ANNAPOLIS, MD <\/b>\u2013 Governor Martin O\u2019Malley today announced that Maryland farmers participating in the Maryland Department of Agriculture\u2019s (MDA) Cover Crop Program planted over 414,000 acres of \u00a0cover crops on their farms this past fall to control soil erosion, reduce nutrient runoff and protect water quality in streams, rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay.\u00a0 The 2012 cover crop exceeds Maryland\u2019s 2013 Milestone commitment by 17 percent.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are working with Maryland\u2019s farmers to protect family farms and agriculture jobs, and to keep family farming profitable. Our farmers continue to show their leadership in the Chesapeake Bay restoration efforts by exceeding cover crop planting commitments,\u201d said Governor Martin O\u2019Malley. \u201cCover crops are the workhorse of our Bay restoration efforts. I thank all farmers who planted cover crops \u2013 especially the 100 plus farmers who are new to the program this year.\u00a0 I encourage those who did not participate to enroll in the program for next year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cover crops are widely considered to be one of the most cost-effective and environmentally sustainable ways to control soil erosion and reduce nutrient runoff in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries during the winter.\u00a0 Collectively, the 414,000 acres of cover crops planted will prevent an estimated 2.48 million pounds of nitrogen, and 82,800 pounds of phosphorus from potentially impacting the Bay and its tributaries.<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks to Governor O\u2019Malley\u2019s commitment to the cover crop program, farmers can count on a strong program with consistent funding from year to year, making it possible for them plan ahead and include cover crops a part of their normal cropping system,\u201d said Agriculture Secretary Buddy Hance. \u201cWe commend and thank all farmers who, together, have planted more than 414,000 acres of as part of the Cover Crop Program to protect our soil and water by taking up any remaining nutrients and preventing soil erosion over the winter.\u00a0 This is just one best management practice being implemented by farmers from a list of over 30 BMPs included in Maryland\u2019s Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP) to protect and restore the Bay by 2015. \u201d<\/p>\n
Farmers plant cover crops in the fall, following the harvest of summer crops such as corn, soybeans and vegetables. Rye, wheat, barley and other \u201ccereal grains\u201d are planted as cover crops because they continue to grow in cool weather, eventually becoming the lush green fields that checker the winter landscape. As they grow, cover crops recycle unused plant nutrients remaining in the soil from the previous summer crop, protect fields against wind and water erosion, and help improve the soil for the next year\u2019s crop.<\/p>\n
The top counties ranked by certified acreage planted:<\/p>\n
A breakdown by county of acreage planted is available online at: \u00a0www.mda.maryland.gov\/pdf\/fy13ccplantedacres.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n Maryland\u2019s Cover Crop Program is administered by MDA and the state\u2019s 24 soil conservation districts through the Maryland Agricultural Water Quality Cost-Share (MACS) Program.\u00a0 It is funded by the 2010 Chesapeake Bay Trust Fund and the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund.\u00a0 Applicants must be in good standing with MACS to participate and must be in compliance with the Nutrient Management Program.\u00a0 The sign up period for the 2013-2014 MACS Cover Crop Program will take place early this summer.<\/p>\n ###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ANNAPOLIS, MD \u2013 Governor Martin O\u2019Malley today announced that Maryland farmers participating in the Maryland Department of Agriculture\u2019s (MDA) Cover Crop Program planted over 414,000 acres of \u00a0cover crops on their farms this past fall to control soil erosion, reduce nutrient runoff and protect water quality in streams, rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay.\u00a0 The 2012 Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"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":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","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\/3060","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\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3060"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3062,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3060\/revisions\/3062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}