Office of Resource Conservation
Jason Keppler
Conservation Grants Program Manager
- [email protected]
- Main
- 410-841-5864
Maryland Agricultural Water Quality Cost-Share Program (MACS)
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About MACS
Are you worried about the amount of soil that leaves your farm every time it rains? Looking for a better way to water your cattle? Do you have an environmental compliance issue that needs attention? Or do you simply want to leave a conservation legacy that your children can be proud of?
The Maryland Agricultural Water Quality Cost-Share (MACS) Program provides farmers with grants to cover up to 87.5% of eligible costs to install best management practices on their farms to prevent soil erosion, manage nutrients, and safeguard water quality in streams, rivers, and the Chesapeake Bay.
Since 1984, we’ve helped thousands of farmers protect natural resources on their farms, enhance the health of their livestock, and improve the appearance of their farms.
Get free assistance
Your soil conservation district can provide free technical assistance to design and plan your project. In many instances, our cost-share grants can be combined with federal conservation grants to make the installation of these practices very affordable. To get your project started, contact your soil conservation district office to arrange for someone to come to your farm.
Erosion and Soil Health Practices
- Permanent vegetation that helps to curb erosion, improve water quality and provide wildlife habitat. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- Can reduce soil erosion by as much as 50 percent compared to up and down hill farming. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- Small grains and mixes that can be planted to reduce nutrient runoff, control erosion and improve soil health. Funding is available through the Cover Crop Program, Cover Crop Plus, and Small Farm Cover Crop Program.
- Protect severely eroding areas from soil erosion. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- Long, earthen embankments that are built across slopes to catch and slow runoff. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- Can help prevent erosion at the edge of crop fields. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- Can be used at the outlet of a grassed waterway to help prevent gully erosion. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- One of our most popular practices. Grassed waterways help reduce erosion by carrying water safely across fields and down steep slopes. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- Can help protect areas that cannot be stabilized by permanent vegetation. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- Capture and trap eroded soil and sediment. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- Can be used on steep, long slopes to reduce erosion. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- Earthen embankments that help control erosion by breaking long slopes into shorter ones. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
Stream Protection Practices
- Grass or other permanent vegetation planted to help protect water quality. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- These plantings filter runoff, protect against wind erosion and act as a living fence and wildlife corridor. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- Helps protect local streams from animal impacts. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- Perimeter and interior pasture fencing for rotational grazing systems. Up to 50% cost-share.
- Provide a safe, reliable drinking water supply for animals away from streams. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- Establishes eligible forage species in new or renovated grazing systems. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- Trees, shrubs and grasses that are planted along waterways to improve water quality and provide wildlife habitat. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- Can be planted next to streams to filter pollutants and improve water quality. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
Introduces trees into active livestock pastures to filter runoff, provide shade and shelter for livestock, and capture carbon. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- Can be installed in pastures to convert muddy springs or wet areas into a clean water supply for livestock. Up to 87.5% cost-share
- Protect waterways and provide livestock with safe access to pastures. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- Protects areas outside the stream corridor to improve water quality and sequester carbon. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- A hole drilled, dug, driven, bored, jetted, or otherwise constructed to an aquifer. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
Manure and Barnyard Management Practices
- Can be installed at poultry house entrances to protect against runoff during cleanouts. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- Help livestock farmers stabilize areas that are disturbed due to frequent use by animals and farm equipment. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- Provide a clean and efficient way to dispose of dead birds safely. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- Gutters, downspouts and outlets that can be installed on farm buildings to prevent rainwater runoff from mixing with manure. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- Can be installed over an existing or planned waste storage facility or heavy use area to help divert clean water away from barnyards and feedlots. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- An area of vegetation to remove sediment, organic matter, and other pollutants from wastewater. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- Help protect poultry manure from runoff. Satellite structures are also eligible for funding. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- These facilities help livestock operations (dairy, beef, and horse) safely contain liquid or dry manure. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- An impoundment made by excavation, earth fill, or a combination of both for the biological treatment of animal or other agricultural waste. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
Conservation Drainage Practices
Conservation drainage practices are mainly used on the Eastern Shore to help reduce the movement of sediment, nitrogen, and phosphorus into surface waters from artificially drained agricultural land. Supporting practices include water control structures, subsurface drains, and underground outlets.
- Trenches filled with a carbon source— usually wood chips—and installed at the edge of a field to remove nitrate nitrogen from agricultural drainage water. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- Divert drainage water to a vegetated area for treatment. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- A structure in a water management system that conveys water, controls the direction or rate of flow, maintains a desired water surface elevation, or measures water. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- A conduit installed beneath the ground surface to collect and convey excess water.
- A conduit or system of conduits installed beneath the surface of the ground to convey surface water to a suitable outlet. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- A wetland can be constructed at the edge of a field to treat and filter drainage water on a site that was not previously a wetland. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
- Restores wetland habitat to improve water quality and reduce flooding impacts. Up to 87.5% cost-share.
Related contacts
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Conservation Grants Program Manager