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News

Take Action on 3 Bills that Support Regenerative Agriculture in MD

2/18/2020

 
This just in from our colleagues at Future Harvest and Chesapeake Bay Foundation. MCA is committed to the promotion of Regenerative Agriculture (wait, what is Regenerative Agriculture?) in Montgomery County  and beyond but for these practices to take root on a large scale they need proper funding. Please take action to support HB 687/SB 597 (read more below). Visit our friends at Fair Farms to take action on 2 other bills that would get more local food into state institutions (HB1488/SB985) and create a grant fund to encourage healthy soil practices. (HB1176)
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ATTENTION Maryland Farmers,

Maryland has already set the standard in cover crops, now it’s time to do the same for regenerative agriculture by adding best practices to our portfolio that filter water and build healthy soil.

From 2010 to 2018, the state reduced nitrogen pollution from farms by 1.6 million pounds, but will need to reduce an additional 4.6 million pounds to meet 2025 goals for the agriculture sector in the Chesapeake Clean Water Blueprint.

Maryland spends approximately $30 million per year for conservation measures on farms. About 80% of these funds pay for “annual” management practices while payments for cost-effective, longer-term practices like pastures and forest buffers are drastically reduced. Farmers interested in these soil- and climate-friendly projects deserve reliable and equitable access to state cost-share assistance.

WHAT WILL HOUSE BILL 687/ SENATE BILL 597 DO?

Equitable funding for rotational grazing, stream buffers, wetlands and trees. 
While farmers can receive funding for these practices, the one-time payment is reduced to nearly half ($50/acre) of what the state pays year after year for cover crops ($80/acre). The federal Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) pays farmers $325/acre for pasture establishment. With this bill, rotational grazing will receive payments similar to EQIP and—for the first time—farmers will be eligible to receive funds for fencing and water systems when converting row crop fields to pasture.

No cost-share subsidies for new or expanding confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs).
The MACS program ran out of funding in 2016 and 2017 due to a building boom for new and expanding poultry operations. These poultry “start ups” spent about $4M in MACS funding, depleting funds needed to keep cattle out of streams. Meanwhile, Maryland’s CREP funds ran dry, freezing a farmer’s main tool to plant forested stream buffers. Under this bill, like the federal EQIP, state cost-share funds would be reserved to address pre-existing resource concerns.

No more penalties for farmers planting mixed cover crop species.
Maryland provides cost-share when farmers plant a mix of cover crop species, which are critical for soil health. But the State pays a reduced amount for planting these mixes. In 2019, the program paid $10 more per acre for a 100% monoculture of rye. This Bill would eliminate the penalty for producers adding diversity to their cover crop mixes.
WHAT CAN YOU DO? SPEAK UP!
Attend the hearings on February 25, 2020. For more information please contact Rob Schnabel at 443-482-2175 or rschnabel@cbf.org

Use this form to contact your legislator.  If you want equitable funding for regenerative agriculture practices, legislators need to hear from you! Regenerative agriculture builds healthy soils and provides ecosystem benefits to communities by sequestering carbon, reducing flooding and making farms more resilient during times of drought. Groups have been pushing Maryland Department of Agriculture for this change for years and this Bill will not pass without your support. Please contact your State Delegate and State Senator if you support this initiative.
 
For more information about HB 687/ SB 597 contact Rob Schnabel at 443-482-2175 or rschnabel@cbf.org. To help advocate contact Anna Mudd at 410-268-8816 or amudd@cbf.org

Confronting Climate Change: The Ag Reserve's Role

2/1/2020

 
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2018- The Ag Reserve sign at Whites Ferry which has been closed because of flooding much of the season. - Terri Pitts
It is nothing less than the global challenge of our time. A slow motion disaster, caused and perpetuated each day by all of us - leaving each of us either feeling powerless in the face of its enormity or in denial of an inconvenient scientifically proved truth.  Our world is warming. 
Recently predictions have gotten more dire, more certain. There is now a timeline for serious impacts to be felt. Much like the adage about planting trees, the time to act was either 20 years ago - or now. 
Montgomery County's 93,000 acre Ag Reserve was envisioned at its creation in 1980 as a way to keep farms on the landscape and it has been successful, but it has also served as a "green lung" and water filter for the region, its forests sucking in Co2, its pervious surfaces allowing re-absorption of large rainfall events. But the County, the Reserve and MCA as its steward can (and must)  do more to combat our climate challenge and mitigate the coming impacts. 

