FARMINGTON — The Greater Franklin Food Council is advancing several initiatives this year aimed at strengthening the county’s local food system through farmer support, educational programming and expanded community access.

Winter planning efforts are focused on school garden coordination, grant development and outreach to farmers and food businesses across the region.

“Our school garden coach is working with schools this month to kick off garden planning,” said Erica Emery of the Greater Franklin Food Council. “Students are selecting vegetable crops to grow and making maps to plan out gardens.”

The council is also gathering community input through a new survey designed to evaluate how community gardens can expand food access and volunteer participation. Results will guide future programming at the Gather and Grow Community Garden at Stone Soup Gardens, a property managed by Life Enrichment Advancing People (LEAP) in Farmington.

“We want to better understand the need, how many people want community garden plots and understand if there are people in our community who might want to volunteer to grow food for food security efforts,” Emery said. “The results will help guide us in making decisions about programming at our current Gather and Grow Community Garden plot that we run at Stone Soup Gardens.”

The survey is available through the council’s website and social media pages.

Earlier this month, representatives from the Maine Tasting Center visited Franklin County to explore opportunities for featuring local producers at the Wiscasset-based destination, which includes an educational kitchen, tasting room and museum focused on Maine food and agriculture.

Six Franklin County businesses participated in the visit: Root Down Market, Haymay Creamery, The Sweet Life Kettle Corn Co., Morrison Hill Orchard, Thistle Moon Farmstead and The Farmers’ Daughter.

Planning is also underway for the 2026 Maine Fiddlehead Festival, scheduled for 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 2 at the University of Maine at Farmington. Vendor registration remains open through March 6. Organizers are focused on vendor recruitment, with additional festival details expected to be released closer to the event date.

Several educational opportunities for farmers are scheduled this spring. A winter apple-pruning workshop is open for registration. The council and the University of Maine Cooperative Extension will also host the annual spring farmer workshop March 31 at UMF, featuring marketing strategy development and a panel discussion focused on wholesale marketing and sales.

Farmers will also have access to up to four hours of free, one-on-one financial coaching through a program sponsored by UMaine Cooperative Extension.

Community programming will include a Women’s Full Moon Snowshoe scheduled for March 3 at Grasshopper Hill Farm in Rangeley. The event will include a guided evening hike and community gathering.

The Greater Franklin Food Council maintains a Google Group listserv for residents, farmers and organizations to share information and announcements related to local food efforts. Community members can also subscribe to the council’s monthly newsletter through its website.