Ursery Farms™Brandywine, Maryland
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About

A working farm that teaches, feeds, and employs

Ursery Farms™ is a federally recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in Brandywine, Maryland. We use Marcellus Farms™ as a living laboratory: the classroom, the laboratory, and the distribution point are the farm itself.

History and Relationship

Rooted as a family farm. Growing as a community institution.

A first-generation family farm growing into a community institution.

Founded in 2023, Marcellus Farms™ is a family-owned agricultural enterprise rooted in Brandywine, Maryland. From that foundation, Ursery Farms™ was established as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization to extend the farm’s knowledge, land, infrastructure, and commitment to stewardship into programs that serve the broader community.

Through Ursery Farms™, the land becomes more than a place of production. It becomes a place for agricultural education, workforce preparation, food access, applied research, demonstration, environmental stewardship, and intergenerational learning.

Marcellus Farms™ and Ursery Farms™ are distinct but closely connected organizations. Marcellus Farms™ operates the commercial agricultural enterprise and serves as the living laboratory. Ursery Farms™ advances the charitable and educational mission through instruction, community food systems, workforce development, research, demonstration, and public-benefit programming.

Open-air market facility on the farm in Brandywine, Maryland, with a wide covered porch, timber posts, and gathering seating
The market facility on the farm in Brandywine, Maryland.

Mission

Ursery Farms™ advances food access, agricultural education, workforce development, environmental stewardship, agricultural innovation, and rural revitalization by connecting people to land, technology, practical skills, fresh food, and economic opportunity.

Vision

We envision a resilient regional food economy where youth, workers, beginning farmers, small agricultural businesses, and agricultural heritage communities can learn, earn, innovate, and thrive.

Values

Ten commitments that govern our programs

  • 01

    Stewardship

    We care for land, water, and community assets held in trust for the next generation.

  • 02

    Heritage

    We treat inherited agricultural knowledge as technical expertise worth teaching.

  • 03

    Resilience

    We build systems that continue to serve people under strain.

  • 04

    Education

    We teach through practice, not abstraction.

  • 05

    Innovation

    We test, measure, and share what works.

  • 06

    Food access

    We move fresh food to households at prices and distances that work for them.

  • 07

    Economic opportunity

    We connect skills to earnings and ownership.

  • 08

    Respect for heritage

    We honor the agricultural heritage of the communities we serve.

  • 09

    Community partnership

    We work with neighbors, not on their behalf.

  • 10

    Transparency

    We publish only what we can verify.

Who We Serve

The people our programs are designed for

Program design begins with the practical obstacle a person actually faces: cost, transportation, scheduling, prior experience, or distance from fresh food.
  • Youth and secondary students
  • Adult career changers and incumbent workers
  • Beginning farmers and small producers
  • Beginning and limited-resource farming families
  • Families experiencing limited food access
  • Veterans and returning residents seeking skilled work
  • Community organizations and schools
  • Employers seeking trained agricultural technicians

Leadership, Faculty, and Technical Instructors

Instructors leading program development

Only verified roles are published. Additional leadership, faculty, and board profiles will appear here once confirmed.

  • Kathy Mason

    Program Director and Lead Instructor

    Focus areas

    • Agribusiness
    • Applied farm operations
    • Protected production
    • Land use and planning
    • Community food systems
    • Food access
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Workforce development
    • Internships
    • Capstone instruction

  • Kenneth R. White Sr.

    Instructor of Agricultural Technology, Data Systems, and Resilient Infrastructure

    Focus areas

    • Agricultural IoT
    • SCADA and automation
    • Data systems
    • Agricultural analytics
    • Cybersecurity
    • Resilient utilities
    • Asset management
    • Project management
    • Technology commercialization
    • Infrastructure commissioning

Community Accountability

We publish only what we can verify

Our programs serve communities that have often been promised more than was delivered. We hold ourselves to a plain standard: no claimed outcome without data, no claimed partnership without written authorization, and no claimed funding without an award.

Commitment to agricultural heritage

Ursery Farms™ is committed to expanding agricultural opportunity for beginning farmers, limited-resource producers, low-income households, and rural residents in Southern Maryland who have been shut out of land, capital, technology, and technical assistance. Program recruitment, scheduling, and cost structures are designed around that commitment.