Skip First Level Navigation | Skip All Navigation

Home > Maine News > Proponents Urge Study of Agriculture’s Value to Economy

Proponents Urge Study of Agriculture’s Value to Economy

“If you invest in ACES, all of Maine will prosper." Marge Kilkelly, former state senator, goat farmer and Director of the Northeast States Association for Agricultural Stewardship

Calling Maine agriculture "the invisible economic sector" of the state, legislators Monday backed a study to determine what would happen if the state invested in agriculture improvements. There are plenty of signs that farmers want to expand their farms and businesses, proponents said, but there is too deep a shortage of support mechanisms within the state government.

The study, sponsored by Rep. Wendy Pieh, D-Bremen, would assess the state's agricultural value and then project what the financial impact would be if a variety of bureaucratic infrastructure improvements were made. These would include more state dairy and meat inspectors, more state veterinarians, a $1 million marketing fund, a revolving loan fund and funding for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Research Center.

David Milan, economic director of Bucksport, said that when his community proposed a shared-kitchen facility and looked into how many licensed food manufacturers were within a 40-mile radius of Bucksport, town officials were shocked. "There were more than 400," Milan said. They were bakers, farmers, growers and producers who were making everything from jam to salsa in their home kitchens. Without a facility, which Bucksport is creating, the opportunity to expand was beyond their reach. Milan testified that any investment in Maine's rural economy would pay off for the state.

Marge Kilkelly, former state senator, goat farmer and director of the Northeast States Association for Agricultural Stewardship, proposed the five-year plan, which would conduct the study in the first year, fund it in the second year and then gather results of success in the third through fifth years.

The Agriculture's Creative Economy Study, or ACES, would "be a small investment of state money that would greatly be returned to the state through economic growth," she said. The ACES would be carried out by a Cabinet-level team consisting of representatives from the Maine departments of Labor, Agriculture, and Economic and Community Development.

Kilkelly said she based her proposal on three premises: the last thing farmland grows is houses, any economy is only as strong as its weakest link, and the rural economy is invisible. "You don't get the same impact looking at a sign at Bath Iron Works as you do one on a farm saying Androscoggin Holsteins," she said. "When BIW sneezes, the stock in tissue goes up. When the dairy industry is hemorrhaging, we have trouble getting noticed."

Kilkelly said that when the state has had lean financial years, the Maine Department of Agriculture's budget is the first to be cut, but those cuts were never restored in good years. In addition, she said, the loss of value-added products means "lost jobs, lost money and lost opportunities." She said Maine's animals are sent to Pennsylvania for slaughter, fleeces are sent to Michigan for processing, and grain is sent to Canada to be milled.

"We have wonderful, wonderful people in the Department of Agriculture," she said. "There are just not enough."

"We need to strike now," she said. "There is an amazing renaissance in New England of people - consumers - who want to know more about their food and where it comes from. We have a tremendous advantage in Maine over other parts of the country. If you invest in ACES, all of Maine will prosper."

Representatives from the Maine Farm Bureau, the Maine Department of Agriculture, the town of Bucksport, the Down East Business Alliance and individual farmers testified in favor of the resolve. There was no opposition.