{"id":28103,"date":"2024-03-27T09:00:30","date_gmt":"2024-03-27T13:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/?p=28103"},"modified":"2024-04-02T09:23:51","modified_gmt":"2024-04-02T13:23:51","slug":"sign-up-period-for-marylands-2024-small-acreage-cover-crop-program-opens-march-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2024\/03\/27\/sign-up-period-for-marylands-2024-small-acreage-cover-crop-program-opens-march-25\/","title":{"rendered":"Sign-up Period for Maryland\u2019s 2024 Small Acreage Cover Crop Program Opens March 25"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2024\/03\/Small-Acreage-Cover-Crop-Grant-Program-Now-Open.png\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"28104\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2024\/03\/27\/sign-up-period-for-marylands-2024-small-acreage-cover-crop-program-opens-march-25\/attachment\/small-acreage-cover-crop-grant-program-now-open\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2024\/03\/Small-Acreage-Cover-Crop-Grant-Program-Now-Open.png?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=\"Small Acreage Cover Crop Grant Program Now Open\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2024\/03\/Small-Acreage-Cover-Crop-Grant-Program-Now-Open.png?fit=760%2C637&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-28104\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2024\/03\/Small-Acreage-Cover-Crop-Grant-Program-Now-Open.png?resize=300%2C251\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"251\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2024\/03\/Small-Acreage-Cover-Crop-Grant-Program-Now-Open.png?resize=300%2C251&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2024\/03\/Small-Acreage-Cover-Crop-Grant-Program-Now-Open.png?resize=768%2C644&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2024\/03\/Small-Acreage-Cover-Crop-Grant-Program-Now-Open.png?w=940&amp;ssl=1 940w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt\"><em><strong><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', serif\">Small Farms and Urban Growers Who Plant Less Than 10 Acres Encouraged to Apply<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', serif\"><strong>Annapolis, MD\u00a0 (March 25, 2024)<\/strong> -The<strong> Maryland Department of Agriculture<\/strong> has announced the sign-up period for its 2024 <strong>Small Acreage Cover Crop Program<\/strong> will run from <strong>March 25<\/strong> through <strong>April 30<\/strong>, <strong>2024<\/strong>. The program provides grants to help small farms and urban growers plant cover crops in their production areas to build healthy soils, increase crop yields, protect local water quality, and improve climate resilience.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', serif\">Growers who plant less than ten (10) acres of qualifying cover crops\u2014including cereal grains or cover crop seed mixes\u2014 may apply for these grants. Financial assistance for this program is capped at $1,500 per grower per year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', serif\">\u201cLocal communities throughout the state need easy access to fresh, healthy food,\u201d said<strong> Maryland Agriculture Secretary Kevin Atticks<\/strong>. \u201cMany of these communities depend on small-scale and urban farmers to provide their families with safe, nutritious food. The Department is pleased to provide these essential growers with conservation grants to plant cover crops that support a local, sustainable food system. I encourage all eligible growers to apply for these grants during the open enrollment period.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', serif\">Urban and small-scale producers may download grant applications on MDA\u2019s website, which must be postmarked by April 30, 2024, for consideration in this year\u2019s program. Highlights of the grant include:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li dir=\"ltr\" style=\"list-style-type: disc\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', serif\">Maximum payment per grower is $1,500 per year.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\" style=\"list-style-type: disc\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', serif\">Growers will be reimbursed based on paid receipts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\" style=\"list-style-type: disc\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', serif\">Eligible species include single cereal grains or cover crop seed mixes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\" style=\"list-style-type: disc\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', serif\">Cover crops may be planted in open plots\/fields, raised beds, or a high tunnel.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\" style=\"list-style-type: disc\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', serif\">Growers should follow cover crop planting recommendations made by the seed manufacturer or the\u00a0University of Maryland Extension for eligible species.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', serif\">The Department\u2019s Small Acreage Cover Crop Program is funded by the <strong>Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund<\/strong> and managed by the<strong> Small Farm and Urban Agriculture Program<\/strong>. Interested growers should contact Bill Tharpe, the Program Administrator for the Small Farm and Urban Agriculture Program, at\u00a0<a href=\"mailto:bill.tharpe@maryland.gov\">bill.tharpe@maryland.gov<\/a>\u00a0or 410-841-5869. For additional information, please visit the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/mda.maryland.gov\/resource_conservation\/Pages\/Small-Farm-and-UrbanAgricultureProgram.aspx\">website<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', serif\"># # #<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', serif\">Follow Maryland Department of Agriculture on Facebook @MdAgDept<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Small Farms and Urban Growers Who Plant Less Than 10 Acres Encouraged to Apply Annapolis, MD\u00a0 (March 25, 2024) -The Maryland Department of Agriculture has announced the sign-up period for its 2024 Small Acreage Cover Crop Program will run from March 25 through April 30, 2024. The program provides grants to help small farms and<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2024\/03\/27\/sign-up-period-for-marylands-2024-small-acreage-cover-crop-program-opens-march-25\/\">&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-28103","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\/28103","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=28103"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28125,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28103\/revisions\/28125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}