{"id":29130,"date":"2025-07-31T10:45:35","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T14:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/?p=29130"},"modified":"2025-07-31T10:45:35","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T14:45:35","slug":"department-awards-innovative-soil-health-and-agroforestry-practices-grants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2025\/07\/31\/department-awards-innovative-soil-health-and-agroforestry-practices-grants\/","title":{"rendered":"Department Awards Innovative Soil Health and Agroforestry Practices Grants"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: left\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/07\/Healthy-Soils-1.png\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"29131\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2025\/07\/31\/department-awards-innovative-soil-health-and-agroforestry-practices-grants\/attachment\/healthy-soils-1-2\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/07\/Healthy-Soils-1.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=\"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\/2025\/07\/Healthy-Soils-1.png?fit=760%2C637&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-29131\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/07\/Healthy-Soils-1.png?resize=300%2C251\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"251\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/07\/Healthy-Soils-1.png?resize=300%2C251&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/07\/Healthy-Soils-1.png?resize=768%2C644&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2025\/07\/Healthy-Soils-1.png?w=940&amp;ssl=1 940w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 12pt\"><strong>ANNAPOLIS, MD (July 31, 2025)-\u00a0<\/strong>The\u00a0<strong>Maryland Department of Agriculture<\/strong>\u00a0has announced that 14 projects will receive grant funding totaling $590,000 through its\u00a0<strong>Healthy Soils Competitive Fund<\/strong>. This pioneering grant program provides financial assistance to qualifying farms and organizations\u2014both large and small\u2014to adopt innovative conservation practices that benefit climate, soil, and water.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 12pt\">\u201cHealthy soil is the foundation of sustainable agriculture. Agroforestry practices deepen that foundation by returning trees to the agricultural landscape to enrich ecosystems, protect local water quality, and build resilience for generations to come,\u201d said\u00a0<strong>Maryland Agriculture Secretary Kevin Atticks<\/strong>. \u201cWe are deeply gratified and excited by the enthusiasm and creativity of Maryland farmers who participated in this program\u201d.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 12pt\">Established in 2023, the Healthy Soils Competitive Fund provides winning applicants with up to $50,000 to support three years of enhanced soil health and agroforestry practices. Since its inception, the grant program has supported 53 projects across the state. Innovative conservation practices supported by the fund in Fiscal Year 2025 include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 12pt\">Equipment and infrastructure improvements to increase pasture rest periods in adaptive grazing\u20143 projects<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 12pt\">Planter upgrades for improved crop emergence when planting green\u20142 projects<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 12pt\">Innovative soil health practices for vineyards\u20142 projects<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 12pt\">Equipment and system improvements to decrease tillage in vegetable production\u20142 projects<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 12pt\">Hazelnut alley cropping in a hay production system\u20141 project<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 12pt\">Silvopasture design consultation for a rotationally grazed dairy herd\u20141 project\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 12pt\">Improved cover cropping and crop rotation practices for small-scale vegetable production\u20141 project<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 12pt\">Expanded leaf mulching for weed suppression and input reduction for vegetable production\u20141 project<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" role=\"presentation\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 12pt\">Drone use for expanded multi-species cover crop establishment in row crops\u20141 project<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 12pt\">Maryland\u2019s Health Soils Competitive Fund was developed based on recommendations by the\u00a0<strong>Soil Health Advisory Committee<\/strong>. Funding support is provided by the\u00a0<strong>Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund<\/strong>\u00a0and the Moore-Miller administration\u2019s support of the\u00a0<strong>Climate Solutions Now Act<\/strong>. In Fiscal Year 2025\u2014the program\u2019s third year\u2014the department received 57 applications from farmers across the state, with 14 applicants selected for funding. In addition to installing the conservation practices listed above, grant awardees will share progress during the project.<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 12pt\">Maryland\u2019s Healthy Soils Competitive Fund will accept grant applications for Fiscal Year 2026 during its annual open enrollment, which will take place for 10 weeks beginning in\u00a0<strong>November 2025<\/strong>. For updates and more information about the program, please visit the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/mda.maryland.gov\/resource_conservation\/Pages\/Soil-Health.aspx\">website<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 12pt\"># # #<\/p>\n<p>Follow Maryland Department of Agriculture on Facebook\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MdAgDept\">@MdAgDept<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ANNAPOLIS, MD (July 31, 2025)-\u00a0The\u00a0Maryland Department of Agriculture\u00a0has announced that 14 projects will receive grant funding totaling $590,000 through its\u00a0Healthy Soils Competitive Fund. This pioneering grant program provides financial assistance to qualifying farms and organizations\u2014both large and small\u2014to adopt innovative conservation practices that benefit climate, soil, and water.\u00a0 \u201cHealthy soil is the foundation of sustainable<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2025\/07\/31\/department-awards-innovative-soil-health-and-agroforestry-practices-grants\/\">&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,"_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-29130","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\/29130","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=29130"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29132,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29130\/revisions\/29132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}