup flowers. But it was the hardships faced by small farms in today's markets that persuaded the younger Prouty to earn a law degree. While uncertain of what the future may hold, some recent developments have made him hopeful.

"I'm encouraged by the recent ‘Buy Local' movement, where consumers are starting to appreciate things that are locally grown, that haven't been grown 3,000 miles from here and shipped," said John C.

John A. served on the county's first planning commission, as president and vice president of the county and state farm bureaus, respectively, and was an initial member of the Agriculture Preservation Advisory Board.

On top of his contributions to the agricultural community, the elder Prouty has always been known as an excellent farmer, Calvert County Farm Bureau President Walt Wells said. By double cropping soybeans — planting them immediately after harvesting the grains — John A. has been able to grow 200 acres of crops on his 160 acres of farmland.

Mike Phipps of Owings was one of the younger farmers the elder Prouty mentored through the years. Phipps is the former president of the Maryland Farm Bureau and was a member of the panel that recommended the Proutys along with another family from Frederick County be inducted into the hall of fame.

"Our families knew each other but I got to know him better when I got involved in the local farm bureau and he served as inspiration to me and has been a leader for many years," Phipps said, adding that he distinguishes between the John A., and John C., by remembering that A comes before C in the alphabet. "A wonderful man, very intelligent. It's hard to say how much I've appreciated him over the years."

Wells and Phipps also recognized John A., whose farm borders the Patuxent River, for being an early advocate of conservation before the concept became popular and a legislative priority.

"I'm thrilled for my father really because this has been his life," said John C., who served on the advisory board for 10 years and was one of the founding members of the Calvert Farmland Trust. "It's a tremendous recognition state wide for a very successful career."

jnewman@somdnews.com