{"id":27392,"date":"2023-06-15T10:00:09","date_gmt":"2023-06-15T14:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/?p=27392"},"modified":"2023-06-13T13:21:53","modified_gmt":"2023-06-13T17:21:53","slug":"maryland-department-of-agriculture-invests-650000-in-innovative-soil-health-and-agroforestry-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2023\/06\/15\/maryland-department-of-agriculture-invests-650000-in-innovative-soil-health-and-agroforestry-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"Maryland Department of Agriculture Invests $650,000 in Innovative Soil Health and Agroforestry Practices"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/06\/Healthy-Soils-1.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"27395\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2023\/06\/15\/maryland-department-of-agriculture-invests-650000-in-innovative-soil-health-and-agroforestry-practices\/attachment\/healthy-soils-1\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/06\/Healthy-Soils-1.jpg?fit=940%2C788&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"940,788\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Healthy Soils (1)\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/06\/Healthy-Soils-1.jpg?fit=760%2C637&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-27395\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/06\/Healthy-Soils-1.jpg?resize=300%2C251\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"251\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/06\/Healthy-Soils-1.jpg?resize=300%2C251&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/06\/Healthy-Soils-1.jpg?resize=768%2C644&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/06\/Healthy-Soils-1.jpg?w=940&amp;ssl=1 940w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>ANNAPOLIS, MD (June 15, 2023) <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Maryland Department of Agriculture today announced that 16 projects will receive grant funding totaling $650,000 through the new Healthy Soils Competitive Fund. This unique program provides financial assistance to qualifying farms\u2014large and small\u2014and organizations that adopt innovative conservation practices that benefit climate, soil, and water.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cWe are delighted with the response to this new grant program that encourages innovative conservation ideas and strategies from local farmers and growers,\u201d said Maryland Department of Agriculture Secretary Kevin Atticks.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s a win-win for healthier food, cleaner air, and improved water quality in our streams, rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay.\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The pioneering projects funded through the Healthy Soils Competitive Fund receive up to $50,000 to support three years of enhanced healthy soil practices. Grant recipients receive 20% of the funds upfront, with the remainder distributed annually upon verification of progress. Innovative conservation practices supported by the fund in 2023 include:<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\nWhole farm conservation practices for small-scale vegetable\/organic vegetable production and cut flower production (6 projects)<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Alley cropping for chestnut production (1 project)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Multi-story agroforestry for diversified fruit and vegetable production (2 projects)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Silvopasture systems for organic hogs and sheep (3 projects)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Vermiculture for vegetable production (1 project)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Specialized conservation equipment sharing for small-scale vegetable production (1 project)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Silvopasture and <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Burgundy and Appalachian Truffle production <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(1 project)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Biostimulant and nutrient reduction field trials (1 project)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Maryland\u2019s Health Soils Competitive Fund was developed based on recommendations by the Soil Health Advisory Committee. Funding support is provided by the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund and through the Moore-Miller administration\u2019s support of the Climate Solutions Now Act. Farm size is not a consideration for grant approval. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the program\u2019s pilot year, the department received 42 applications from farmers across the state, with 16 applicants selected for funding. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In addition to the conservation practices listed above, grant awardees will share progress over the course of the grant term.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Maryland\u2019s Healthy Soils Competitive Fund accepts applications during its annual open enrollment, which takes place for approximately 8 weeks beginning in January. For updates and more about the program please visit<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/mda.maryland.gov\/resource_conservation\/Pages\/Soil-Health.aspx\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> MDA\u2019s Soil Health website.\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">###<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Follow the Maryland Department of Agriculture on Twitter @MDAgDept<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ANNAPOLIS, MD (June 15, 2023) The Maryland Department of Agriculture today announced that 16 projects will receive grant funding totaling $650,000 through the new Healthy Soils Competitive Fund. This unique program provides financial assistance to qualifying farms\u2014large and small\u2014and organizations that adopt innovative conservation practices that benefit climate, soil, and water.\u00a0 \u201cWe are delighted with<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2023\/06\/15\/maryland-department-of-agriculture-invests-650000-in-innovative-soil-health-and-agroforestry-practices\/\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Read the Rest&#8230;<\/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,"_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-27392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27392","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=27392"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27396,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27392\/revisions\/27396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}