{"id":20371,"date":"2016-05-05T11:00:26","date_gmt":"2016-05-05T15:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/?p=20371"},"modified":"2016-05-04T16:25:41","modified_gmt":"2016-05-04T20:25:41","slug":"organic-farmers-encouraged-to-apply-for-cost-share-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2016\/05\/05\/organic-farmers-encouraged-to-apply-for-cost-share-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Organic Farmers Encouraged to Apply for Cost Share Program"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>ANNAPOLIS, MD \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>Maryland farmers and processors with organic certifications are now eligible for cost share reimbursement from the USDA\u2019s Organic Certification Cost Share Program.\u00a0The Program is funded by the 2014 Farm Bill and can assist Maryland farmers in paying for organic certification or recertification.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a great opportunity for all Maryland farmers interested in organic certification,\u201d said Secretary Joe Bartenfelder. \u201cWith strong demand for organic products, this program will boost to our rural economies and provide all Marylanders with more access to fresh, local products.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Farms and businesses that produce, process or package certified organic agricultural products are eligible to be reimbursed for up to 75 percent of their costs\u2014up to $750 per scope (crop, livestock, handler)\u2014for certification between Oct. 1, 2015, and\u00a0Sept. 30, 2016.\u00a0The application for the cost share funding, as well as other information about the program, is available on the Maryland Department of Agriculture\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/mda.maryland.gov\/foodfeedquality\/Pages\/certified_md_organic_farms.aspx\">website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Cost Share Program is part of the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, and will provide over $10 million of assistance in FY2016. Reimbursements will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis until funding is exhausted.<\/p>\n<p>Questions regarding cost share funds for organic certification may be directed to Deanna Baldwin at\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:Deanna.baldwin@maryland.gov\">deanna.baldwin@maryland.gov<\/a> or 410-841-5769.<\/p>\n<p>Information is also available from the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ams.usda.gov\/AMSv1.0\/nop\">USDA National Organic Program<\/a> website.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"># # #<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\">Follow Maryland Department of Agriculture on Twitter <a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/MdAgDept\">@MdAgDept<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ANNAPOLIS, MD \u2013\u00a0Maryland farmers and processors with organic certifications are now eligible for cost share reimbursement from the USDA\u2019s Organic Certification Cost Share Program.\u00a0The Program is funded by the 2014 Farm Bill and can assist Maryland farmers in paying for organic certification or recertification. \u201cThis is a great opportunity for all Maryland farmers interested in<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2016\/05\/05\/organic-farmers-encouraged-to-apply-for-cost-share-program\/\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Read the Rest&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20371"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20372,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20371\/revisions\/20372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}