Cover Crop Sign Up Set for June 21-July 15
\nThe Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) has announced that sign-up for the 2011-2012 Cover Crop Program will be held June 21 through July 15, at soil conservation district offices statewide.\u00a0 Farmers are asked to mark their calendars and check with their soil conservation districts in upcoming weeks for this year\u2019s program requirements and highlights. In addition, program details will be mailed in May to farmers who participated in last year\u2019s program.\u00a0 Planted after the summer harvest, cover crops are used to control erosion and reduce nutrient runoff during the fall and winter.\u00a0 They are a key feature of Maryland\u2019s Watershed Implementation Plan (WIP) to protect the Chesapeake Bay.\u00a0 Last fall, Maryland farmers planted 400,331 acres of cover crops on their fields\u2014the largest cover crop planting in Maryland history.<\/p>\n
Nutrient Management Webcast Seminar Set for March 25 On-Line Nutrient Applicator Voucher Training Offered April 1 SSCC Meeting Set For April 21 ###<\/p>\n The Maryland Agricultural Awareness Alliance, a coalition of federal, state and local agricultural agencies and commodity groups dedicated to educating Marylanders on agricultural issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cover Crop Sign Up Set for June 21-July 15 The Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) has announced that sign-up for the 2011-2012 Cover Crop Program will be held June 21 through July 15, at soil conservation district offices statewide.\u00a0 Farmers are asked to mark their calendars and check with their soil conservation districts in upcoming Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"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":[55],"class_list":["post-890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release","tag-agricultural-highlights"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890","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\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=890"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":891,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/890\/revisions\/891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nThe Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center and Cooperative Extension System, in partnership with the University of Maryland Extension will sponsor a webcast seminar Friday, March 25, from 2:30-3:30 p.m. titled, The Soil Health Paradigm: A Holistic Approach to Managing Manure in Agro Ecosystems. This webcast seminar provides a holistic framework for managing manure which accounts for the soil biology.\u00a0 Nutrient management consultants certified by the Maryland Department of Agriculture receive one continuing education credit for participating in the webcast seminar.\u00a0 Click\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0for information on how to participate and receive continuing education credit.<\/p>\n
\nThe Anne Arundel County Extension Office will offer a free, on-line Nutrient Management Voucher Training and Renewal Class Friday, April 1, from 4-6 p.m. for farm operators who apply nutrients to 10 or more acres of cropland. The two-hour nutrient applicator training course is required once every three years for these operators. The live, two-hour session will focus on fertility and production for all field crops, fruits and vegetables. The session uses Adobe Connect, the University of Maryland\u2019s student interactive system to document attendance and enable farmers to receive the training from the comfort of their homes or offices.\u00a0 A high speed cable or satellite internet connection is required.\u00a0 Interested farmers should register for the training by March 30 by calling the Anne Arundel County Extension Office at 410-222-6759.<\/p>\n
\nThe State Soil Conservation Committee will hold its next meeting on Thursday, April 21, at the Maryland Department of Agriculture\u2019s headquarters, 50 Harry S. Truman Parkway, Annapolis.\u00a0 The meeting is open to the public and will focus on soil conservation and water quality programs. Established in 1938, the State Soil Conservation Committee coordinates the activities of Maryland’s 24 soil conservation districts, while advising the Secretary of Agriculture on matters relating to soil and water conservation.\u00a0 For more information, contact Louise Lawrence, executive secretary, 410-841-5863.<\/p>\n