The Maryland Department of Agriculture has announced that more than 20 high-priority agricultural conservation practices are now eligible for 100% cost-share funding through the Maryland Agricultural Water Quality Cost Share, or MACS, program. Installation of these practices by farmers will help Maryland meet its 2025 Chesapeake Bay cleanup goals. 

“Clean water and healthy natural resources benefit all Marylanders,” says Joe Bartenfelder, agriculture secretary. “The department is committed to providing farmers with the financial and technical resources and support they need to install best management practices on their farms that will improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.”

Earlier this year, Gov. Larry Hogan signed a new law that authorizes the department to provide farmers with cost-share assistance that covers up to 100% of eligible costs to install certain high-priority best management practices on farms. 

Practices now eligible for up to 100% cost-share funding and free technical assistance include: 

Qualifying practices must have at least a 10-year maintenance life; provide environmental benefits that are consistent with Maryland’s Watershed Implementation Plan; and focus largely on in-field or edge-of-field practices that protect local waterways from nutrient runoff associated with crop production.

In addition, these practices are required to be implemented as part of a current soil conservation and water quality plan developed by a local soil conservation district.

Interested farmers should contact their local soil conservation district to apply for cost-share funding and to receive free technical assistance to design and install these practices. To be eligible for cost-share assistance, applicants must be in good standing with the Maryland Department of Agriculture, the MACS program and in compliance with Maryland’s nutrient management regulations.

Other restrictions may apply. 

For more information, contact MDA’s Conservation Grants Program at 410-841-5864, or visit the MDA website.

Source: Maryland Department of Agriculture, which is solely responsible for the information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.