Gov. Martin O'Malley Tuesday issued a letter in support of Nick's Organic Farm in Potomac as the farm owner and citizen groups sit ready to go to court again in what could be a final decision on the farm's fate.

Addressed to Shirley Brandman, president of the Montgomery County Board of Education, and Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett, the letter condemns the Brickyard Road Soccer Field project as "a big mistake."

The project, headed by Montgomery County, would turn a piece of land owned by the school board and that currently houses a 30-year-old organic farm in Potomac into soccer fields. 

O'Malley wrote:

In our State, where we believe in growing jobs and growing opportunity; where we believe in children growing healthy, growing educated, and growing strong; where we believe in sustainably growing food for a hungry world; where we believe in growing in our mindfulness, our awareness, and our understanding of the balance we must rediscover and reconcile with the other living systems of this one Earth we choose to share with future generations; we need more assets like Mr. Maravell’s farm, rather than fewer.

Read O'Malley's full letter attached to this post.

Check out our full length feature describing the history of the Brickyard Road controversy here.