Maryland's farm industry faces a greater threat than indicated by a recent study, members of the Maryland Agricultural Commission said yesterday before voting to ask the next governor to set up a task force to look at ways to keep agriculture profitable in the state.

Several members of the governor's agriculture advisory group disagreed with the University of Maryland study released in September that concluded that the state's loss of farmland has slowed in recent years and may be a problem of the past.

"I was shocked when I read that until I realized that the data was 2 years old," said Robert Hutchison, who reports on field crops to the commission and farms about 4,000 acres near Cordova in Talbot County.

"The loss of farmland in the state has been accelerating in recent years," he said. "I don't know of a single farmer who will tell you that is not the case."

The University of Maryland report concluded that Maryland would likely lose 40,000 acres of farmland over the next decade. This compares with a loss of an average of 7,800 acres a year between 1973 and 1997.

Douglas W. Green, who represents the poultry industry, said the 40,000-acre projection did not include 50,000 acres to be set aside as a buffer area to guard against farm nutrient runoff entering the state's streams and rivers feeding into the Chesapeake Bay.

Hagner R. Mister, Maryland agriculture secretary, called the study "a very good report that will serve as a benchmark" of the state's farming industry.

John Brooks, a veterinarian from Fork, said the agriculture industry needs to do a better job "of selling what agriculture means to those in power in Annapolis. Agriculture needs to be viewed as a major contributor to Maryland's economy."

State officials have long referred to agriculture as Maryland largest industry, generating $17 billion in sales and employing 400,000.

A narrower definition, looking only at agriculture production and services and food processing, puts farming's economic impact at about $8 billion a year, providing jobs for more than 70,000 people.

Brooks, who served as chairman of yesterday's commission meeting, referred to the report as a "wake-up signal" that can be used by a task force "to recognize the importance of agriculture to the state and to develop policy to help keep the industry viable."

Bernie Marczyk, a policy and research adviser to Gov.-elect Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., was at yesterday's meeting. He said it was too soon to determine the next governor's policies toward agriculture.

Green also encouraged the new administration to take an active role in having the port of Baltimore's only grain elevator rebuilt. It has been closed since June 2001 when it was damaged by a storm. The loss of the grain pier is costing Central Maryland grain farmers about $25 million a year in lost revenue, according the university's study.