Maine farms and food producers are benefiting from the Farm Bill as it winds its way through the appropriations process, to the tune of $1.25 million in federal funding announced Monday by U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, a member of the House Appropriations Committee.
Coastal Enterprises Inc. in Wiscasset landed the biggest grant – $800,000 through the Department of Health and Human Services’ Community Economic Development program – to be used to support its Healthy Food Finance Initiative. The money will be used to finance small businesses – including farmers, food processors, and retailers – for facilities expansion, equipment, and operations.
The rest of the money, $450,000, will be funneled into local food marketing. Plowshares Community Farm in Gorham will get $100,000 for a marketing campaign and to create storage facilities for fresh food. The Greater Portland Council of Governments will receive $25,000 to conduct a study on how to get more local produce and local fish into schools and colleges. The Kennebec Valley Council of Governments will receive $76,000 to expand The Pickup, a community-supported agriculture program.
Other grants will go to the Good Shepherd Food-Bank, Grow L+A, Maine Farmland Trust, and the Sunrise County Economic Council.
Pingree, a Democrat who represents the 1st District, is married to S. Donald Sussman, majority owner of MaineToday Media, publisher of the Portland Press Herald, Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel.
Although Pingree ultimately voted against the Farm Bill because the final version of it reduced benefits to food stamps recipients through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, the bill included provisions of the Local Farms, Food and Jobs Act, which she wrote.
“These investments in local agriculture will make it easier for small farmers to provide consumers with what they want – quality food, grown locally, at a good price,” she said in a press release. “It’s good for families but it’s also good for the economy because it keeps money spent on food in the community.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
