Earl F. "Buddy" Hance (born July 17, 1955), is an American politician who served as Secretary of the Maryland Department of Agriculture in the Cabinet of Governor

Martin O'Malley Martin Joseph O'Malley (born January 18, 1963) is an American lawyer and former politician who served as the 61st Governor of Maryland from 2007 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he was Mayor of Baltimore from 1999 to 2007. O'Malley ...

from May 2009 to January 2015, after serving as Deputy Secretary of the Maryland Department of Agriculture beginning in February 2007.

Early life

Hance was born in

Prince Frederick, Maryland Prince Frederick is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Calvert County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Prince Frederick was 3,226, up from 2,538 in 2010. It is the county seat of Cal ...

. He graduated from Calvert High School. In 1973, he joined the Prince Frederick Volunteer Fire Department.

Career

From 2003 to 2007, Hance served as the President of the Maryland Farm Bureau. From 2004 to 2007, he served on the board of directors of the

American Farm Bureau Federation The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF), also known as Farm Bureau Insurance and Farm Bureau Inc. but more commonly just the Farm Bureau (FB), is a United States-based insurance company and lobbying group that represents the American agri ...

. In February 2007, Hance was appointed Maryland's Deputy Secretary of Agriculture. In May 2009, Hance became Secretary of Agriculture of Maryland. He held this post in the Cabinet of Governor

until 2015. In 2018, Hance was elected to a seat on the

Calvert County Calvert County is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 census, the population was 92,783. Its county seat is Prince Frederick. The county's name is derived from the family name of the Barons of Baltimore, the proprietors of t ...

Board of County Commissioners.

Personal life

A fourth-generation family farmer, he owns a 600-acre farm in Port Republic, Maryland, growing corn and soybean crops, and previously tobacco. He is married with three children.

References

1955 births Living people State agriculture commissioners in the United States County commissioners in Maryland State cabinet secretaries of Maryland Maryland Department of Agriculture Maryland Republicans Farmers from Maryland People from Prince Frederick, Maryland 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American farmers 20th-century American firefighters 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American farmers {{Maryland-politician-stub