Governor Larry Hogan announced the launch of a Small Acreage Cover Crop Program to support small farm producers and urban agriculture. The pilot program is operated by the Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) and is aimed at helping historically underserved farmers and communities build healthy soils, increase yields, sequester carbon, and improve local water quality. Financial assistance for this program is capped at $1,000 per grower per year.
Maryland’s Small Acreage Cover Crop Program is the first in a series of statewide financial assistance programs to be introduced by MDA’s new Small Farm and Urban Agriculture Program. It will provide needed financial and technical assistance to support small-scale farms in urban, peri-urban, rural, and suburban areas. The program aims to increase community access to healthy foods by helping farmers adopt environmentally sound practices.
Small-scale producers who may not qualify for traditional cover crop programs are encouraged to apply for these grants. Program highlights include:
- Urban agricultural growers and small farmers who plant five or fewer acres of a cover crop may apply for cover crop grants.
- Eligible planted species include cover crop mixes or single cereal grains.
- Cover crops may be planted in open plots, raised beds, or a high tunnel following the harvest of a production crop (vegetables, herbs, flowers, sorghum, soybeans, hemp, millet, or tobacco).
- Growers should plant fall cover crops following seed company recommendations, but later than November 30, 2022.
- Growers will be reimbursed based on paid receipts with a maximum payment of up to $1,000 per growing season.
Growers who want to apply for these grants should contact Bill Tharpe, Program Administrator for the Small Farm and Urban Agriculture Program, at bill.tharpe@maryland.gov or 410-841-5869.
For additional information, please visit the website.
