{"id":30002,"date":"2026-08-26T13:45:59","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T17:45:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/?p=30002"},"modified":"2026-08-26T13:45:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T17:45:59","slug":"qualifying-maryland-farms-now-eligible-for-five-year-nutrient-management-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2026\/08\/26\/qualifying-maryland-farms-now-eligible-for-five-year-nutrient-management-plans\/","title":{"rendered":"Qualifying Maryland Farms Now Eligible for Five-Year Nutrient Management Plans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>ANNAPOLIS, MD (August 26, 2026)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2014Qualifying agricultural operations are now eligible to extend their nutrient management plans from three to five years following a regulatory update outlined in the Code of Maryland Regulations <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/regs.maryland.gov\/us\/md\/exec\/comar\/15.20.07\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">(COMAR) 15.20.07<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The update applies to no-land, pasture-only and organic poultry operations that are considered low-risk because they do not spread manure or other sources of nutrients to the land.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cMaryland farmers have long been leaders in responsible nutrient management and environmental stewardship,\u201d said Maryland Secretary of Agriculture Kevin Atticks. \u201cBy extending the plan cycle for qualifying low-risk operations, we are reducing unnecessary administrative burdens while continuing our commitment to protecting soil health, water quality and the Chesapeake Bay.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The following operations are eligible for the five-year nutrient management plan extension:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">No-Land Operations<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">: Includes confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), animal feeding operations (AFOs) and other regulated livestock operations that do not have land available for nutrient application. (Note: The five-year nutrient management plan extension aligns with the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/mde.maryland.gov\/programs\/land\/recyclingandoperationsprogram\/pages\/afoinfo.aspx\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Maryland Department of the Environment\u2019s five-year CAFO permit cycle<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pasture-Only Operations<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">: Includes operations consisting entirely of pasture land with no manual or mechanical nutrient applications.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Organic Poultry Operations<\/span><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">: Includes poultry operations where birds graze outdoors in accordance with organic requirements and no nutrients are applied to fields either manually or mechanically.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Operations that apply commercial fertilizers, manure, biosolids or other nutrient sources to the land do not qualify for the extension. Nutrients deposited naturally by grazing animals on pasture land are not considered nutrient applications. Soil tests for pasture-only and organic poultry operations will be valid for the full five years if they are conducted within one year of plan development.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nutrient management plans identify how fertilizer, manure and other nutrient sources can be responsibly managed to support crop production while preventing excess nutrients from reaching local waterways and the Chesapeake Bay. Maryland farming operations that generate more than $2,500 in income or manage 8,000 pounds or more of live animal weight are required to have a nutrient management plan when fertilizing crops or managing animal manure.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For more information on this regulatory update, please review <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/mda.maryland.gov\/resource_conservation\/Documents\/Factsheet_5%20year_%20plan_update_ACC.pdf\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Regulatory Update: Nutrient Management Plan Duration Extended to Five Years for Certain Operations <\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">or contact your <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/mda.maryland.gov\/resource_conservation\/counties\/Nutrient%20Management%20Regional%20Offices.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">regional nutrient management specialist. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For more information on Maryland\u2019s Nutrient Management Program, please visit MDA\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/mda.maryland.gov\/resource_conservation\/Pages\/nutrient_management.aspx\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">website<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">###<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ANNAPOLIS, MD (August 26, 2026)\u2014Qualifying agricultural operations are now eligible to extend their nutrient management plans from three to five years following a regulatory update outlined in the Code of Maryland Regulations (COMAR) 15.20.07. The update applies to no-land, pasture-only and organic poultry operations that are considered low-risk because they do not spread manure or<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/press-release\/2026\/08\/26\/qualifying-maryland-farms-now-eligible-for-five-year-nutrient-management-plans\/\">&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,"_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-30002","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\/30002","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=30002"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30003,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30002\/revisions\/30003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}