From left, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association Executive Director Sarah Alexander, Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, USDA Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Jenny Lester Moffitt. Gabrielle Mannino photo

Days after the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced $2 billion dollars in new funding to “strengthen and transform the American food system,” Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, USDA Under Secretary Jenny Lester Moffitt and Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association Executive Director Sarah Alexander discussed the future of farming with local Maine organic farmers and food processing community members for a roundtable discussion Crystal Spring Community Farm in Brunswick.

Of the $2 billion, the USDA will invest $300 million into a new organic transition initiative, which will help Maine farmers who haven’t yet transitioned to organic farming.

Moffitt said the goals of the USDA’s food transformation system are to create a better market for producers and consumers, tackle food insecurity by creating access to nutritious food, reducing one’s carbon footprint and finally, equity.

Crystal Spring Community Farm owner Seth Kroeck has been growing vegetables and fruit organically for 20 years, specializing in carrots and blueberries.

Kroeck said climate change has already impacted the way he plants and harvests his crops and asked how the USDA will tackle the issue their newly proposed plan. “We’ve seen wide swings in what used to be very regular rainfall,” said Kroeck.

“We will make sure we are integrating and weaving climate change into all of our programs,” said Moffitt.

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Pingree said the Farm Bill for the 2023 fiscal year will have to be the most transformational bill yet, by paying close attention to the language that is used.

The stakes are so high at this point- any organic dairy farm we lose now isn’t coming back, and that loss effects more than just that farm family- the loss is felt throughout the entire rural community,” said organic dairy farm owner Annie Watson. “We are struggling to make it work at the farm level with the ever-rising cost of production, and lack of support from our existing pay price. Our costs keep rising: grain, fuel, trucking, equipment repairs, it all keeps going up, but our pay price is stagnant, and real cause for alarm at the farm level. A lot of the funding doesn’t end up in the hands of the farmers,” said Watson.

“I hope that money does get back to the farmers in some way, shape or form,” said Moffitt. She explained that the point of the programs are to achieve this indirectly.

Alexander believes the solution is to make local organic produce available to Mainers, benefiting both consumers and farmers.  “It doesn’t make sense to be shipping carrots from California,” she said.

Due to PFAS contamination, farmer Beth Schiller of Dandelion Spring farm is worried about the cost of opening up new land. Schiller asked Moffitt how the USDA Organic Transition will offer support to farmers experiences this same issue.

PFAS or per and polyfluoroalkyl substances are a group of manmade chemicals that became widely used in household products and industrial settings in the 1940s. PFAS have been found in Maine agricultural sites, drinking water supplies, surface waters, landfills, wastewater, sludge and septage spreading sites, and remediation and cleanup sites. PFAS can cause a range of potential health issues, including decreased fertility in women, child development issues, decreased response to vaccines and high blood pressure in pregnant women, according to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection website.

Moffitt didn’t have much to say on the matter.

“USDA is really thinking about solutions. I can’t say we have any answers yet,” said Moffitt.

“Maine is very fortunate to have such an amazing engagement in agriculture, from families who have been here for generations, to new farmers who have just started out, who are trying to navigate the complexities we are dealing with right now,” said Pingree.

Roundtable discussion at Crystal Spring Community Farm in Brunswick. Gabrielle Mannino photo

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