The turnpike’s new executive director has reopened contract negotiations with the company that runs five service plazas along the toll highway.
agriculture
Belgrade workshop focuses on the art of sheep shearing
Fourteen students, as well as observers and instructors, took part in a two-day sheep shearing workshop at North Belgrade Community Center, organized by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension.
Family of horse and pony lovers strut their stuff at Pittston Fair
Jesse and Casey Seavey of North Anson, and their three daughters, twins Mariah and Morgan, 11, and Lindsey, 6, compete with their workhorses and ponies at the Pittston Fair.
Pineland Farms sells its historic Maine dairy herd
It’s the end of an era for one of the country’s oldest herds. But it’s also the start of a larger effort to support Maine’s dairy industry in a different form.
After hailing them as important, EPA cancels PFAS research grants
Termination notices to Maine grant recipients said the work was ‘no longer consistent with EPA funding priorities.’ At least 2 of the 3 Maine recipients plan to appeal the termination.
USDA funding uncertainty puts Maine farmers in a bind
As vital federal grants and project money continues to be frozen, farmers are being forced to make hard decisions.
USDA cancels $35M climate grant to Freeport demonstration farm
The termination letter said Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture & the Environment failed to pay at least 65% of its climate-smart agriculture grant directly to farmers.
Farmers angry over federal funding cuts rally at Maine State House
They showed up, on their tractors, to protest millions in cuts to federal grants, canceled support for school lunches and the termination of 20% of USDA workers who support Maine’s farmers.
Lawmakers consider $10M bailout for Fairfield water crisis
A bill would expand the public water system to Fairfield residents whose private wells have been contaminated by toxic forever chemicals from the state’s former agricultural sludge-spreading program.
King-backed bill would force USDA to pay farmers’ federal contracts
Despite a judge’s orders and the Trump administration’s promise to release the funding, farmers across the country, including in Maine, are still waiting for millions in federal reimbursements for agricultural conservation projects.