{"id":26600,"date":"2022-06-23T08:13:12","date_gmt":"2022-06-23T12:13:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/?p=26600"},"modified":"2022-06-22T20:26:05","modified_gmt":"2022-06-23T00:26:05","slug":"mda-announces-cover-crop-sign-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2022\/06\/23\/mda-announces-cover-crop-sign-up\/","title":{"rendered":"MDA Announces Cover Crop Sign-up"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Includes Increased Payment Rates and New Cover Crop Plus+ Option<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

ANNAPOLIS, MD (June 23, 2022)\u00a0\u2013<\/b>\u00a0The Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) has announced that mail-in enrollment for this year\u2019s<\/span> Cover Crop Program <\/span>runs from July 1-18, 2022. The popular conservation program provides farmers with cost-share grants to help pay for seed, labor, and equipment costs to plant cover crops in the fall to control erosion, recycle nutrients, build soil health, and protect the Chesapeake Bay.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSeveral exciting changes have been made to our traditional Cover Crop Grant Program this year,\u201d said Maryland Agriculture Secretary Joe Bartenfelder. \u201cWe\u2019ve also introduced a new Cover Crop <\/span>Plus+<\/span><\/i> option for farmers willing to go the extra mile to build their soil\u2019s health.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Farmers who enroll in the department\u2019s <\/span>Traditional Cover Crop Program<\/b> receive an increased base payment of $55\/acre and up to $35\/acre in add-on incentives to incorporate cover crops into their fields this fall. The maximum payment (including incentives) to aerial seed cover crops has increased to $95\/acre.\u00a0New this year, a late planting extension has been built into the program for farmers who cannot get their cover crops planted by the November 5 planting deadline.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Cover crops are essential to the health of the Chesapeake Bay and the productivity of Maryland\u2019s farmland. In the fall, cold-hardy cereal grains are planted as cover crops in newly harvested fields. As they grow, cover crops provide a living, protective cover against erosion and nutrient runoff while building the soil\u2019s organic matter for next year\u2019s crop. They can even protect fields from too much or too little rain. Eligible small grains may be mixed with radishes and legumes using a variety of two and three-species mixes to help create diversity. Traditional cover crops may not be harvested; however, they may be grazed or chopped for livestock forage after becoming well established. Farmers who participated in last year\u2019s program will receive registration packets in the mail. Beginning July 1, interested farmers may download applications from the <\/span>Cover Crop website<\/span><\/a>. To be considered for cost-share, applications should be mailed or dropped off at the local soil conservation district by <\/span>July 18, 2022.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

A new pilot program, <\/span>Cover Crop <\/b>Plus+<\/i><\/b>,<\/span> is being introduced this year. This program option offers higher incentive payments and more planting choices for farmers who sign a 3-year commitment to plant cover crop mixes and practice conservation tillage to improve soil health. Farmers agree to keep a living root system in enrolled fields for most of the year and manage the cover crop to achieve maximum soil health and water quality benefits. The base payment for this premium incentive program is <\/span>$115\/acre <\/b>per year. Optional add-on practices can increase the reimbursement rate to <\/span>$160\/acre. <\/b>To qualify for payment, optional add-ons must be new practices for an enrolled field.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Enrollment for the Cover Crop <\/span>Plus+<\/span><\/i> program runs concurrently with the Traditional Cover Crop Program. Applications will be available on the <\/span>Cover Crop <\/span>Plus+<\/span><\/i> website<\/span><\/a> beginning July 1. To be considered for cost-share, applications should be mailed or dropped off at the local soil conservation district by <\/span>July 18, 2022.<\/b> Farmers may participate in both the traditional and Cover Crop Plus+ programs. Certain restrictions apply.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Maryland\u2019s Cover Crop Program is administered by the department\u2019s Conservation Grants Program and the state\u2019s 24 soil conservation districts. Applicants must be in good standing with the program and in compliance with Maryland\u2019s nutrient management regulations. Other restrictions and conditions apply. Funding for the 2022-2023 Cover Crop Program is provided by the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund and the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund.<\/span><\/p>\n

Farmers who have questions or need assistance with their applications should contact their\u00a0<\/span>local soil conservation district<\/span><\/a>. For more information, please contact Jason Keppler at (410) 841-5864 or\u00a0<\/span>jason.keppler@maryland.gov<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

# # #<\/span><\/p>\n

Follow Maryland Department of Agriculture on Twitter\u00a0<\/span>@MdAgDept<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Includes Increased Payment Rates and New Cover Crop Plus+ Option ANNAPOLIS, MD (June 23, 2022)\u00a0\u2013\u00a0The Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) has announced that mail-in enrollment for this year\u2019s Cover Crop Program runs from July 1-18, 2022. The popular conservation program provides farmers with cost-share grants to help pay for seed, labor, and equipment costs to  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":222,"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_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26600","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\/26600","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\/222"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26600"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26602,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26600\/revisions\/26602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}