USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins has issued a Secretarial Disaster Declaration for Maryland following the April 21 freeze event. The declaration came after Governor Wes Moore formally requested it on May 27, following documented damage to the state's agricultural sector from the late spring freeze.
Disaster declarations unlock federal assistance programs for affected growers, including emergency loans and other USDA support. Maryland is not a primary driver of national produce volume, but the freeze event affected crops across the region and represents another data point in an unusually weather-disrupted spring for East Coast agriculture.
This is worth monitoring for any downstream effects on mid-Atlantic regional supply, and as a signal of how actively states are pursuing federal disaster relief following spring weather losses.