{"id":29693,"date":"2026-04-09T11:28:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T15:28:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/?p=29693"},"modified":"2026-04-09T11:28:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T15:28:19","slug":"renewed-agreement-between-maryland-department-of-agriculture-epa-supports-farmers-environmental-stewardship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2026\/04\/09\/renewed-agreement-between-maryland-department-of-agriculture-epa-supports-farmers-environmental-stewardship\/","title":{"rendered":"Renewed Agreement Between Maryland Department of Agriculture, EPA Supports Farmers, Environmental Stewardship"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;font-size: 14pt\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif\"><strong>Renewed Agreement Between Maryland Department of Agriculture, EPA Supports Farmers, Environmental Stewardship<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 12pt\"><strong>ANNAPOLIS, MD (April 09, 2026)<\/strong>&#8212;At an event held at the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pgscd.org\/urban-agricultural-conservation\/urban-farm-incubator\/\">Urban Farm Incubator<\/a>\u00a0at Watkins Park in Prince George\u2019s County Maryland, the Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Mid-Atlantic Region. This action renews the original MOU first signed in 2020, continuing to strengthen relationships and collaborative activities that support Maryland\u2019s farmers and natural resources.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 12pt\">In particular, this MOU amplifies both agencies\u2019 commitment to carrying out expanded communications, education, outreach, regulatory and compliance programs, funding and training of agricultural practices that benefit the environment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 12pt\">\u201cEvery day, I see the commitment Maryland\u2019s farmers bring to environmental stewardship, whether it\u2019s ensuring our soils are healthy to implementing conservation practices to improve Chesapeake Bay water quality,\u201d said Maryland Department of Agriculture Secretary Kevin Atticks. \u201cThis renewed partnership with EPA strengthens our commitment to the agricultural community by providing the tools and collaboration to support productive farms and a sustainable environment.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 12pt\">The MOU outlines the following collaborative goals and activities:<\/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\">Enhanced communication and collaboration through regular meetings to align priorities and share updates, with continued support of the Chesapeake Bay Program Agricultural Advisory Committee.<\/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\">Promote educational opportunities through engagement with Maryland\u2019s agricultural community through roundtables, farm tours and EPA\u2019s participation in events to expand dialogue and collaboration.<\/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\">Recognize the actions and environmental stewardship of Maryland farms while developing measurement approaches that account for conservation efforts and promoting sustainable agriculture and environmental protection.\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\">Amplify funding opportunities that showcase conservation efforts and innovative approaches that strengthen environmental stewardship and resilience.\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\">Coordinate regulatory program implementation through joint trainings, improving water quality efforts, strengthening collaboration among EPA, MDA and the Maryland Department of the Environment to further program compliance and participation, and increased engagement with EPA when communicating with Maryland\u2019s farmers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 12pt\">\u201cAcross Maryland, farmers are proving that strong bottom lines and healthy farms can grow together\u2014and we\u2019re proud to stand with them,\u201d said EPA Regional Administrator Amy Van Blarcom-Lackey. \u201cWith this agreement, EPA and MDA are speeding access to tools and support that build soil health, boost efficiency, safeguard streams and the Chesapeake Bay, and bolster urban and rural communities alike.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 12pt\">This MOU will remain in effect until 2031.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"font-family: 'times new roman', times, serif;font-size: 12pt\"># # #<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Renewed Agreement Between Maryland Department of Agriculture, EPA Supports Farmers, Environmental Stewardship ANNAPOLIS, MD (April 09, 2026)&#8212;At an event held at the\u00a0Urban Farm Incubator\u00a0at Watkins Park in Prince George\u2019s County Maryland, the Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Mid-Atlantic Region. This action<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2026\/04\/09\/renewed-agreement-between-maryland-department-of-agriculture-epa-supports-farmers-environmental-stewardship\/\">&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,"_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":[403,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mda-newsroom","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\/29693","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=29693"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29694,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29693\/revisions\/29694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}