Environmental Justice & Community Resilience at MDA
Maryland aims to be a national and global leader in fighting climate change. In order to do so, the state must address issues and concerns that place all communities at risk, equally. State law defines environmental justice (EJ) as “equal protection from environmental and public health hazards for all people regardless of race, income, culture, and social status.”
Agriculture is as diverse as Maryland’s communities. As the state’s oldest and largest industry, we must consider how community, community health and resilience, and environmental justice play a role in the practice of agriculture. MDA is committed to working in collaboration with our state counterparts, scientists, and producers to address conditions that disproportionately affect our overburdened and underserved communities.
In July 2025, Governor Moore signed the
Valuing Opportunities, Inclusion, and Community Equity Executive Order (“VOICE EO”) and directed state agencies to develop Environmental Justice Strategic Plans. In alignment with the executive order, MDA is creating its first Environmental Justice Strategic Plan. The plan will provide background on why environmental justice is important for MDA’s work and identify goals, objectives, and actions MDA will take to advance environmental justice in its work moving forward. Once published, the report can be found here.
We pledge to:
- Advance DEIJ with Partners.
- At MDA, we work with our conservation partners at the federal, state, and local levels in order to remain a leader in agricultural conservation.
- It is imperative that we pursue diversity and acceptance and provide equitable access to our services, programs, and educational offerings.
- MDA recognizes Maryland’s comprehensive definitions of overburdened and underserved communities in our work as outlined in the Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022.
- In addition, MDA acknowledges the USDA definition of historically underserved (HU) producers and ranchers. USDA defines HU producers as:
- Beginning Farmer or Rancher – new to farming or ranching with less than 10 years experience.
- Socially Disadvantaged – a member of a group who has been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice as a result of their identity.
- Veteran farmer or rancher.
Coming Soon: MDA’s Environmental Justice Strategic Plan
In alignment with the VOICE executive order, MDA is creating its first Environmental Justice Strategic Plan. The plan will provide background on why environmental justice is important for MDA’s work and identify goals, objectives, and actions MDA will take to advance environmental justice in its work moving forward.
MDA invites everyone to offer input, participate, and contribute to our drafting process on how MDA could further advance environmental justice through our work, programs, and policies. Please see below. There will be several opportunities to provide comments. We anticipate being able to have a full draft available for review by early Summer 2026.
Plan Overview:
A webinar with a general overview of MDA’s EJ Plan strategy will be posted shortly.
Opportunities for Input
- Email: Comments, concerns, questions, and other input may be submitted to MDA’s Environmental Justice Lead, Nadya Chehab, via email or this form.
- EJ Plan Overview: For a general overview of the EJ strategic plan
- Plan Survey: We will be using this survey form to better understand what issues are important to our agricultural community. It will remain open for submissions until June 2026. The survey is available here.
