Maryland

Program	Healthy Soils Program	Agricultural Water Quality Cost Share Program
Description of Program	The legislation established an advisory committee to determine how the program will work, including certification and verification. MDA will create a menu of Maryland-specific practices, determine metrics and tools to quantify soil carbon, and provide incentives to encourage climate friendly soil practices.	The programs aims to prevent soil erosion, manage nutrients and safeguard water quality through more than 30 qualifying practices eligible for incentives, such as conservation cover, plantings, grassed waterways, pasture management, etc.
Agricultural System Focus	Crop	Crop & Livestock
Implementation Process	To be determined	Unclear
Agency Managing the Program	MD Department of Agriculture	Soil Conservation Districts
Verification Process	On the ground verification of BMP implementation and random sampling	Compliance and verification is based on an annual random sample spot checks done by the soil conservation districts. The state randomly samples 10% of active contracts (which run from 10-15 years contracts).
Is it providing an incentive?	Unclear	Yes
Incentive Type	Not yet determined	Cost Share
Link for more information	https://mda.maryland.gov/resource_conservation/Pages/Soil-Health.aspx	https://mda.maryland.gov/resource_conservation/pages/macs.aspx