Agriculture and Natural Resources

Welcome to the Anne Arundel County Agriculture and Natural Resources Department!

The Anne Arundel County Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension Educator works with peach

farmers by providing technical and educational information. These services are designed to offer the latest in pest management practices and nutrient management while being sensitive to the environmental impacts on the county's water and soil resources. Agriculture programs focus on issues which include:

Agricultural Production
Water Quality Marketing
Farm Management
Environmental Quality

Special annual programs include the Winter Annual Vegetable Producer's Breakfast and Fruit Producer's Breakfast, University of Maryland Upper Marlboro Research and Education Field Day, Southern Maryland Production meeting and participation at the Anne Arundel County Fair. Certification classes for private pesticide applicators are conducted several times a year (see Upcoming Programs). A newsletter, published quarterly, and an online calendar of events is available to keep you up-to-date on agriculture happenings and events!

For more information about the Agriculture and Natural Resources program, please contact Dave Myers, Extension Educator, Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Nutrient Management Program

Krista Mitchell, Nutrient Management Advisor, works with Maryland producers to develop nutrient management plans that balance nutrient application rates with crop nutrient requirements, with the ultimate goal of protecting the health of the Chesape farm ake Bay by reducing excessive nutrient applications from entering Maryland's waterways. The Water Quality Improvement Act of 1998 requires all Maryland producers who make or exceed $2,500 gross annual income or who have 8 or more animal units (1 animal unit = 1,000 pounds live weight) to obtain and implement a nutrient management plan.

The University of Maryland Extension's Agricultural Nutrient Management program (www.anmp.umd.edu), which is funded by the Maryland Department of Agriculture, provides free nutrient management plans, minus the cost of analyses, to Maryland farmers. Nutrient Management Advisors are located at every UME county office throughout Maryland and also provide assistance with pre-sidedress nitrate tests (PSNT) for corn and equipment calibration.

For more information on the Nutrient Management Program, please contact Krista Mitchell, Nutrient Management Advisor.

Soil Testing
Although the University of Maryland Soil Testing Lab has closed, there are many other labs available that conduct soil analysis. Not all labs can be readily converted into University of Maryland values. Producers will need to make arrangements with these soil-testing labs (i.e. obtain soil bags, forms, and make arrangements to mail the samples to the lab). For more information, see our Comparison of Soil Test Labs bulletin. This comparison provides MD producers who must obtain a nutrient management plan a list of approved labs that can be used for their nutrient management plan development. Please note that specific sampling procedures need to be followed in order for these lab's analyses to convert to University of Maryland soil test values. Producers required to obtain a nutrient management plan for their operation should follow these sampling procedures, rather than the lab's sampling instructions.

soil

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Links are provided as an information service. They do not constitute an endorsement of any non-affiliated organizations, businesses, products or content of these pages by University of Maryland Extension or the University of Maryland. We are not responsible for their content.

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For more information, contact R. David Myers

Last updated: 09/11/2011