Agriculture
As demand for sustainable food sources and the world’s population grow, Maine’s natural resources and its location on the Eastern seaboard create a unique opportunity for growth and innovation in agriculture. With strategic investments, Maine could lead the country in climate-smart practices, and significantly increase the amount of food consumed from in-state producers.
- Goal 1: Research Objective
Prioritize research in four areas: 1) climate- smart agricultural practices, including soil health, energy and water management, and crop breeding, 2) advanced technologies, 3) local food systems, and 4) pest and disease management.
- Goal 2: Enterprise Objective
Increase in-state food consumption to 30% by 2030; strengthen local food supply chains while supporting more highly diversified farms that allow for the development of niche markets and specialty products.
- Goal 3: Workforce Objective
Empower Maine farmers and farm workers to improve production practices by using climate- smart agricultural practices and advanced technologies (e.g., energy- and resource- efficient systems, decision support systems, drone technologies, remote sensing, precision agriculture)
- Goal 4: Climate Change Objective
Increase in-state food consumption to 30% by 2030 and promote climate-smart agricultural practices.
It is expected the world’s population will reach 9.9 billion by 2050, requiring a 70% increase in the world’s food supply. In addition, the global pandemic has accelerated the movement toward more local food options, given supply chain disruptions and price increases that exacerbated food insecurity and related negative health outcomes especially among disadvantaged communities . The increasing demand for affordable, safe, local protein and Maine’s rich natural resources are ripe for innovation in agriculture. Additionally, Maine could lead the country in climate-smart agriculture practices and meet the goal in Strategy D (Grow Maine’s Clean- Energy Economy and Protect Our Natural-Resource Industries) of the Maine Won’t Wait Climate Action Plan by increasing the amount of food consumed in Maine from state food producers from 10% to 20% by 2025 and 30% by 2030 via local food system development. Related to the changing climate, Maine’s Ten-Year Strategic Plan stated: “As markets and demand grow for sustainable food sources closer to markets, Maine has the opportunity to meet the significant consumer demand on the Eastern Seaboard, all within a day’s drive of our state. From aquaculture to traditional seafood harvesting to value-added food production, growth is anticipated in these food industries and Maine can benefit greatly by growing our capacity to meet these markets.” To accomplish these goals,
Maine agriculture will need research, education, and outreach that the University of Maine is uniquely positioned to provide through the Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station and Cooperative
Extension. Agriculture has a direct impact on every county and every community throughout the state,
through building the local economy, decreasing food insecurity, and addressing climate change.
Opportunity and Objective
There are 7,600 farms in Maine, more than any other New England state. Agriculture contributes $12.6 billion to the state’s economy (4.9% of total gross domestic product). With 100,000 jobs currently in the industry, the need for a skilled workforce will continue to grow, but a focus on training for advanced technologies is important (e.g., decision support systems, drone technologies, remote sensing, precision agriculture). There is need for increasing focus on securing local supply chains and production, and need for more highly diversified farms that allow for the development of niche markets and specialty products, which could be promising opportunities for small farmers. Development of new crops, as well as seeking acreage of crops that are nationally being displaced due to climate change, offers additional market options. Prioritization of climate-smart production practices aligns well with many of Maine’s current production practices (e.g., cover crops, crop diversification and enhanced biodiversity, agroecological practices, forestry and agricultural integrated operations, ecosystem service accounting). Increasing these practices will also contribute to Maine’s climate goals.
Notable Maine Institutions and Organizations
- Agriculture Council of Maine
- Maine Beef Producers Association
- Maine Board of Agriculture
- Maine Climate Council
- Maine Dairy Industry Association
- Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry
- Maine Department of Economic and Community Development
- Maine Department of Environmental Protection
- Maine Farm Bureau
- Maine Landscape and Nursery Association
- Maine Organic Farmers and Growers Association
- Maine Pomological Society
- Maine Potato Board
- Maine Sustainable Agriculture Society
- Natural Resources Conservation Service
- Northeast SARE
- United States Department of Agriculture (NRCS, ARS)
- University of Maine (Natural Sciences, Forestry and Agriculture, Cooperative Extension, Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station)
- Wild Maine Blueberry Commission
Current Research
- Farmers in a Resilient Rural Economy —This research has at its core the mission of conducting capacity research to support and enhance agriculture and rural life in the state of Maine.
- Soil Health & Chemistry Research — Natural climate solutions, including increasing levels of organic matter to sequester soil carbon, are being emphasized at the federal and state levels .
- Horticultural Practices Research — Addressing needs related to sustainability in the U.S. horticulture industry in the context of a broader multistate project on sustainable practices, economic contributions, consumer behavior, and labor management in the horticulture industry.
- The Maine Food System — Research focused on agricultural sustainability and interrelated work in policy, research, production, processing, commerce, nutrition, food security, and food safety.
Future Priority Areas
- Continued emphasis on soil health, with expanded capacity for: training of certified soil scientists and overall expansion of certified soil and crop advisors; PFAS and other contaminants coupled with research focused on broad remediation techniques; quantification of soil carbon sequestration to be ready to respond to carbon markets.
- Precision agriculture development for Maine farms: focus on technologies that are applied at small scales and low cost (e.g., chaff sensors and satellite hyperspectral imaging); decision support systems specifically developed for Maine crops that focus on efficient application of water and nutrients and their interaction; early crop stress sensing and intervention management .
- Technology development: Precision agriculture driven development of planting, management, harvesting, etc . machinery . Includes the development of precision application of water, nutrient, and weed control; yield monitoring; soil EC and other sensing to determine best practices for nutrient applications; development of scalable equipment to address diversified Maine farms.
- Model Maine Diversified Farm of the Future: capitalizing on the UMaine Experiment Station farm network, develop research focal areas that develop and assess an integrated, resilient, and diversified farm operation in different state regions.
- Expanded crop breeding programs for Maine farms: using the model of the successful potato breeding program, establish additional breeding programs to develop regionally adapted germplasm for Maine. Breeding programs should rely on research facilities that use high throughput phenotyping and an appropriate mix of genomic and traditional breeding techniques.
- Landscape-scale water management research: over the next decade, Maine’s water resources will be critically impacted as more population and more food production moves nationally toward the Northeast. Research is crucially needed to develop watershed, subregional, field, and microscale agricultural water management (quantity and quality) techniques for efficient use and preservation of water resources. This includes surface and subsurface sources of water and could include research on policies related to water access and allotment .
- Increasing capacity to create a safer, healthier, more accessible, and increasingly productive food system.
Economic Impact
Expanded food system will create new businesses, add jobs, increase property values, generate new revenues and contribute to increasing rural communities throughout the state .
References
Feeding the Economy (2022). Maine Economic Impact. Feeding the Economy.
FocusMaine (2022). Our Focus. FocusMaine.
Leahy, J. & J. Prichard, 2022. USDA/National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) Maine (University of Maine) Annual Report – FY2021
University of Arkansas Research & Extension (2022). Maine. Economic Impact of Agriculture.