Maine Healthy Soils Program

Sparkplug Farm

Purchase of a power harrow and air seeder to develop a one-pass, vertical tillage system for planting annual cover crops in  pasture. The project aims to improve soil structure and soil biological activity on a sandy soil interspersed with low-lying, denser, wet soils.

AR Mace Inc

Purchase of a specialized flail mower specific to wild blueberry production. The mower is designed to be more flexible given the terrain challenges associated with wild blueberries. The goal of this mower is to improve residue management, allowing for better soil coverage and nutrient management, reduced erosion, reduced fuel costs and more controlled traffic across the fields (reducing equipment-driven compaction and erosion risk).

Smith & Meyer

Purchase of a no-till drill, mulcher, soil conditioner, flail mower, and cover crops to develop a low-disturbance ground cover management system that integrates annual cover cropping and pruning debris mulch. The project aims to improve ground cover biodiversity and reduce compaction  to improve overall orchard resiliency to drought and nutrient stress.

Alewives Brook Farm

Purchase of a chisel blow and field cultivator to replace conventional moldboard plow tillage and a flail mower to improve cover crop residue management. The project aims to reduce nutrient and water stress on a sandy soil, while reducing disturbance to soil structure.

New Spoke Farm

Purchase of a tractor-mounted seeder, roller, crimper, and flail mower to transition the farm from a traditional tillage operation to a low-till, permanent bed, high-residue cover crop system. The project aims to reduce compaction risk and improve nutrient retention/cycling, with the goal of reducing overall need for external inputs over time.

Thomas Farms

Purchase of a no-till drill and precision fertilizer pump to transition the farm from a three-pass tillage system to a no-till high residue planting system. The project aims to reduce compaction and erosion risk in highly disturbed soils by reducing overall equipment traffic, minimizing disturbance, and implementing a high-residue cover crop system.

Chase Farm

Installation of tile drainage on a portion of the farm to improve the existing crop rotation/cover cropping system. The soils in question remain wet late into the summer season, making them impossible to work in the spring. The project aims to improve these soil water dynamics to the farm can integrate more rest and crop diversity across the farm.

Noyes Family Farm

Purchase of a no-till corn planter to eliminate intensive tillage during corn rotations. This project aims to reduce erosion and compaction, while reducing soil surface exposure. The goal is to improve rotational flexibility to give corn ground longer rest periods to recover from the intensive cropping.

Lazy Acres

Redesign of existing irrigation system to reach new fields to improve crop rotation and field resting and purchase of a flail mower for cover crop management. The project aims to establish a system wherein 33% of the growing area is in a full-season cover crop every year. The project will introduce cover cropping on a farm that previously has not deployed this soil health tool, with residue management focused on mowing and tarping rather than tillage. The budget includes additional materials such as cover crop seed, silage tarps, and a cover crop seeder to implement the project.

Hazelnut Hill

Purchase of a walk-behind tractor and implements (incl. power harrow, flail mower, drop seeder, sickle bar mower, and roller crimper) to establish a cut-and-carry residue management system. This system will be used to improve green mulching of crop production areas, while prepping rested fields for production in future seasons. Includes purchase of cover crop seeds to trial which mixes work best for the cut-and-carry system

Dandelion Spring

Wages for an employee dedicated to transitioning 0.5 acres of production space to full no-till. Includes purchase of a rear-mounted compost spreader for no-till soil building and cover crop seeds to trial different cover cropping approaches. The project targets inefficiencies in the current operation that make no-till implementation difficult, with the long-term goal of improving soil surface coverage and balancing soil nutrients while minimizing external inputs.

Chill Hill Flowers

Purchase of a push-behind spreader and a flail mower to integrate cover cropping into the farming operation. Includes the purchase of lime, cover crop seeds, and a drip irrigation system to increase field resting and to reduce reliance on overhead irrigation, which negatively impacts soil surface aggregation. The project addresses key inefficiencies needed to ensure soil structure remains stable and to reduce nutrient imbalances.

Steamboat Shire, LLC

Purchase of a tractor, manure spreader, and aerator to manage existing compaction risk and establish new silvopasture. Includes  a drag harrow, post hole digger, and woodland thinning equipment to establish new pastures. The project aims to increase existing pasture by at least 8 acres, all of which will be silvopasture, to improve rotational grazing and field resting.

WillowsAwake LLC

Purchase of specialized undervine mowing equipment, compost spreader, and no-till drill to improve ground cover management and overall nutrient management. The project aims to establish an annual cover cropping system with the goal of cycling nutrients by using cover crops with varying rooting depths and residue breakdown rates. Improved mowing equipment will increase turnover and nutrient return of existing groundcover. Includess purchase of cover crop seeds to experiment with best mixes for the farm's needs as well as tuition for compost school, so the operation can establish a composting plan to reduce long-term reliance on external inputs.

Buggy Brook Farms

Purchase of a no-till seeder to fully transition the operation from conventional tillage to no-till. The project aims to improve rotational grazing by increasing the number of paddocks in rotation through increased reseeding efficiency, thereby improving field resting and reducing compaction/erosion risk caused by conventional tillage and heavy animal traffic.

Pine Root Farm

Purchase of a manure spreader and retrofit of existing equipment to allow for fall cover crop planting during cultivation passes. The project focuses on the nutrient needs of this incredibly sandy soil by investing in soil-building equipment/amendments that will improve biological activity and organic matter. Includes purchase of equipment necessary to establish and manage living pathways between vegetable rows to further stabilize soil and cycle nutrients.

Two Farmers Farm LLC

Purchase of a chisel plow, subsoiler, and installation of drainage tile on 36% of the existing production space. The reduced tillage equipment will allow for long-term management of dense soils, while the drainage will help reduce compaction risk and allow for earlier cover crop planting. The project aims to improve water dynamics that negatively affect production, integrating more cover cropping that will help keep significant compaction risk at bay.

Machias River Farms LLC

Purchase of equipment and contracted services necessary to expand pasture acreage. Includes contracted service for stump removal/mulching of recently thinned forestland and purchase of a spreader for amendements. Additionally, includes cost of seeds needed to establish the new pasture. New pasture will increase rotational grazing rest periods to reduce overall compaction and erosion risk caused by intensive animal traffic in a minimal rotation.

Calyx Farm

Purchase of a drop spreader/seeder to improve planting inefficiences that reduce focus on soil health implementation. Includes purchase of cover crop seed, lime, and silage tarps to improve nutrient imbalances and reduce reliance on tillage for cover crop termination. The project aims to reduce labor times and increase cover cropping opportunities within the tight succession planting windows under which the farm operates in a sandy soil with low nutrient holding capacity.