Featured: Prince George’s Soil Conservation District Awards ECO City Farms Cooperator of the Year!
BRANDYWINE, MD – On Friday, April 24, 2026, the Prince George’s Soil Conservation District (PGSCD) celebrated its 50th annual cooperator awards dinner honoring ECO City Farms (ECO) at Baden Fire Hall in Brandywine, MD. ECO is the first urban farm in Prince George’s County and Maryland to be recognized as Cooperator of the Year.
It all started with a simple, powerful dream from founder Margaret Morgan-Hubbard:
“We grow great food, farms, and farmers.”
Her vision was to see fresh, healthy, culturally appropriate food grown everywhere in Prince George’s County—in urban centers and parklands, not just rural areas. Established in 2010, ECO City Farms didn’t just plant seeds; they transformed entire landscapes. Today, their two Certified Naturally Grown farms in Bladensburg and Edmonston produce over 75 varieties of vegetables. Through their Community Supported Agriculture program, they serve 245 individuals with fresh produce, in addition to donations to local food pantries.
But as Ms. Morgan-Hubbard envisioned, they don’t just grow great food—they grow great farmers. ECO’s commitment to education is profound. Their New and Beginning Farmers Training Program has over 250 graduates, and their youth programs have engaged a comparable number of young people. They also partnered with Maryland-National Capital Parks and Planning Commission, Prince George’s Soil Conservation District, the Food Equity Council, and The Capital Market to launch the Urban Farm Incubator at Watkins Regional Park. This 11-acre site supports ten new and beginning farm businesses with shared infrastructure that collectively produced over 8,000 pounds of food in 2025.
“Since ECO created the first urban farm in Prince George’s County well over a decade ago, the number of farms and farmers practicing regenerative farming has grown substantially. SCD currently counts 133 urban farms amongst its cooperators. This is important and exciting news, because these farms are hyperlocal—run by people from the County, growing food for the people of the County. While we cannot replace high-yield rural farming, we can make a significant contribution to producing food, and jobs in farming, wherever and everywhere people live,” said Ms. Morgan-Hubbard during her acceptance speech.
For ECO City Farms, conservation was the key foundation from day one, as demonstrated by their cooperative working relationship with PGSCD, Maryland Department of Agriculture, and USDA-Natural Resource Conservation Service. The Supervisors and staff of PGSCD and its conservation partners admire their efforts to install a wide variety of Best Management Practices (BMPs) on their farms, which include: cover crop, crop rotation, high tunnels, low tunnels, mulching, nutrient management, composting, access roads, grassed waterways, diversions, fencing, field borders, filter strips, heavy use areas, lined waterway, water well, rain gardens, pipelines, frost-free hydrants, and water recovery practices.
For their exemplary work in the art and science of farming table crops, their dedication to training the next generation, and their unwavering support for a healthier, more sustainable Prince George’s County, we celebrate ECO City Farms as the Prince George’s Soil Conservation District’s 2025 Cooperator of the Year.
About Prince George’s Soil Conservation District
The mission of the Prince George’s Soil Conservation District is to protect and promote the health, safety and general welfare of the citizens of the State and County, and otherwise enhance their living environment by conservation of soil, water and related resources. The District works to control and prevent soil erosion in order to preserve natural resources, control floods, prevent impairment of dams and reservoirs, assist in maintaining the navigability of rivers and harbors, preserve wildlife, protect the tax base and public lands.
Media Contact
Kim Summers
301.574.5162 x3
kmsummers@pgcmd.gov
www.pgscd.org