{"id":20718,"date":"2016-09-23T13:42:15","date_gmt":"2016-09-23T17:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/?p=20718"},"modified":"2016-09-23T13:54:35","modified_gmt":"2016-09-23T17:54:35","slug":"first-farm-enrolled-in-agricultural-certainty-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2016\/09\/23\/first-farm-enrolled-in-agricultural-certainty-program\/","title":{"rendered":"First Farm Enrolled in Agricultural Certainty Program"},"content":{"rendered":"

Farm owned by Chesapeake Bay Foundation<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Certainty<\/a>ANNAPOLIS, MD (September 23, 2016)<\/strong> \u2013 \u00a0A Prince George\u2019s County farm owned and operated by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation is the first farm in the state to be certified by the Maryland Department of Agriculture under the Agricultural Certainty Program.<\/p>\n

This voluntary program, created by the Maryland General Assembly in 2013, gives Maryland farmers a 10-year exemption from new environmental laws and regulations in return for installing best management practices that meet State or Chesapeake Bay Total Daily Maximum Load (TMDL) goals ahead of schedule. The program is administered by the Maryland Department of Agriculture in coordination with the Maryland Department of the Environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaryland is one of only nine states that either have a certainty program or are developing one\u201d said Susan Payne, Coordinator of Ecosystem Markets and Certainty Programs at the department. \u201c Certainty programs reward the conservation efforts that farmers have already made to protect water quality, and Maryland\u2019s farmers should be proud that they are recognized as leaders in protecting the environment not only in the Bay watershed, but across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CBF farm \u2013 known as the Clagett Farm\u2013 once grew tobacco. Its soils grew poorer over time, and the farm now sees soil health as the key to successful farming. Clagett produces over 80,000 pounds of produce a year. Cattle and sheep also are raised on pasture.<\/p>\n

The department certified 281.2 acres on the Clagett Farm for the Certainty Program. Certification means the farm has implemented best management practices that are consistent with the state\u2019s goals to reduce the amount of nutrients and sediment entering the Chesapeake Bay, its tributaries, and other waters of the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cWorking with the Ag Certainty folks from MDA was such a positive experience.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t sure what to expect, but they were really helpful,\u201d said Clagett Farm Manager Michael Heller said.\u00a0\u201cWe are also fortunate to have such a strong Soil Conservation District here in Prince Georges County. I\u2019d encourage any farmer to go through the process, and to do so with the confidence that the program staff are there to be helpful and supportive.\u201d<\/p>\n

The program\u00a0allows participating farmers\u00a0to conduct business in a predictable regulatory setting while providing assurance that agricultural pollution controls are being implemented.\u00a0Farmers must address nutrient and sediment runoff on farms using a Soil Conservation and Water Quality Plan and a current Nutrient Management Plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cThirty-five years ago, Clagett Farm was started to be a model sustainable farm in the Chesapeake region. We applied for the Agriculture Certainty Program certification to demonstrate that farmers can meet the gold standard of environmental stewardship and still be highly productive food growers,\u201d said Maryland Executive Director of CBF Alison Prost.\u00a0\u201cWe hear farmers say environmental regulations change too often. This program provides a solution to that concern. A farm can be certified as having no negative impacts on local water quality. \u00a0In addition to the satisfaction of being a good steward of the land, a farmer also can have peace of mind for 10 years that he or she won\u2019t face additional regulatory requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n

To celebrate Clagett and sustainable agriculture in the region, CBF is hosting Burgers and Brews for the Bay Sunday, Sept. 25, from noon to 4 p.m. with artisan burgers.<\/p>\n

For more information<\/a> about the program.<\/p>\n

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Farm owned by Chesapeake Bay Foundation ANNAPOLIS, MD (September 23, 2016) \u2013 \u00a0A Prince George\u2019s County farm owned and operated by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation is the first farm in the state to be certified by the Maryland Department of Agriculture under the Agricultural Certainty Program. This voluntary program, created by the Maryland General Assembly  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"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-20718","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\/20718","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\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20718"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20722,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20718\/revisions\/20722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}