Cover Crop Program

Maryland's Cover Crop Program provides grants to help farmers pay for the seed, labor, and equipment costs to plant soil-building cover crops in their fields each fall. Cover crops are important to the health of local waterways and the Chesapeake Bay and can improve the quality of spring cash crops and lower input costs by recycling unused nutrients, adding organic matter, controlling weeds and pests, reducing soil erosion and compaction, and protecting fields from too much or too little rain. For 2026-2027 the base payment is $35/acre, with up to $65/acre available in add-on incentives for highly valued planting practices (add $15/acre for incorporating on or before October 10, and $15/acre for planting rye, triticale, or a multi-species cover crop). Aerial and broadcast stalk-chop/cultipacker options are capped at $50/acre. Non-poultry manure may be applied to cover crop fields in the fall at a reduced payment rate of $25/acre. The program is funded by the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund and the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Trust Fund.

You must plant at least 10 acres of cover crops to participate, and enrolled acreage cannot exceed Nutrient Management Plan acreage. Plant cover crops after corn, soybeans, sorghum (sorghum/Sudan hybrid), tobacco, vegetables, hemp, sunflowers, sod, or millet. Eligible species: cereal grains (wheat/spelt, rye, barley, triticale, oats, ryegrass); brassicas (forage radish, canola/rape); and legumes (clover, Austrian winter peas, hairy vetch). Brassicas and legumes must be planted with a cereal grain as part of a mix. Homegrown and purchased seed must be tested and labeled per Maryland Seed Law, be free of prohibited noxious weed seeds, have at least 80% germination, and contain no more than 16 restricted noxious weeds per pound. You must be in good standing with the Conservation Grants Program and in compliance with Maryland's nutrient management requirements.

The 2026-2027 sign-up ran June 22 through July 17, 2026 at local soil conservation district offices (now closed; approval letters to be mailed). Apply in person at your local soil conservation district and bring your completed Nutrient Management Plan Certification and IRS Form W-9. Certify your cover crop with your district within one week of planting and by November 12, 2026; all follow-up documentation is due by December 1, 2026.