Waldorf farmer helps grow the next generation

One of only 10 people in the country to be selected, Karl Shlagel, a generational farmer from Waldorf, recently joined a national fellowship by the American Farm Bureau Federation.

Shlagel, 42, was recently selected to join the Partners in Advocacy Leadership program, a two-year national fellowship that strives to create leaders and advocates for agriculture. He is only the second person from Maryland to be selected.

Shlagel said the fellowship is an opportunity to “develop muscles” that are already there and to become a better speaker and advocate for his industry.

“One customer at a time is not enough anymore,” Shlagel said. “I need to go speak to more people at a time, so this [fellowship] is going to give me that opportunity to avail myself.”

The fellowship focuses on advocacy to the media, the government and to stakeholders. Recently, he went to New York City with the program and learned how to effectively advocate for himself and the industry to reporters and media outlets.

“To ensure that the next generation can farm … we need to tell our story,” Shlagel said. “There is a disconnect from the majority of the population in this country to the few of us that play in the dirt for a living.”

In September, Shlagel will go to Washington, D.C., and work on developing productive relationships with the government and policymakers.

“I’m still suffering a little bit from imposter syndrome that I’m even involved in this,” the farmer said. “It is a humbling experience to be able to represent not only Maryland, but Southern Maryland on a national level, as well as myself, my family and my industry.”

Shlagel Farms LLC began in 1912 when Shlagel’s great-grandfather, a German immigrant, purchased land in Charles County after coming to America in 1906. Generations later, Karl Shlagel grew up on the farm with his four younger siblings.

In addition to raising a wide variety of fruits, vegetables and herbs, the farm also produces fresh brown eggs, farm raised meats and raw honey. However, their pick-your-own strawberry patch is the most popular activity on the farm.

“The type of agriculture that we do here is much different than the majority of farmers,” Shlagel said. “We are a small family farm. We’re very diversified. We raise everything from A to Z, asparagus to zucchini.”

Martin Proulx, the state value-added agricultural specialist for Maryland’s Department of Agriculture, said Shlagel Farms is his neighborhood farm and Shlagel himself is an invaluable representative for all of Maryland’s farms.

Proulx and Shlagel participated and graduated in the same class from the LEAD Maryland program that works to make agriculture ambassadors out of Maryland farmers.

“Having someone proudly and passionately represent Maryland is beneficial to all of us,” Proulx said. “Shlagel Farms is a super diverse farm leading by example.”

Growing the ‘next generation’After going to college and working other jobs in his 20s, Shlagel came home to the family farm in 2014.

“The biggest piece of advice I give to young farmers, high school or college age, is to go work for somebody else for a couple of years,” Shlagel said. “I chose to come home. I took a pay cut to come home because I wanted to do this.”

Shlagel said his favorite part of doing his job everyday is the seeds he plants, although those seeds don’t grow in the ground.

“A lot of people will ask this question and they always say, ‘What’s your favorite thing to grow,’” Shlagel said. “It’s the next generation. The best crop I will have ever planted is my children.”

Shlagel has three children, and he said the reason he farms is not for himself, but to ensure that the next generation and his children can continue farming.

“It’s a seed that I’m watching to grow and germinate and develop and, as such, I have gotten the opportunity to grow up with my children the same way I got to grow up with my parents,” Shlagel said.

Getting to speak to both his children and parents everyday is special, he said, and continuing to build connections with family is something the Shlagel’s have done for 100 years.

But Shlagel said his actual favorite part of his profession is the commute.

“I have the easiest commute out of anybody that works and lives in Charles County,” Shlagel said. “When I step out my front door, I’m on the job. The most traffic I might hit is behind a tractor or if a cow gets in front of me.”

Between him and his siblings, Shlagel said they have given their parents 16 grandchildren.

“There’s a farmer in there somewhere,” Shlagel said. “It might not be one of mine, might be one of theirs. … We’ll find the next generation.”

Despite all of the struggles the agricultural industry is facing, Shlagel said, there will always be a place for farms and that is why this fellowship is so important.

“At the end of the day, I don’t care if you’re growing on 1 acre or 1,000,” Shlagel said. “It’s all important. It all matters. It all needs representation and it all needs to be helped out and defended.”