III.

Economic Activities

Maryland, while small in area, has a highly diversified economy. Originally it was an agricultural colony, with tobacco as its main crop. Farming remained the chief occupation until the late 19th century. In the 1890s manufacturing became a more important source of both jobs and income. Although agriculture is still practiced in most of Maryland, it now provides less than 1 percent of the state’s gross product. Manufacturing, meanwhile, has grown to produce as much income for the state as does retail trade. The services sector, however, provides the largest share of economic activity. Some 3,009,000 people held jobs in Maryland in 2006. Those employed in services, with such jobs as caterers and dry cleaning attendants, were 41 percent of the workforce. Another 19 percent percent worked in wholesale or retail trade; 21 percent in federal, state, or local government, including those in the military; 34 percent in finance, insurance, or real estate; 6 percent in manufacturing; 7 percent in construction; 5 percent in transportation or public utilities; and 2 percent in farming (including agricultural services), forestry, or fishing. Employment in mining was just 0.1 percent. In 2005, 13 percent of Maryland’s workers were unionized.

A.

Agriculture

Farms occupied 825,559 hectares (2 million acres) in 2005, or more than one-third of Maryland’s total area, in 1997. Crops were raised on 26 percent of the state’s land area.

In 1996 the sale of livestock and livestock products accounted for three-fifths of total farm income in Maryland, with broilers (young chickens used for food) and dairy products as two of the state’s top agricultural commodities. The sale of crops accounted for two-fifths of farm income.

A.1.

Crops

By value of sales, the principal crops are greenhouse and nursery products, corn, and soybeans. Corn is grown throughout the state, although most of it is produced in the Piedmont region. Most of the corn is sold for cash, but some is used for livestock feed and for seed on the farms where it was grown. Soybeans occupy much cropland, especially on the Eastern Shore. Tobacco is grown in Calvert, Anne Arundel, Prince Georges, Charles, and Saint Marys counties, in southern Maryland, and is one of Maryland’s most valuable cash crops. Its importance to the farm economy, however, is declining. Vegetables are grown on the Eastern Shore, especially in the three southern counties of the area, and to a lesser extent in the Piedmont region. Much of the vegetable harvest is processed in local food-processing plants. The rest is shipped fresh to urban centers.

Other field crops include wheat, barley, oats, and hay. Wheat is grown in the Piedmont region and on the Eastern Shore. Hay, including clover and timothy grass, is grown mainly in the Piedmont region and used primarily as livestock feed. Barley and oats are grown in the Piedmont region and in the valleys farther west. A variety of fruits are grown. Apples, peaches, pears, plums, and cherries are grown in western Maryland. Peaches are also raised on the Eastern Shore, as are strawberries, watermelons and cantaloupes.

A.2.

Livestock

Poultry farming is a specialized agricultural activity concentrated in the Piedmont counties near Baltimore, but especially on the Eastern Shore. Broilers account for most of the farm income from poultry farming. Eggs are produced for the large, urban markets close by. In addition, some turkeys and full-grown chickens are raised and sold for meat. Dairy farming is concentrated in the Piedmont counties but is also carried on in the western valleys and on the Eastern Shore. Most of the milk is sent to large urban centers. In addition, some beef cattle and hogs are raised in Maryland.

A.3.

Patterns of Farming

In 2005 there were 12,100 farms in Maryland. Relatively few had income sufficient for their operators to survive by farming alone.

Agricultural practices and farm prosperity vary considerably from place to place within the state. In the western mountains, subsistence farmers, like their counterparts elsewhere in Appalachia, exist on very low income. However, the commercial fruit growers in Hagerstown Valley and other valleys are relatively prosperous. Dairying predominates in the Piedmont region, especially in the counties of the Baltimore metropolitan area. Prosperous farmers specialize in producing milk and eggs for urban markets. In addition, some dairy farmers use surplus milk to feed high-quality calves and hogs, which are sold for meat. In southern Maryland nearly all the commercial farmers, many of whom are tenant farmers, specialize in raising tobacco. On the Eastern Shore much of the annual farm income is derived from the sale of livestock and livestock products. Broilers are raised mainly in the southern counties, while dairy farming tends to predominate in the north.

B.

Fisheries

The harvesting of shellfish in Chesapeake Bay dominates commercial fishing activities in Maryland. Blue crabs, clams, oysters, and horseshoe crabs are the most valuable shellfish caught in Maryland waters. Since the mid-1960s Maryland has been one of the top-ranking states in the quantity of oysters harvested annually. Large shipments of clams are regularly sent to New England restaurants to be served fried or steamed. The remainder of the commercial fishing catch includes white perch, spiny dogfish, black sea bass, goosefish, croaker, and menhaden, which are taken mainly in the bay, and flounder, which are caught in offshore waters. Catfish and bullheads also contribute significantly to the state’s income. The catch of Maryland’s fisheries in 2004 was valued at $49 million.

C.

Forestry

Forests cover 41 percent of the state’s land area, but large-scale forestry and lumbering operations typical of some parts of the South have not developed in Maryland. Nearly all of the state’s commercial forest lands are in small privately owned farm woodlots.

D.

Mining

The most valuable minerals produced in Maryland are crushed stone, portland cement, and sand and gravel. Stone production includes the output of limestone, sandstone, marble, granite, and oystershell. It is used primarily for building construction, highway construction, and the manufacture of cement and concrete. Stone is produced in northern and western Maryland. Sand and gravel, which are also used primarily in construction activities, are produced mainly on the Western Shore. Some peat is still harvested from bogs in Garrett County in far Western Maryland, primarily for sale to home gardeners and farmers. Bituminous coal is mined in Garrett and Allegany counties in western Maryland. Although coal production declined after 1945, it rose sharply in the late 1970s and early 1980s due to increases in demand. In 2004 Maryland produced 4.7 million metric tons of coal.

