Governor Martin O'Malley appointed fourth generation Southern Maryland farmer, Earl F. Hance as
secretary of the Maryland Department of Agriculture in May 2009. He served as deputy secretary of
agriculture from February 2007 until May 2009. Prior to these appointments, Buddy Hance served as
president of the Maryland Farm Bureau, chairman of the Maryland State Tobacco Authority, and as chairman
of the Southern Maryland Agricultural Commission among other farm and community activities.
Hance also was active in numerous local, state, and national farm and civic organizations. At the
national level, he represented the Northeastern states on the American Farm Bureau Federation and was
a member of the Nationwide Insurance Company Board Council. In Maryland, he served as a member of the
Rural Maryland Council, the Prince Frederick Volunteer Fire Department, the Patuxent River Commission,
the Southern Maryland Tourism Council, the Maryland State Tobacco Authority, the Calvert Farmland Trust,
the Board of the Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum and the Board of the Calvert County Farm Bureau.
A former tobacco farmer, Secretary Hance and his family farm 600 acres of corn and soybeans.
Buddy and his wife Robin live in Port Republic, Calvert County and have three children and two grandchildren.
