MDA Hosts Training Sessions on Nutrient Trading Program

The Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) will offer three training workshops in January to provide participants with an overview of its Nutrient Trading Program and offer hands-on experience using the updated version of the program’s web-based calculation tool, marketplace, and registry. The sessions will be held at the following times and locations:

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

1:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Stevenson University, Owings Mills, MD

Monday, January 14, 2013

1:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Hood College, Frederick, MD

Thursday, January 17, 2013

1:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Washington College, Chestertown MD

The workshop is open to soil conservation district personnel, farmers, landowners, and other parties interested in nutrient trading. Space is limited and interested persons are encouraged to register early by contacting Susan Payne, MDA’s Coordinator of Ecosystem Markets, at [email protected] by January 3, 2013. Instructions, directions and parking information will be sent to registrants prior to the session date.

Launched in 2010, the Maryland Nutrient Trading Program provides a voluntary public marketplace for the buying and selling of nutrient reduction credits for nitrogen and phosphorus. The program helps improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries by enabling the private sector to finance agricultural best management practices (BMPs) that offset and reduce nutrient runoff and emissions. Additional information about Maryland’s Nutrient Trading Program can be found on the program’s website at www.mdnutrienttrading.com.