{"id":29874,"date":"2026-06-17T12:28:57","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T16:28:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/?p=29874"},"modified":"2026-06-17T12:28:57","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T16:28:57","slug":"news-release-maryland-department-of-agriculture-announces-sign-up-dates-for-2026-cover-crop-grant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2026\/06\/17\/news-release-maryland-department-of-agriculture-announces-sign-up-dates-for-2026-cover-crop-grant\/","title":{"rendered":"NEWS RELEASE: Maryland Department of Agriculture Announces Sign-Up Dates for 2026 Cover Crop Grant"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>ANNAPOLIS, MD (June 17, 2026)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2014The Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) is pleased to announce that sign-ups for the 2026 Cover Crop Grant Program will open on <\/span><b>June 22 and run through July 17, 2026<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> at local soil conservation districts. This popular conservation program provides financial assistance to farmers that helps offset costs to plant fall cover crops. Cover crops help build healthy soils and protect the Chesapeake Bay from agricultural runoff. The budget for this year\u2019s program is $22 million.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cCover crops continue to be Maryland\u2019s leading conservation practice because they deliver real results for our farmers, our waterways and the Chesapeake Bay,\u201d said Maryland Agriculture Secretary Kevin Atticks. \u201cThe 2024-2025 planting season prevented an estimated 3.4 million pounds of nitrogen and 4,000 pounds of phosphorus from reaching Maryland waterways by capturing and recycling nutrients that support future crops. As we open this year\u2019s enrollment period, we encourage farmers to continue this incredible progress by taking advantage of our conservation grants and investing in the long-term health of their land.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cover crops planted in the fall provide benefits for both Maryland\u2019s farmland and the Chesapeake Bay. As they grow, cover crops help prevent erosion, capture and recycle unused nutrients for future crops, and improve overall soil health. They also increase soil organic matter, reduce weed and pest pressure, and help protect fields from extreme weather conditions, including drought and heavy rainfall. By absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing carbon in the soil, cover crops also play an important role in mitigating climate change.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">MDA\u2019s Cover Crop Program provides Maryland farmers with grants to plant a range of cold-hardy cereal grains and mixes. Fall cover crops can be planted following the harvest of\u00a0 corn, soybeans, sorghum (sorghum\/Sudan hybrids), tobacco, vegetables, hemp, sunflowers, sod or millet. While enrolled cover crops may not be harvested, once well-established, may be grazed or chopped for on-farm livestock forage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">2026-2027 Program Highlights:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The base payment is <\/span><b>$35\/acre<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Farmers can earn up to <\/span><b>$65\/acre<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> by taking advantage of additional incentives.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Non-poultry manure can be applied to cover crop fields in the fall for a reduced payment rate of <\/span><b>$25 \/acre.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">To participate in this program, farmers must sign up to plant at least <\/span><b>10 acres of cover crops.<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Farmers should visit their local <a href=\"https:\/\/mda.maryland.gov\/resource_conservation\/Pages\/technical_assistance.aspx\">soil conservation district<\/a><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0between <\/span><b>June 22 and<\/b> <b>July 17<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to apply for our cover crop grants in-person. Growers who participated in last year\u2019s program should check their mailboxes for an information packet. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Additional information is also available on<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> the MDA\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/mda.maryland.gov\/resource_conservation\/Pages\/cover_crop.aspx\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cover Crop website<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Cover Crop Program is administered by MDA\u2019s Conservation Grants Program and the state\u2019s 23 soil conservation districts. It is open to Maryland farmers who are in good standing with the Conservation Grants Program and in compliance with Maryland\u2019s nutrient management requirements. A completed <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/mda.maryland.gov\/resource_conservation\/Documents\/30_NMP_Certification_Form_UL_A.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Current Nutrient Management Plan Certification form<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is required at sign-up. Other restrictions and conditions may apply. Funding for the 2026-2027 Cover Crop Program is provided by the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund and the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In addition to our Traditional Cover Crop Program, we are pleased to announce the return of our <\/span><b>Cover Crop Plus+<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> grants for innovative cover crop practitioners who commit to a three-year program. This updated program supports cover cropping scenarios that fall outside of traditional program support. If you&#8217;re interested in participating, please visit <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/mda.maryland.gov\/resource_conservation\/Pages\/Cover-Crop-Plus.aspx\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cover Crop Plus+ website<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to learn more about this exciting opportunity.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ANNAPOLIS, MD (June 17, 2026)\u2014The Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) is pleased to announce that sign-ups for the 2026 Cover Crop Grant Program will open on June 22 and run through July 17, 2026 at local soil conservation districts. This popular conservation program provides financial assistance to farmers that helps offset costs to plant fall<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2026\/06\/17\/news-release-maryland-department-of-agriculture-announces-sign-up-dates-for-2026-cover-crop-grant\/\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Read the Rest&#8230;<\/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-29874","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\/29874","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=29874"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29875,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29874\/revisions\/29875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}