E.

Manufacturing

Manufacturing activities are concentrated in and around Baltimore. Other industrial centers include Cumberland, Hagerstown, Frederick, Salisbury, and Cambridge. Established types of manufacturing in Maryland include those for food products, chemicals, printing and publishing, primary metals, industrial machinery, and navigation equipment.

The primary metals industry is concentrated almost entirely in the Baltimore metropolitan area, where steel, tinplate, aluminum, and other metals are produced. In addition, some steel is made in Cumberland, in western Maryland. Metal-processing plants along the shores of Chesapeake Bay and the lower Patapsco River utilize raw materials from distant sources rather than from Maryland mines. Iron ore for the huge steel plant at Sparrows Point, near Baltimore, is imported primarily from Venezuela and Canada. Scrap iron and steel are also used. Tin is imported mainly from Bolivia and Malaysia.

The manufacture of transportation equipment is also carried on mainly in the Baltimore metropolitan area. The shipyards at Sparrows Point and elsewhere in the area constitute one of the principal shipbuilding and ship-repairing centers in the United States. Fishing vessels and other small craft are built and repaired at numerous boatyards in the Chesapeake Bay area. Motor vehicles are assembled in Baltimore and nearby suburbs. Motor vehicle parts and railroad equipment are manufactured in the Baltimore area and in Cumberland. Aircraft are made in Hagerstown, as are heavy-duty trucks.

The production of foodstuffs is the most widely distributed manufacturing activity in Maryland, although much of such activity in the state is accounted for by the Baltimore metropolitan area. There are many small food-processing plants throughout the Atlantic Coastal Plain and Piedmont regions of the state. Food-processing activities include the production of beverages, bakery goods, confections, dairy products, meat products, fruit and vegetable products, and seafood.

The output of chemicals and chemical products, electrical and nonelectrical machinery, search and navigation equipment, tin cans, steel tubing, and numerous other metal products is part of the heavy-industry complex centered on Baltimore. Electrical products manufacturing is represented by firms such as Black and Decker, headquartered in Towson, north of Baltimore.

F.

Electricity

In 2005 Maryland generated 67 percent of its electricity in thermal plants, primarily fueled by coal or oil. Most of the electric power generated in the hydroelectric station at Conowingo Dam, on the lower Susquehanna River, is used in Pennsylvania. Maryland’s 2 nuclear power plants provide 28 percent of the total electricity output. Most of the power plants are privately owned.

G.

Transportation

The development of transportation facilities has played a major role in the economic development of Maryland. Baltimore is the chief focus of transportation routes in the state.

G.1.

Highways

The principal highways linking Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C., extend across Maryland in a roughly northeast-to-southwest direction. These heavily traveled routes, all of which pass through Baltimore or around it via a belt highway (route 695), include Interstate Highway 95, of which the section northeast of Baltimore is known as the J. F. Kennedy Memorial Highway, and U.S. Highway 1. The Baltimore-Washington Parkway links Baltimore with the national capital. On the Eastern Shore the chief highways are U.S. highways 50 and 301 and a short section of U.S. Highway 13. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge, opened in 1952, spans the bay near Annapolis. The bridge has not only brought the state together but ended the relative isolation of the lower Eastern Shore. Maryland contains 49,581 km (30,808 mi) of highways, including 774 km (481 mi) of the federal interstate highway system.

G.2.

Railroads

There are 1,221 km (759 mi) of railroad track in Maryland. The principal lines roughly parallel the state’s chief highways, passing through Baltimore and linking Maryland’s major industrial and urban areas with other cities located along the Eastern Seaboard.

G.3.

Rapid Transit

A rapid transit system for the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area was extended into Maryland in 1978. A limited system for the Baltimore area was opened in 1983, and extended with a light rail line in 1992.

G.4.

Airports

Maryland’s largest airport is the Baltimore-Washington International Airport. Some 3 smaller airports are situated throughout the state, mostly private airfields. Much of Maryland is also in the service area of Dulles International and Washington National airports in northern Virginia.

G.5.

Ports and Inland Waterways

Baltimore, one of the chief ports on the Eastern Seaboard, ranks among the leading U.S. ports in terms of the quantity of imported cargo received annually. Much of this volume is made up of raw materials imported for the Baltimore area’s heavy industrial plants. By comparison, the city has a relatively modest export trade and domestic coastal trade. Primarily a bulk cargo port, Baltimore is not a port of call for most passenger lines. Oceangoing vessels can reach Baltimore by way of the bay. In addition, the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, a toll-free canal stretching 31 km (19 mi) across the Delmarva Peninsula, links Chesapeake Bay with the Delaware River. This route greatly shortens the length of the shipping route from Baltimore to Philadelphia, New York, other U.S. ports farther north, and Europe. Small vessels can navigate some inlets of Chesapeake Bay. The Potomac is navigable by larger vessels as far upstream as Washington, D.C. The port of Baltimore now faces its greatest challenge from the increased competition of Norfolk and Newport News, both in Virginia at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.

H.

Trade

Baltimore, served by major railroads and numerous shipping lines and trucking companies, is the state’s leading wholesale and retail trade center. The chief trade centers in the western part of the state are Frederick, Hagerstown, and Cumberland. In addition, there are large retailing establishments in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C. On the Eastern Shore, Salisbury is the major trade center.