Setting Goals

The county  has made a climate change pledge for the county of zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2035.  The county is also working toward Executive Leggett's goal of being a zero waste county - starting with recycling/composting 70% of materials by 2023. MCA is proud to serve on the county's Zero Waste Task Force.  In July 2019 the county convened a Climate Change Task Force of public and private experts, academics, students and more to create a comprehensive climate action plan. 

Water

We are proud to have collaborated with the 38 other organizations making up the Stormwater Partners Network on the Clean Water Blueprint - to be addressed by the Elrich administration. The document lays out how we protect water across the country going forward and provides metrics for gauging success. Among the recommendations are several Ag Reserve specific provisions that MCA will help to implement including: 

~Educational outreach for well and septic owners 
~Establishing science based impervious limits in the Reserve to protect the Sole Source Aquifer and stream quality 
~Advance programs for regenerative agriculture

Land and Farms

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Regenerative agriculture may be a new term to many. It is a set of farming practices becoming increasingly popular as a way to increase crop yields, reduce pesticide use and capture atmospheric carbon. The general idea is to increase cover crops and perennial vegetation, till the soil less and utilize compost to lock Co2 in the air into the soil while increasing plant growth. Farmer Matt Rales, formerly of Potomac is doing this now on 800 acres in Virginia.  Maryland has been the pioneer state taking steps to promote this climate mitigation practice with the Healthy Soils Act of 2017.  MCA would like to help interested farmers implement these practices in Montgomery County. 
How we farm matters but crop selection can also have an impact. The recently passed Farm Bill has finally lifted a national ban on growing hemp. This crop has the potential to be a game change for sustainable farming, waste and carbon reduction. Banned from US farms since 1937 because of an unfair association with its wilder cousin marijuana, industrial hemp production is poised to have impacts in the fields of medicine, plastics, food, auto manufacturer, the list goes on.  MCA is taking the lead on getting farmers growing here in Montgomery County. 
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See More on Regenerative Ag Here
Forests: Re-Leaf the Reserve
MCA has embarked on a new program to accelerate reforestation in support of Montgomery's County's Climate Change Response Plan.

The Reserve is ripe for reforestation on lands that are not suitable for crops. MCA will be matching private landowners with the Planning Department to plan tree plantings along stream buffers. It is a win-win-win for water quality, habitat protection and carbon sequestration.

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At MCA, our mission is to protect the farms and open spaces of the Ag Reserve but we all have a role to play in the challenges ahead. We can choose grim disaffection, denial or action.  Help us position the Ag Reserve as a climate change mitigation tool for our county and region. We would be honored by your tax-deductible gift. Thank You! 
 In the County, developers chopping trees must either replant the same number on the site or pay into a "fee in lieu" fund that will re-forest other areas. The Planning Department has used some of this now million dollar fund over the years to re-forest 32 acres of stream buffers in county parks. But we think we can do more, much more. In the first year we have identified over 80 acres and planted 700 trees in stream corridors. We've also brought students and volunteers into the process. To host trees or get involved learn more here.  
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Montgomery Countryside Alliance
P.O Box 24, Poolesville, MD  20837
301-461-9831  •  ​info@mocoalliance.org
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MCA is proud to announce that we have been recognized for a third time as one of the best small charities in the D.C. region by Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington. A panel of 110 expert reviewers from area foundations, corporate giving programs, and peer non-profit organizations evaluated 270 applications.

​MCA is known as an effective and innovative non-profit whose efforts to preserve and promote Montgomery County’s nationally recognized 93,000 acre Ag Reserve have brought increased public and governmental support of local food production and farmland and open space preservation. Most importantly, MCA’s efforts are putting more farmers on the ground and keeping them there.
COPYRIGHT © MONTGOMERY COUNTRYSIDE ALLIANCE 2008