Extension looks to the growth of farming

By Stuart Hedstrom

Staff Writer

DOVER-FOXCROFT — Among its many programs, the University of Maine Cooperative Extension offers resources for those involved in or considering getting started in agriculture. During its annual meeting on the evening of Oct. 30 at the Dover-Foxcroft Congregational Church, the Piscataquis County UMaine Extension Association heard about the current and future state of agriculture from John Piotti, president and CEO of the Maine Farmland Trust.

Observer photo/Stuart Hedstrom

EXTENSION ANNUAL MEETING — Maine Farmland Trust President and CEO John Piotti was the guest speaker at the Piscataquis County UMaine Extension Association’s annual meeting on Oct. 30 at the Dover-Foxcroft Congregational Church. Piotti gave an overview of current and projected agricultural growth in the state.

“It’s great we have an Extension office in Piscataquis County but the reason we do is because people care,” UMaine Cooperative Extension Director John Rebar said before Piotti’s presentation. Rebar then thanked the county’s executive committee for its work.

“We have to be all about the future,” Rebar said, citing two factors. He said the first is getting youth involved in agriculture through 4-H, which he said is is the most visible Cooperative Extension program. “We are part of the Maine food system,” Rebar said. “Cooperative Extension has an important role to play in moving the food-based economy forward.”

“People who want to farm today didn’t grow up on a farm,” Rebar said. He explained these potential farmers cannot look to their parents or grandparents for advice, but instead Cooperative Extension is there to help.

Piotti, a former state legislator where he chaired the agriculture committee and later served as House majority leader, said agriculture is seeing growth. “Even though farming has been transformative, a lot of people don’t see it. Farming in Maine has been growing and it’s been growing for about 20 years,” he said.

Statistics from 2012 show the state had 8,173 farms, an increase of over 13 percent from 10 years prior. Piotti said some residents may dismiss the growth of agriculture in Maine, thinking it is not real. He said 48 percent of farmers in the state have this as their first occupation, an increase from 43 percent in 2007 and above the national average of 47 percent.

About 29 percent of Maine’s farmers are women, and Piotti said while 60 percent are 55 and older “that is matched by an incredible growth in beginning farmers.” He said the amount of farmers aged 25-34 has increased 40 percent since 2007.

Piotti explained there are two farm tracks, with the first being commodity farming or what most people think of when they consider the industry. He said the second track is “local agriculture.” Piotti said, “What distinguishes is not so much what they grow or their size, but how they market.”

Local agriculture is marketed either directly or close to directly through a farmstand, farmers’ markets or having products carried in a grocery store. Piotti said the identify of the farm is known to consumers, in contrast to commodity farming such as an Aroostook County farm selling its potatoes to a large company for use in its brand products.

Commodity farming has declined from a high point about a century ago. “Almost all the growth that has occurred is in this local agriculture,” Piotti said, adding that the two tracks are interdependent such as local farms buying grain in bulk from commodity suppliers.

Piotti said most commodity businesses, such as a 400-acre Aroostook County farm growing 10 million pounds of potatoes annually, cannot make a complete switch to the other track. What can be a possibility is for this farm to set aside 15 acres for organic potatoes to be sold to high-end Boston and New York City restaurants.

“The future is probably a broad span of organic, of all sizes and all scales,” Piotti said.

He said there are several reasons why Maine agriculture is positioned for growth. Piotti said the state has plenty of land, a million acres or enough space to grow all the fruits and vegetables needed to feed the residents of New England.

“We have water in abundance,” Piotti said, as well as good growing conditions. He said despite winter, Maine is located at the 45th parallel and this position provides ample sunlight. “It’s really the light more than the temperature,” Piotti said, as crops can grow despite cold temperatures.

A fourth reason for Maine agricultural growth are the strong markets with close community connections. “We are a state still full of people who know their neighbors,” Piotti said, as a farmer will purchase supplies from their local hardware store whose employees will then buy from the farm.

“Maine is a food destination,” Piotti said, saying 70 to 80 million people live within a day’s drive of the state.

Piotti said that despite the growth, Maine is not a Midwestern state such as Iowa. “Can farming here be more than a sideshow, can it be something real?” he asked.

Mentioning a food vision for New England, Piotti said the region could grow a half to two-thirds of all its food by the middle of the century “and by foods I mean everything.” He said to reach this goal the agricultural acreage needs to increase from two million acres to six million, and all of this space is located in Maine.

“That’s why there is opportunity here,” Piotti said. He said in the 1880s the state had about 6.5 million farming acres, and today this figure is down to 700,000 acres and the opportunity exists to reclaim three to four million acres.

“As I tell my kids, just because something can happen doesn’t mean it will,” Piotti said, saying the state does have economic and demographic realities that hinder agricultural growth. He said much of the demand for local products is at prices that don’t work on the farmers’ end and land prices are based on development value and not farm-use value.

Piotti said about a third of Maine’s farmland will transition in the current decade. “This creates a real critical period of transition,” he said. Piotti said resulting critical needs are to protect more agricultural property and provide services to help farmers thrive.

He said another need is to raise public awareness. “In some ways what’s most important is to convince people in Maine that farming is still important.”