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 [email protected]

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 [email protected]. To help advocate contact Anna Mudd at 410-268-8816 or [email protected]

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. 

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. 

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

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.