Agriculture
Your District Helping Our Local Farmers
Equipment Rental
The John Deere 1590 No Till Drill
The Garrett County Soil Conservation District has a No Till Drill available for rent for $10 per acre, with a minimum $30 rental charge. A No Till Drill allows farmers to plant crops or pasture without disturbing the soil, thus decreasing soil erosion.
Call our office at 301-501-5886 to be added to the schedule to use the No-Till Drill. You will need to fill out and sign the Rental Agreement and provide an active credit card before taking the Drill. Once you have finished using the Drill, your card will be charged for the acreage automatically. If the Drill is returned dirty, you will also be charged a $350 Cleaning & Maintenance fee. You can avoid this fee by bringing the Drill back clean and in the same condition as it was when you picked it up.
For more information, email jeannie.frazee@maryland.gov.
Transpread 5.5 Ton Lime and Fertilizer Spreader
The lime spreader is out of service at this time.
Resources Provided By the District
In addition to Equipment Rentals, the District helps farmers and landowners in many ways. Some of the resources we provide are: giving personalized advice about specific conservation questions, free technical assistance, writing free Conservation Plans, and helping farmers and landowners secure funding for various conservation structures and practices.
Cost Share Programs
Garrett County Soil Conservation District has a variety of cost share programs to help farmers protect their soil, water, and other resources. With these programs, grants help farmers pay the costs. After you check out the resources below, be sure to read more about some of the different funding types that we work with here in Garrett County. You will find them in the drop-down menus under the “Agriculture” and “Forestry” tabs.
Technical Assistance
Garrett Soil Conservation District can give farmers technical assistance even if they do not want to participate in cost-share programs.
The District can help farmers find solutions to problems that they may be facing on their farms by giving advice and even helping farmers with designing structures.
When farmers ask the District for help with a conservation need, the District can send experts to assess the problem, write a plan for a structure or best practice that will fix the problem, and if the farmer requests it, design any structures to address the need. These services are available to any farmer in the county free of charge even if the farmer does not wish to apply for funding through cost-share programs. For more information call 301-501-5886 or email seth.metheny1@maryland.gov.
Low Interest Loans
The District does not work with, or assist with, loans, but we are providing this information here as a resource for local farmers.
Maryland Department of Agriculture has low interest loans available through a variety of banking institutions that can help farmers bridge the gap of Cost Share Programs.
Maryland Department of Agriculture Tax Breaks for Farmers
Did you know there is a tax break for farmers when they purchase certain types of conservation equipment?