Conservation Grants

    • Maryland Agricultural Water Quality Cost-Share Program - The Maryland Agricultural Water Quality Cost-Share Program (MACS) provides farmers with grants to cover up to 100 percent of the cost to install conservation measures, known as best management practices, on their farms to prevent soil erosion, manage nutrients, and safeguard water quality in streams, rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay.
    • Cover Crop Program - The Cover Crop Program is your opportunity to apply for attractive grants to help pay for seed, labor, and equipment costs to plant cover crops in your fields this fall.  Note: The 2024-2024 Cover Crop enrollment period is now closed.
    • Cover Crop Plus+ Program - How would you like to earn higher incentives to plant cover crops in your fields to improve soil health?  Cover Crop Plus+ offers higher incentive payments to farmers who use enhanced cover crop practices to encourage greater biodiversity and increased residue management to improve soil health.  Note: The 2024-2025 Cover Crop Plus+ Enrollment period has ended.
    • Manure Transport Program - The Manure Transport Program helps cover the cost of transporting manure to farms with low phosphorus fields or to alternative use facilities.
    • Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program - Maryland's Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) is a federal-state partnership program that pays landowners to take environmentally sensitive cropland out of production for 10 to 15 years and install conservation practices that protect water quality and provide wildlife habitat.
    • Conservation Buffer Initiative - Maryland's Conservation Buffer Initiative (CBI) provides farmers with attractive incentive payments to plant streamside buffers on farmland to improve the health of local streams and the Chesapeake Bay.  This program can help you turn marginal land next to streams or floodplains into a valuable asset for both your farm and local water quality.