MACS Funding

MACS stands for Maryland Agricultural Water Quality Cost-Share Program. The goal of the MACS Program is to provide financial support to farmers for the implementation of Best Management Practices that control and reduce agriculturally related water pollution. Pollution sources could be from erosion, animal waste, nutrients, or agricultural chemicals.

Since 1984, the MACS Program has installed over 24,000 BMP’s for farmers in Maryland.

MACS is distributed to farmers through their local Soil Conservation District. In order to qualify, farmers must have at least 8 animal units on their farm and have some areas of the farm where there are conservation management concerns. (If they do not have 8 animal units, they may qualify for the EQIP funding.) Farms must have a Nutrient Management Plan in place and be compliant with it before making an application. 

Four angus calves behind a barbed wire fence
Photo by Sabrina Eickhoff

How You Would Apply

If you want to apply for MACS funding, you should call our office at 301-501-5886 and ask to be placed on our list for a Conservation Plan.

When your turn comes for the Plan, we will call you and talk to you about your farm. A technician may come out and look at your farm and take some surveys. Then, a Planner will write up the plan for you and present it to you. The Conservation Plan tells you what areas of the farm would benefit from different management practices or new structures.

You do not have to do any of the recommended practices unless you so choose. Our technicians will advise you about funding that you could receive to pay for the various improvements. Many times funding is cost-share, which means the grant pays part, and the farmer pays part.

If you wish to proceed with applying for funding for any of these practices, our office will assist you with submitting an application, and with making a “Claim for Payment” once the work is completed.

MACS is one of the programs in the Conservation Grants Program (CG). Others include: Maryland Cover Crop Program, Manure Management, Ecosystem Incentives Program, and the Small Farm and Urban Agriculture Program. The Ecosystem Incentives Program and the Small Farm and Urban Agriculture Program are both new.

There are some important things to know. There may be maintenance obligations required after the practice is installed. If you sell your property, the MAC agreement transfers to the new owner and that owner must comply with the MACS contract. 

To begin the process, contact our office at 301-501-5886 or email us at seth.metheny1@maryland.gov.

New for 2023

New for 2023 is that some eligible capital projects are funded up to 100%. Previously, these were funded at only 87.5%, with the farmer paying the difference through cost-share.

Also, the per project cap has raised from $50,000 to $75,000. 

This is not the case for every project. And there are farm limits and program caps for different practices.

The projects that now qualify for the 100% grant fund are:

Clicking on each conservation practice on this page will take you to a description of what the practice means. This is a rough overview. Actual practices applied to individual farms may vary.

Black horse running in a pasture with a blue sky and hills in the background.
Photo by Antonios Ntoumas
See MACS Brochure
Diagram of a Riparian Forest Buffer
Diagram of a Riparian Forest Buffer. Click photo to enlarge. (USDA National Agroforestry Center illustration)
Cost-Share

There are over 40 Best Managment Practices eligible for cost-share all together. Some of these include:

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