The Maryland State Department of Assessments and Taxation (SDAT) has proposed changes to the agricultural use assessment for woodland, now published in the Maryland Register.

Maryland’s agricultural use assessment assigns a lower assessed value to farmland and qualifying woodland than to market-rate property. The goal is to keep land in active farm or forestry use.

The draft regulation states that woodland must include at least five contiguous acres to qualify. Additionally, landowners cannot combine smaller parcels to meet the five-acre threshold.

The proposal also covers Forest Conservation Management Agreements. If a parcel enrolled in an FCMA is less than five acres, it remains assessed at market value for the full term of the agreement. SDAT frames this as a cleanup of the current rules and as a way to better align with the statute.

Counties track these issues closely. Fair taxation depends on clear rules, and counties stressed this point during recent debates over when agricultural improvements should be subject to the ag-use assessment. The woodland proposal returns to that same theme, tightening what qualifies and giving everyone a consistent starting point.

Some landowners have pushed the program’s boundaries in recent years. Commercial operators and non-farm businesses have tried to secure the agricultural use rate for parcels that function more like commercial property than working farmland or woodland.

Counties see more of these cases each year, raising fairness concerns. When commercial activity receives an ag-use assessment, other taxpayers shoulder a greater share of the burden, and the program drifts away from its purpose of supporting real forestry and farm use.

The proposed regulation is open for public comment through January 2, 2026. Comments may be submitted to SDAT as outlined in the Maryland Register.