agriculture

Auburn's unique income requirements in the agricultural zone has protected it's character for decades.

Last September, Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture and the Environment in Freeport received a $35 million grant from the USDA to expand climate-friendly, regenerative farming practices nationwide. Now a national leader, Wolfe’s Neck Center has big plans to help farms across the country transform our food system.

So far, contamination has been found on 56 farms and 23% of the more than 1,500 groundwater samples that have been collected – both from agricultural sites and residential wells – have tested above Maine’s interim standard of 20 parts per trillion for the cumulative total of six types of PFAS.

The facility is scheduled to begin operations in early 2024.

Farmers across New England have been stymied by a regional lack of animal processing facilities. In New Hampshire, there are only four USDA licensed slaughterhouses, according to a legislative report from 2021. The state has no USDA inspected facilities for poultry slaughter and there are only three facilities in all of New England that process birds from New Hampshire.

Maine’s growing regional grain economy is poised to help farmers, local economies, and supply chains be more nimble as climate change increasingly forces agriculture in the region to adapt to severe weather events and warming temperatures.

The most desirable land for large solar farms is at least 25 acres, flat, open to the sun, easily accessible by good roads and near existing power lines. In other words, land that is perfect for farming.

Agricultural workers in Maine would be allowed to form a union to bargain for wages, benefits and working conditions under a bill before the Legislature’s Labor Committee. But it drew opposition from several Maine farmers who say it could put them out of business.

With harvest on the horizon and the summer slipping away, COVID-19 continues to wreak new havoc on Maine farms in diverse ways. Some farmers say the…

Maine Public TV Air Time: Thur., February 7 at 10:00 pm Dairy Farms remain the backbone of agriculture in New England, but they fight for survival in an…