Nick’s Organic Farm | Potomac, MD

Organic Producer | January, 2011 – January, 2016

Nick Maravell has farmed organically since 1979, and he emphasizes value added on-farm processing and direct marketing. Currently, he has 150 acres under cultivation at Nick’s Organic Farm in Frederick County, Maryland. He uses a diversified farming system to produce vegetables, forages, grains, seed, beef, poultry, eggs and poultry feed. For the past three decades he has conducted on-farm research through grant programs and in cooperation with USDA’s Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, the University of Maryland, and the Maryland Department of Agriculture.

Nick has also been active for many years at the national and state level in the development of organic legislation and standards, organic research priorities, and organic marketing issues. He is a founding board member of the Maryland Organic Food and Farming Association. He has also served as a steering committee member on the Scientific Congress on Organic Agricultural Research and actively participated in drafting its National Organic Research Agenda, published in 2007. He has also served as board member of Future Harvest-Chesapeake Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture, and as a member of the Farming Practices Committee of the Organic Trade Association.

During the 1970’s and 80’s in Washington DC, Nick served in a variety of managerial and staff positions in the areas of domestic policy development, research, and financial and program management. Nick served with the following organizations: National Institute of Education, US Senate Labor and Public Welfare Committee, Office of Education, National School Boards Association, Office of Management and Budget, National Endowment for the Arts, US Treasury, and National Academy of Sciences Board on Agriculture.