{"id":29793,"date":"2026-05-28T15:30:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T19:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/?p=29793"},"modified":"2026-05-28T15:30:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T19:30:25","slug":"media-release-deadline-for-maryland-department-of-agriculture-cover-crop-termination-extended-to-june-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2026\/05\/28\/media-release-deadline-for-maryland-department-of-agriculture-cover-crop-termination-extended-to-june-5\/","title":{"rendered":"MEDIA RELEASE: Deadline for Maryland Department of Agriculture Cover Crop Termination Extended to June 5"},"content":{"rendered":"

ANNAPOLIS, MD (May 28, 2026)<\/strong>—<\/strong>-The Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) is extending the cover crop termination deadline until June 5, 2026, for farmers enrolled in the 2025-2026 Cover Crop Program due to multiple days of rainfall that have caused excessively wet field conditions across much of the state. The original deadline for terminating fall-planted cover crops was June 1, 2026.<\/b><\/p>\n

Cover crops planted in the fall provide important benefits for both\u00a0 the Chesapeake Bay and Maryland farmland.\u00a0 They help recycle unused nutrients from the previous summer crop while improving the soil health ahead of spring planting. Throughout the winter, cover crops help to prevent erosion, suppress weeds and pests, add organic matter to the soil, and protect fields from drought and heavy rainfall. Cover crops are typically terminated between March 1 and June 1 to help ensure summer cash crops have adequate access to water and nutrients.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Cover Crop Program<\/a>\u00a0is administered by MDA\u2019s\u00a0Conservation Grants Program<\/a>\u00a0in partnership with Maryland\u2019s 23 soil conservation districts. It is open to Maryland farmers who are in good standing with the program and in compliance with the state\u2019s nutrient management requirements. Farmers must submit a completed\u00a0Current Nutrient Management Plan Certification<\/a>\u00a0at sign-up. Additional restrictions and conditions may apply.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Funding for the 2025-2026 Cover Crop Program is provided by the\u00a0Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund\u00a0<\/a>and the\u00a0Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund<\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n

For more information, farmers should contact their local\u00a0soil conservation district<\/a>\u00a0or visit the department\u2019s\u00a0website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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ANNAPOLIS, MD (May 28, 2026)—-The Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) is extending the cover crop termination deadline until June 5, 2026, for farmers enrolled in the 2025-2026 Cover Crop Program due to multiple days of rainfall that have caused excessively wet field conditions across much of the state. The original deadline for terminating fall-planted cover  Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":283,"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-29793","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\/29793","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\/283"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29793"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29794,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29793\/revisions\/29794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}