Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack spent time on a Westminster farm this morning as they joined in a ceremony to renew a program aimed to help farmers protect water quality in Maryland.

The event kicked off a busy day for O’Malley in Carroll County, where he declared Westminster the State Capital for a Day.
 
The farm initiative — the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program — pays farmers a set price per acre for planting vegetative buffers, creating wetlands or creating a wildlife habitat rather of growing crops on their land.

Landowners also receive an annual incentive payment as well as much as $7 per acre to pay for land maintenance. Farmers can also have a one-time signing bonus of up to $200 an acre.

“It’s important because farmers are the best stewards of the land,” said O’Malley, standing amid rolling green pastures of Carroll County on the farm of Richard J. Soper. “They know the land; they understand the relationship between the water and the land.”

Maryland became the first state to participate in the voluntary federal program when it joined in 1997. The agreement expired in December 2007 after former Gov. Robert Ehrlich signed an extension in 2005.

Soper’s farm is in the Little Morgan Run Watershed, which spills into the Liberty Reservoir and, eventually, to the Chesapeake Bay.

“I believe taking good farmland out of production to plant a few trees is absolutely a good thing,” Soper said at the Friday morning ceremony.

Soper said later he has enrolled in the program for the past three years while also participating in other farm preservation programs.

“We’ve pushed our cattle away from the creeks, planted some trees, installed cattle crossings and water facilities,” he said. “All of these improvements not only benefited our farm, but they are helping clean up the water supply and the environment.”

Vilsack said Soper’s farm represents a model for contribution and conservation.

“It takes a lot of hard work to plant those trees. It takes a lot of hard work to maintain those buffer strips, but Richard understands it’s not just about his farm. It’s not just about his family. It’s about all of us,” Vilsack said. “And that’s the great thing about rural folks — they understand that connection. That’s what makes rural folks the strength and the soul of this country.”

Officials hope that CREP will help reach the state’s goals of reducing about 11.5 million pounds of nitrogen and 1.1 million pounds of phosphorus from entering Maryland waterways each year, as well as reducing 200,000 tons annually of sediment entering the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries.

“There’s going to be $198 million being invested in best farming practices in ... Maryland over the next 15 years,” O’Malley said. “It will mean we will go from about 70,000 acres to hitting our goal of 100,000 acres.”

Since the program’s inception, Maryland farmers have enrolled more than 74,000 acres.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will kick in $165 million to Maryland for rental payments over the next 15 years, and about $33 million for cost-share payments, for a total of $198 million. Farmers can also receive bonuses through private programs and USDA incentives.

While at the farm, O’Malley and Vilsack helped plant a tree to mark Arbor Day. O’Malley acknowledged the perfect weather conditions in the opening of his earlier remarks.

“I’m as happy as a king when I catch a breath of spring as the grass is growing green as winter ends and the geese are on the wing and threshers start to sing, and I’m headed down the road to Carroll County to see my friends,” the governor said, waxing poetic.

The signing marked the governor’s Capital For a Day tour in Westminster. From Soper’s farm, O’Malley continued his tour this afternoon in Westminster with a stroll down Main Street followed by a cabinet meeting with local officials at McDaniel College.

Check back at ExploreCarroll.com for more coverage of the governor’s visit to Westminster.

What is CREP?

The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program is a voluntary program that partners the state and U.S. Department of Agriculture that provides money and incentives for farmers to take their crops out of rotation for 10 to 15 years in exchange for planting vegetative buffers, creating wetlands or create a wildlife habitat instead of growing crops on their land.

Landowners interested in joining CREP can contact the following offices:

Carroll Soil Conservation District, 1004 Littlestown Pike, Suite B2, Westminster. Contact the office at 410-848-8200, ext. 3; or USDA Service Center, 698 J Corporate Center Court, Westminster.

---

user comments (0)