cost share program
Improve riparian buffers, precision nutrient management, conservation drainage and litter management
PUBLISHED ON March 25, 2024
Delmarva Chicken Association, the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, and the Nanticoke Watershed Alliance are partnering with chicken farmers to invest $2 million in cost-share programs to accelerate the adoption of chicken farming best management practices in Maryland, Delaware and Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay watersheds and improve riparian buffers, precision nutrient management, conservation drainage and litter management. (photo by Delmarva Chicken Association)
GEORGETOWN, Del. — Delmarva Chicken Association, the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, and the Nanticoke Watershed Alliance are partnering with chicken farmers to invest $2 million in cost-share programs to accelerate the adoption of chicken farming best management practices in Maryland, Delaware and Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay watersheds and improve riparian buffers, precision nutrient management, conservation drainage and litter management.
The three-year effort, which began accepting chicken farmers’ applications for cost-share support this spring, is backed by a $997,327 grant from the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation through NFWF’s Chesapeake Innovative Nutrient and Sediment Reduction Grants Program, a partnership between NFWF and the Environmental Protection Agency. Delmarva Chicken Association, the state of Maryland, the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay and the Nanticoke Watershed Alliance are contributing a combined $1 million in matching funds to the initiative, and DCA is working with the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay and the Nanticoke Watershed Alliance to implement the conservation measures, farm by farm. The goal for each partner in the initiative is to improve the sustainability of the chicken community while continuing to improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay.
“Since the 1980s, farmers have increased food production to meet growing demand while meaningfully reducing agriculture’s yearly nitrogen and phosphorus contributions to the Bay, contributing to its improved health today,” said Holly Porter, DCA’s executive director. “Innovative, collaborative efforts…