Mission Statement

The Office of Agriculture (OAG) was created in July 2016 and exists to promote agriculture as a viable component of the County's economic sector, as well as to preserve farmland as a resource for future agricultural production. The goal of the OAG is to promote Montgomery County as a leader in the agricultural industry by providing support to our farm community and working to educate our residents.

Budget Overview

The total approved FY25 Operating Budget for the Office of Agriculture is $1,455,952, an increase of $95,610 or 7.03 percent from the FY24 Approved Budget of $1,360,342. Personnel Costs comprise 62.31 percent of the budget for ten full-time position(s) and no part-time position(s), and a total of 5.90 FTEs. Total FTEs may include seasonal or temporary positions and may also reflect workforce charged to or from other departments or funds. Operating Expenses account for the remaining 37.69 percent of the FY25 budget.

County Priority Outcomes

While this program area supports all eight of the County Result Areas, the following are emphasized:

• Thriving Youth and Families
• A Growing Economy
• A Greener County

Innovations and Productivity Improvements

• The OAG is partnering with the County's Business Center to participate in the procurement of a customer relationship management (CRM) system in the hopes of having a more efficient way to track and report its work.

• The OAG is currently working with the Department of Technology and Enterprise Business Solutions to update/convert its forms and applications from PDF documents to seamless docs that can be completed and submitted online.

• The OAG is partnering with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance and the University of Maryland Extension Master Gardner Program on the installation of a Composting Education Hub that will be used to train gardeners and farmers on how to properly compost food scraps.

Program Descriptions

  Agricultural Services

The Office of Agriculture (OAG) serves in a variety of capacities to provide the following services: implement agricultural policies and programs; provide financial and technical assistance to farmers; manage agricultural education programs; provide financial and staff support to its partner agencies; serve as a liaison between the Executive Branch and...

  Soil Conservation

This program is comprised of staff and other resources from Federal, State, and local agricultural agencies. It provides technical and outreach educational assistance to farmers/rural landowners for implementing best management and conservation practices. The Montgomery Soil Conservation District (MSCD) assists the County to achieve the nationally mandated, state-assigned, Rural MS4...

  University of Maryland-Extension (UMD-Extention)

The Montgomery County Extension Office serves as the non-formal outreach and education arm of the University of Maryland. This agency is funded cooperatively through local, State, and Federal governments to make nonformal education accessible to all Montgomery County residents. Adults, families, and youth are the primary audiences Extension programs serve...