Regenerating Maryland: The Chesapeake Bay Legacy Act’s Impact on Agriculture

Photo by Chesapeake Bay Foundation

By Kerry McClaughry and Nicole Cook

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Last year, another step was taken in efforts to restore the Chesapeake Bay with the passing of the Chesapeake Bay Legacy Act. The Chesapeake Bay Legacy Act (“Legacy Act”) was submitted as Bill 506 in the Maryland House of Delegates and cross-filed as Bill 428 in the Maryland Senate in the 2025 regular legislative session. After being passed by the General Assembly, the Legacy Act was signed into law by Governor Wes Moore on May 13, 2025.

The Legacy Act touches on a variety of different topics and programs impacting the agriculture industry. Key aspects of the Legacy Act include: (1) the creation of the Maryland Leaders in Environmentally Engaged Farming (“LEEF”) program, a first-of-its-kind program that incentivizes regenerative and community best practices in agriculture; (2) amending the Healthy Soil Program to define and include “regenerative practices and traditions;” and (3) augmenting the Department of Natural Resources’ authority to extend leases on state-owned agricultural land for those using such practices.

The LEEF Program

Crucially, the Legacy Act establishes the LEEF Program. The program was modeled after the successful Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program, which encourages green building practices through a series of ratings and incentives. Similarly, the LEEF program created by the Legacy Act incentivizes the adoption of green agricultural practices in Maryland.

The LEEF program aims to support Chesapeake Bay restoration by: (1) promoting nutrient reduction strategies, (2) “mitigat[ing] farm emissions and increas[ing] carbon sequestration,” and (3) balancing Maryland’s environmental goals with farmers’ economic growth. Importantly, the program aims to incentivize agricultural producers’ incorporation of specified conservation and community best practices and provides tiered certification.

The LEEF program bestows on the Maryland Department of Agriculture the responsibility to create the program, after consulting with members of the agriculture, conservation, environmental, and higher education communities to “develop and promote a suite of conservation practices and community best practices eligible for the program.” The Legacy Act provides a list of sixteen practices that should be included, such as cover-crop plantings, healthy soil practices, and working with food banks to increase food security.

In consultation with the above stakeholders, the program must “develop criteria and appropriate evaluation measures to establish the tiers of recognition for program certification.” This analysis must consider the following: “(I) [the] [p]roximity of a conservation practice or community best practice to waters of the state; (II) [t]he extent to which [those practices] protect[] or restore[] the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Critical Area …; and (III) [t]he extent to which a conservation practice or community best practice engages with and benefits overburdened and underserved communities.” Finally, the Legacy Act designates the authority to establish incentives for program participation between the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Natural Resources (“MDNR”), the Department of Energy, and the Maryland Energy Administration.

Originally, the LEEF program was to be funded by excess Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program funds. As discussed in hearings before the Senate Education, Energy, and the Environment (“EEE”) Committee and the House Environment and Transportation (“ENT”) Committee, although the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program receives $2.5 million annually, only $500,000 is typically used. Amendments redirected funding, however, and as enacted, the Governor will allocate instead a sum of $900,000 each year to the LEEF program.

Healthy Soil Program

The Legacy Act amended Maryland’s Healthy Soil Program by adding “regenerative practices and traditions.” The Legacy Act defines regenerative practices and traditions as those which “1. [d]raw[] on traditions and innovations from African, indigenous, and original land stewards; 2. [p]romote[] culturally important food and climate justice programs and initiatives; and 3. [e]nhance[] the land and ecosystem through adaptive land management practices that improve soil health and water quality, restore biodiversity, mitigate climate change impacts, and provide the greatest community benefits.”

This addition to a definition of healthy soils impacts the interpretation of the new LEEF program. Included in the list of conservation practices eligible for the program is promoting practices that increase healthy soils. It also ties into another item the Legacy Act addressed: the expansion of the leases on agricultural land.

Agricultural Leases

For the purposes of leases of state-owned agricultural land, the definitions of “healthy soils” and “regenerative practices and traditions” refer to those stated above. This section of the Legacy Act was discussed at length in the House ENT Committee Hearing. According to the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture and the Secretary of MDNR, the existing laws failed to meet the needs of the growing agricultural industry. Vitally, the cost of purchasing land in Maryland is prohibitively high for new farmers and producers to procure, making it difficult for anyone who is unlikely or unable to inherit generational agricultural land to begin a new agricultural practice. Most of the agricultural land in Maryland is owned by the state and managed by MDNR. However, leasing these lands under the preexisting statute was especially difficult for those who planned to implement emerging sustainable practices due to the limited lease time of one year contrasted with the necessary cushion time for these sustainable practices to really settle and develop.

The Legacy Act addresses these issues by allowing MDNR to lease land for a minimum of ten years to those who plan to “implement[] practices that support healthy soils and regenerative practices and traditions.” The goal, therefore, is to encourage these practices by increasing access to agricultural land and allowing those lessees enough time to build their practices when facing uncertainty of implementing sustainable agricultural practices.

Conclusion

For agricultural producers and farmers, the key takeaways from the Legacy Act include the creation of the new LEEF program, which will create economic opportunities for those who elect to participate and incorporate best conservation practices; the expansion of the Healthy Soils Program to include a definition of regenerative practices and traditions that span historic and cultural soil conservation practices; and an increase in allotted time MDNR may grant a lease for department-managed agricultural land.

#ALEI #LegacyAct #LEEF #HealthySoils