It’s July in Maine, which is always a lush, green time of year. Our garden is doing great, and the bees are bringing in lots of nectar. The fields where I live in Arundel have had their first cutting of hay, and the grocery stores and farmers’ markets are bursting with fresh, local produce.

Maine’s agriculture is a cornerstone of our economy, our communities, and our vibrant culture. Along with fishing, lobstering, and blueberries, farming is one of our cherished heritage industries. Our dairy farms alone contributed to 14,600 direct and indirect jobs and had a direct economic impact of $1.1 billion dollars in 2023, and that’s just dairy.

Sadly, the number of dairy farms has declined dramatically in recent years. According to Maine Public, Maine has lost a third of its dairy farms since 2020. As the Senate Chair of the Legislature’s Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee, it’s clear to me that Maine needs to do more to support our farmers and local food producers, especially struggling dairy farmers. It’s why I recommended Maine increase support for dairy farmers to at least 25% of the newly identified production costs and successfully advocated for its inclusion in the supplemental budget.

The increase will take effect Aug. 9. In the meantime, I was proud to help create the emergency Task Force to Support Commercial Dairy Farms in the state. The task force has begun meeting this summer and will bring its report and any recommendations for legislation to the Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry Committee next year.

Dairy farmers are not the only sector of our agriculture economy facing new challenges. Maine’s most threatened agricultural resource is its prime agricultural soils, which affects food producers now and the future of farming. Our best farming soils are limited and continue to be targeted for development. Only 3.6% of Maine’s remaining farmland is protected, compared to 15% for Vermont and 22% for Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Maine has $50 million in public funding (state and other) set aside for farmland protection, which sounds pretty good … until you consider the $215 million set aside by Vermont, or $117 million by Rhode Island.

The problem of farmland protection is, of course, complicated and constantly changing. The need for housing, the developing PFAS crisis, and climate change are just three of the challenges. In addition, development pressure in places like southern Maine have increased, partly due to rural migration resulting from the COVID-19 crisis. This has drastically raised the value of farmland and put it out of reach for farmers.

There is, however, some good work being done. Maine Farmland Trust and others have helped permanently protect over 400 farms in all 16 Maine counties. In addition, the state of Maine has the Maine Working Farmland Access and Protection Program, which provides funding to protect Maine’s productive and economically significant agricultural lands. However, more support and resources for our Maine farms are needed, and I remain committed to working with my colleagues in the Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry Committee to make that happen.

Finally, it’s important to support our agricultural sector year-round. I encourage everyone to visit your local farmers market, which offers high-quality, fresh, delicious foods and agricultural products from local farmers. By strengthening connections between farmers and the community, we can ensure that more of the food produced in Maine is consumed locally, benefiting both farmers and consumers. For more information, visit https://mainefarmersmarkets.org/.

I’d be remiss not to highlight the agricultural fairs happening in Maine soon. This is an opportunity to visit some of the best agricultural fairs in New England. If you want to know the dates and more information about Maine’s agricultural fairs visit https://www.maine.gov/dacf/ard/events/fairs/index.shtml.

If you have any questions about the information here or if you would like to reach out with a comment, question or concern, you can reach out to me any time by emailing or calling my legislative office. If you want to stay up to date on what we’re working on in Augusta, please sign up for my email newsletter at mainesenate.org or visit my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/IngwersenForMaine.

Henry Ingwersen represents Senate District 32 which is made up of Arundel, Biddeford, Dayton, Hollis and Lyman. He can be reached at Henry.Ingwersen@legislature.maine.gov or 207-287-1515.