Montgomery Countryside Alliance Inc

Education: We conducted tours of local farms and water quality monitoring sites for local high school students. The 2024 Royce Hanson award honored the advocacy and community service of 5th generation farmer Doug Lechlider. MCA started work on a new project, the Good Gift Groundwater Campaign. The program published an extensive study of the Poolesville Sole Source Aquifer, the impacts of climate change on the resource, and a survey of local landowners about care of wells and septic systems. Educational outreach included interactive sessions with our new interactive Enviroscape model at schools and events along with webinars about protecting groundwater at the household and community level. MCA also conducted a webinar about balancing solar arrays with farming in the County.

Farmer Support: Since 2011 MCA has matched 40 new or expanding farmers with long term leases on local land through our Land Link program- now totaling over 500 acres of matches. 2024 saw 2 matches, joining the majority that are growing some or all of their produce for food banks. This year we went further to offer support through a second round of our Good Fences Grant program for farm critical fencing on 5 diverse local farms growing for local food banks (in addition to the 7 grantees last year). We promoted local food products and CSA programs and continued to grow our producers listserve to help farmers share knowledge and equipment. MCA helped transform a proposal to allow motels on protected farmland into a successful policy allowing overnight camping on farms to provide agritourism opportunities balanced with active farming.