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Agriculture department: preservation funding dips in FY26 as transfer tax drops; cost‑share covered by fund balance
Summary
The Maryland Department of Agriculture told the committee that funding for the Agricultural Land Preservation program declines in FY26 because transfer tax receipts are lower, and that no new FY26 funding is planned for the Maryland Agricultural Cost Share program because available fund balance will cover current needs.
Andrew Gray, presenting the Department of Agriculture analysis for DLS, told the subcommittee that Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Program funding declines between FY25 and FY26 because transfer tax revenue estimates are reduced. Gray said the out years in the CIP reflect projected recovery of the transfer tax.
Kevin Atticks, Secretary of the Maryland Department of Agriculture, told the committee the department is not seeking new FY26 capital funding for the Maryland Agricultural Cost Share Program because “we have about $10,000,000 that will be used up” from prior balances and reversions. Atticks emphasized the long‑running impact of the state’s farmland preservation program: “As of January 1, we have preserved… 2,804 easements, accounting for over 376,000 acres of viable farmland,” he said, and noted the state and its partners have “just spent the billionth dollar” in cumulative preservation investments (state, federal and local combined).
Atticks said the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation remains an important vehicle for keeping farmland in production and that the department expects to continue preserving parcels as transfer tax revenues recover in later years.
DLS recommended concurrence with the allowance as presented.
