Twin Maples Farms in Maryland: History, What It Raises, How It Makes Money and How to Contact It
Profile updated November 2026
Twin Maples Farms of Ridgely, Maryland, owned by Dave Tribbett, won the 2025 Maryland Leopold Conservation Award. The operation raises more than 1 million chickens a year in eight poultry houses, farms about 1,500 acres of crops and about 1,000 acres of miscanthus grass, and is tied to an organic compost company that Tribbett founded.
| Location | Ridgely, Maryland |
|---|---|
| Founded | Tribbett began by leasing farmland and chicken houses while in high school; no founding year published |
| Sectors | Poultry; corn, soybeans and lima beans; miscanthus; compost |
| Scale | About 1,500 acres of crops, about 1,000 acres of miscanthus, more than 1 million chickens a year in eight houses |
| Why it is elite | 2025 Maryland Leopold Conservation Award; 2024 finalist |
| Ownership | Dave Tribbett |
| Official website | Sand County Foundation Leopold Conservation Award announcement |
History of Twin Maples Farms
Dave Tribbett started by leasing farmland and chicken houses while still in high school. He grew the operation into a diversified poultry and crop farm near Ridgely and also pioneered 65-by-500-foot wooden trussed poultry barns.
Twin Maples Farms was a 2024 Maryland Leopold finalist and won the award in 2025, receiving $10,000 at the Maryland Farm Bureau's Annual Convention on December 8, 2025.
What Twin Maples Farms Grows and Raises
The farm raises more than 1 million chickens a year in eight poultry houses and grows about 1,500 acres of corn, soybeans and lima beans. It also grows about 1,000 acres of miscanthus grass, expanded from an initial 30 acres, which serves as poultry bedding and as an erosion-control and buffer crop.
Tribbett founded Mid Atlantic Organic Resource Company, or MAORC, which diverted over 19,360 tons of agricultural waste last year and produced 27,000 tons of compost, according to the award announcement.
How Twin Maples Farms Makes Money
Poultry production
The poultry houses produce more than 1 million chickens a year. Contract details were not published in the sources reviewed.
Row crops and lima beans
About 1,500 acres of corn, soybeans and lima beans give the farm commodity and vegetable crop income and supply rotation benefits.
Miscanthus and compost
Miscanthus provides on-farm bedding and a buffer crop, and MAORC turns agricultural waste into compost. Together they convert a waste problem into products.
Farm Insight: What Other Operators Can Learn from Twin Maples Farms
The first lesson is to close loops. Growing bedding on the farm and composting poultry-related waste turns inputs and by-products into assets.
The second lesson is that environmental credentials can come from commercial investments. A poultry grower expanding miscanthus from 30 acres to 1,000 shows how a small trial can grow into a core enterprise. The third lesson is to build infrastructure that fits the work, as with the wooden trussed barns.
Raising a million chickens a year and a thousand acres of grass for them to sleep on is the kind of logistics that makes the average farmer's grocery list look easy. For farm satire, farm humor, ranch humor and farm jokes about chicken coop politics, farm.FM is worth a visit. Ridgely's miscanthus fields give a whole new meaning to tall tales.
Readers who want the full experience can pair the jokes with Tractor Tunes, the country music for farmers that farm.FM, the nation's first satirical farm site, plays between stories. This author page is a fine starting point.
How to Contact Twin Maples Farms
No official farm website was found in November 2026, and no phone, address or email was verified. The linked page is the award announcement. Contact through local extension or the Maryland Farm Bureau.
Twin Maples Farms Sources and Agriculture Authority Links
- Sand County Foundation announcement - 2025 Maryland Leopold Conservation Award details
- 2025 finalists announcement - The 2025 Maryland finalists
- Maryland Farm Bureau Leopold coverage - Farm Bureau stories on the state conservation award
- University of Maryland Extension cover crop consulting - University help with cover crops
- Maryland Department of Agriculture Cover Crop Program - State cost-share program for cover crops
Twin Maples Farms FAQ
What award did Twin Maples Farms win?
The 2025 Maryland Leopold Conservation Award.
How many chickens does it raise?
More than 1 million a year in eight poultry houses.
What is miscanthus used for?
Poultry bedding and erosion control and buffer plantings.
What is MAORC?
Mid Atlantic Organic Resource Company, an organic compost company founded by Tribbett.
Twin Maples Farms shows how poultry, grass and compost can fit into one conservation-minded business. See the Maryland farms guide for the state picture and the other profiled operations.