{"id":29654,"date":"2026-03-17T12:50:04","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T16:50:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/?p=29654"},"modified":"2026-03-17T12:50:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T16:50:04","slug":"news-release-marylands-small-acreage-cover-crop-program-now-accepting-applications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2026\/03\/17\/news-release-marylands-small-acreage-cover-crop-program-now-accepting-applications\/","title":{"rendered":"NEWS RELEASE: Maryland\u2019s Small Acreage Cover Crop Program Now Accepting Applications\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><b>Maryland\u2019s Small Acreage Cover Crop Program Now Accepting Applications\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Grants Available for Small Farms and Urban Growers Who Plant Less Than 10 Acres\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>Annapolis, MD -(March 17, 2026)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u2014The <\/span><b>Maryland Department of Agriculture<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> today announced that the sign-up period for its <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/mda.maryland.gov\/resource_conservation\/Pages\/Small-Acreage-Cover-Crop-Program.aspx\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Small Acreage Cover Crop Program<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> runs <\/span><b>March 16 through April 24, 2026<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. This program provides grants to help small farms and urban growers plant cover crops on their production areas to build healthy soils, improve crop yields, protect local water quality, improve climate resilience, and provide other environmental benefits.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This program is for urban and small-scale producers who do not qualify for the traditional cover crop program. Operations that plant less than ten (10) acres of qualifying cover crops\u2014including cereal grains or cover crop seed mixes\u2014are encouraged to apply for our grants. Financial assistance for this program is capped at $1,500 per grower, per year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cLocally grown food provides both environmental and health benefits for communities,\u201d said Maryland Agriculture Secretary Kevin Atticks. \u201cOur small-scale and urban farmers recognize the value of cover crops for enhancing soil health. For a third year, we&#8217;re excited to offer cover crop grants to these vital producers and encourage them to apply early,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Urban and small-scale producers may download grant applications from MDA\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/mda.maryland.gov\/resource_conservation\/Pages\/Small-Acreage-Cover-Crop-Program.aspx\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">website<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Applications must be postmarked by <\/span><b>April 24, 2026,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> for consideration in this year\u2019s program. Here are the program highlights:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The maximum payment per grower is $1,500 per year.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Reimbursement covers the cost of seed (including shipping), labor (capped at $15 per hour), custom services, and equipment rental fees.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Growers will be reimbursed based on paid receipts.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Eligible species include single cereal grains or cover crop seed mixes.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cover crops may be planted in open plots\/fields, raised beds, or a high tunnel.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Growers should follow cover crop planting recommendations made by the seed manufacturer or the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/extension.umd.edu\/resource\/cover-crops-gardens\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">University of Maryland Extension<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> for eligible species.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Small Acreage Cover Crop Program is funded by the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund and managed by the department\u2019s Small Farm and Urban Agriculture Program. Growers who want to apply for these small-acreage cover crop grants should contact Bill Tharpe, Program Administrator for the Small Farm &amp; Urban Agriculture Program at <\/span><a href=\"mailto:bill.tharpe@maryland.gov\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">bill.tharpe@maryland.gov<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0or 410-841-5869. For additional information, please visit the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/mda.maryland.gov\/resource_conservation\/Pages\/Small-Acreage-Cover-Crop-Program.aspx\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">website<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"># # #<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Maryland\u2019s Small Acreage Cover Crop Program Now Accepting Applications\u00a0 Grants Available for Small Farms and Urban Growers Who Plant Less Than 10 Acres\u00a0 Annapolis, MD -(March 17, 2026) \u2014The Maryland Department of Agriculture today announced that the sign-up period for its Small Acreage Cover Crop Program runs March 16 through April 24, 2026. This program<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2026\/03\/17\/news-release-marylands-small-acreage-cover-crop-program-now-accepting-applications\/\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Read the Rest&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":251,"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":[403,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mda-newsroom","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\/29654","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\/251"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29654"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29655,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29654\/revisions\/29655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}