See all the details of the position here and apply to [email protected] with your resume and cover letter.
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We are looking for a contractor to help with our Groundwater outreach campaign to convert water data into education and action in Montgomery County's rural areas - is this you?
See all the details of the position here and apply to [email protected] with your resume and cover letter. How we use our prime agricultural lands matters. Flat, sunny, well drained soils are at a premium. Despite a compromise allowing solar in the Ag Reserve on non-prime soils as a conditional use in 2021, 2 solar projects are now applying to the state to end run the County's protections for prime soils in the Ag Reserve. All while solar companies inflate land values, putting acreage further out of reach for the new, diverse crop of local farmers. View MCA's Presentation delivered to the MoCo Climate Action Coalition Two Ways to Get Involved: 1. A meeting on one of the proposed projects, to be built in Dickerson, will be held on Wed. June 19 at 6:00pm at the Upper Montgomery County Volunteer Fire Department, 19801 Beallsville Rd in Beallsville. This meeting will be hosed by Chamberton Energy, the solar developer working on both projects. 2. The PSC is required to hold pubic hearings on the two projects. A virtual public hearing for the Dickerson project is scheduled for Wednesday July 10 at 7 pm. Anyone can testify. To do so, send an email to [email protected] by July 9 at 12:00 pm. The session will be live streamed. We’ll send you more information on that in July. Written comments on the proposed project may be submitted electronically through the PSC’s website (here's how). All comments must include reference to Case No. 9726. The PSC page for the Dickerson proposal is here. 2 solar projects have applied directly to the MD Public Service Commission (PSC) for approval of their 4-5 mw facilities in the Reserve - on prime farm soils in contradiction to the County’s zoning provisions. State Legislation has opened this path and concern mounts that conservation goals and laws will be compromised if the PSC allows projects to move forward regardless of how they might affect carefully crafted provisions for renewable projects. Moreover, currently there is a backlog of projects on less than prime soils that have gone through the County's process - the grid operators are unable to take more power. The arguments of those seeking solar on prime farmland remain unchanged from the original MC solar ZTA debate in 2021 including and outrageously that the Reserve represents failure… farming here does not contribute to our food system. Our central argument is unchanged: Panels should not be erected on prime farmland, defined as nearly level, with deep, well-drained soil capable of producing food without irrigation. These are class I and II soils in the USDA’s soil capability classification system. In Montgomery County these lands were set aside for Agriculture. When these lands are open to industrial uses the economics of farming are upended. Solar companies are offering 100 times the rate farmers are paying per acre. The purchase of farmland is already out of reach for aspiring farmers - a fact leading to the creation of our Land Link Montgomery program to connect new and expanding farmers with long term land leases. The land seekers in the program are almost entirely aspiring farmers of color, many of them immigrants, more than half women. AfriThrive, as profiled below is just one of several successful matches increasing local food production in the Ag Reserve - with more farmers seeking land each year. More Background:
Letters to just one local landowner promising between $1500-4000/acre per year to lease farmland for solar. An acre for farming usually goes for just under $200/year.
Call for Vendors
Pop-up Farmers and Artisans Market Sunday, September 15, 2024 11am - 3pm Linden Farm, Dickerson Montgomery Countryside Alliance is hosting the 17th annual Ride for the Reserve Fall bike tour. In addition to the bike ride and picnic, we're incorporating a pop-up Farmers and Artisans Market. Space is free. We're looking for all kinds of vendors selling items such as pumpkins, fruit, veggies, prepared foods, sweets, bakery items, flowers, fiber arts, vintage, arts/crafts or providing services such as massage, face painting, and more! Contact Mindy at [email protected] for more information or to reserve your spot. |
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MCA is proud to announce that we have been recognized for a third time as one of the best small charities in the D.C. region by Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington. A panel of 110 expert reviewers from area foundations, corporate giving programs, and peer non-profit organizations evaluated 270 applications.
MCA is known as an effective and innovative non-profit whose efforts to preserve and promote Montgomery County’s nationally recognized 93,000 acre Ag Reserve have brought increased public and governmental support of local food production and farmland and open space preservation. Most importantly, MCA’s efforts are putting more farmers on the ground and keeping them there. |