In Session – Agriculture

Adding Worcester County to the list of counties where an existing agricultural building used for agritourism is not considered a change of occupancy that requires a building permit if the subordinate use of agritourism does not require more than 200 people to occupy an individual building at any one time and the total width of means of egress meets or exceeds the International Building Code standard that applies to egress components other than stairways in a building without a sprinkler system.

Altering the purpose and use of the Maryland Farms and Families Fund; establishing the Maryland Food and Agricultural Resiliency Mechanism Grant Program and Fund to provide grants to food banks and charitable emergency food providers to alleviate food insecurity; and establishing the Maryland Farm-to-School Meal Grant Pilot Program and Fund to award grants to eligible school districts that include a local food component in school meals and to incentivize the production, procurement, and provision of local foods in school meals.

Transferring the regulation of pesticides, plant diseases, and mosquitos in the State from the Department of Agriculture to the Department of the Environment.

Altering the definition of “agritourism” to include camping and incidental stays for the purpose of a certain provision of law authorizing a local jurisdiction to adopt the definition of “agritourism”.

Altering the definition of “agritourism” to include special events and occasions conducted on a farm that generates income from an agricultural activity.

Altering the definition of “Tier 1 renewable source” for purposes of excluding energy derived from qualifying biomass, methane from the anaerobic decomposition of organic materials, certain fuel cells, poultry litter-to-energy, waste-to-energy, refuse-derived fuel, and thermal energy from a thermal biomass system from being eligible for inclusion in the renewable energy portfolio standard.