A Chesapeake Champion Profile: Bobby Hutchison

In a few weeks, the Mid-Shore conservation community will gather once again at Easton’s Waterfowl Chesapeake building to honor Horn Point Laboratory’s annual Chesapeake Champion. The recipients this time around will be all five Hutchison brothers for their innovative work on their 3,400 acre farm outside of Cordova.

In a relatively short period of time, the Champion award has become one of the most prestigious in the field of environmental protection for the Mid-Atlantic region. Starting in 2013, Horn Point has put an important spotlight on local heroes that have made a real and lasting contribution in protecting the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem. In the past, it has gone to remarkable conservation volunteer leaders, restaurant owners, and citizen scientists, all of whom have found creative ways to sustain the Shore’s wildlife, landscapes and water.

And for the first time, the Champion award is being presented to a farming operation whose owners have meticulously cared for and protected their family’s land for close to a century. Quick to adopt best management practices, improve water quality, and the use of state of the art equipment to dramatically reduce the usage of nitrogen, the Hutchison brothers have gained the admiration and appreciation of the Eastern Shore in becoming the gold standard for how farming must be done in the future.

But what is the history of the Hutchison Brothers farm? What is it really like to be a farmer in 2019? Those were some of the questions we asked Bobby Hutchison when the Spy visited the farm a few weeks ago. His answers make it all the more clear the kind of unique sacrifices his family has made to be true stewards of the land.

This video is approximately six minutes in length. For more information about the Chesapeake Champion Awards please go here.  The Awards program will be be presented on Thursday, May 30, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., at the Waterfowl Chesapeake Building in Easton.