🔒Packed house for annual Maine farm show

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Tractors, harvesters, tillers and seeds filled the Augusta Civic Center Jan. 10-12 as the 76th annual Maine Agricultural Trades Show came to town, bringing in the most attendees and exhibitors ever.

“We drew more than 5,000 attendees and 120 exhibitors,” says John Bott, spokesman for the show's sponsor, the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. “Dozens of organizations hold their annual meetings here, and there are classes. We had more people than ever.”

The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association and the Maine Cheese Guild were among those holding meetings. A Maine meat workshop released the results of The Reinvestment Funds 2016 Supply Chain Matrix study of the red meat industry in New England.

Bott attributes the rush to good weather and more promotion of the show over the past four years, including ramping up social media and providing an insert for all the major daily newspapers in the state.

“It reflects the overall trend of Maine agriculture,” he says of the packed house. “A rising tide lifts all boats.”

Notably, he says the hops class was packed, as that's a growing area for farmers in the state with the continuing strong demand for craft beers.

The department also expanded beginner farming classes and set them up by how long the people have been farming. The last census by the U.S. Department of Agriculture showed that overall in the United States, the number of farms fell by 5%, but in Maine they increased, especially because of the influx of young farmers to the state, he adds.

Also popular were workshops on how to scale up a farm and those explaining the USDA's new Food Safety and Modernization Act and what farms need to do to meet its requirements, he says.

Renewable energy financing

Renewable energy sessions also drew a lot of attention for those hoping to reduce their energy costs using renewable energy derived from wind, solar and biomass.

Sue Jones, president of Community Energy Partners and sub-contractor to the Greater Portland Council of Governments, and Brian Wilson, business and cooperative programs specialist for the USDA in Maine, talked about grants and loans for farmers and rural small businesses through the Rural Energy for America Program.

There are two ways to qualify for the REAP grants, Jones says: renewable energy and energy efficiency projects. “So with biomass, you can have one project qualify as renewable and one as energy efficient,” she adds.

She encouraged expanded use of biomass. “It's good for Maine because Maine has a long legacy in a wood-based economy,” she says. “In Maine only wood has been the fuel of choice but you could use other fuels under REAP such as hay, cord wood and grain, which haven't been used in Maine so far.”

She says about 15 to 30 REAP projects are funded each year in Maine, which has a $400,000 allocation.

Wilson added that REAP includes grant and loan funds for small businesses and farmers. Agricultural producers must own 51% or more of their enterprise and it must be a for-profit business in a rural community with fewer than 50,000 residents. No work on residences qualifies nor does any work on the farm that was done before the application is submitted.

He says energy efficiency improvements include lighting, motors, heating, cooling, ventilation, automated controls, insulation and even maple syrup producers who use reverse osmosis in processing the syrup.

Used equipment cannot be funded, although factory-refurbished equipment with a warranty can.

The application process requires time, and Wilson encourages applicants to talk to him first to help see what is covered, and how they can improve their chances for a grant. The application requires three years of tax returns, a technical report for the project, a detailed breakdown of costs, qualifications of the project team, the amount of energy expected to be saved and 12 months of utility bills.

Wilson said there were 44 applications in fiscal year 2016 requesting a total of $1.3 million in grants. About three-quarters of them involved renewable energy. Of the 44 submissions, 27 were funded for a total of $620,000. Of those, 21 applicants asked for less than $20,000 and six asked for more, with the largest getting $151,271 for a ground-mounted solar system. In all, 10 counties in Maine got funding.

Development grants

Also at the show, Maine Department of Agriculture Commissioner Walter E. Whitcomb announced six Agricultural Development Grant Program awards totaling $248,375. The projects are for improvements in the profitability of Maine-grown crops; reducing costs associated with drought or other natural crop disturbances; product enhancements for value-added, nutrition, marketing and/or food safety; and national, local and regional market development.

“The investments being announced today strengthen Maine agriculture and will help farmers and producers realize their full economic potential,” Gov. Paul LePage said in a statement when the awards were announced.

The preliminary selections were chosen by a review committee from 23 proposals responding to a request for proposals. Of the 23 received, six projects have been tentatively identified pending approval by the State of Maine Purchases Division and the successful completion of a State of Maine contract. They are:

• Maine Aquaculture Co-Op of Tenants Harbor, $46,000: for development of ear-hung scallop aquaculture infrastructure through cooperative model and new technologies

• Maine Cap N Stem LLC of Gardiner, $32,600: project to increase production capacity of B2B mushroom farm to meet Maine demand

• Maine Landscape and Nursery Association of Augusta, $50,000: for “Plant a pollinator Garden!” promotion to support Maine's Nursery Industry

• The Hop Yard LLC of Portland, $19,775: to create viable commercial hop bales

• Undine Marine, LLC of Damariscotta, $50,000: construction and beta testing of the Mark II Submersible Mussel Raft in Maine

• Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine of Orono, $50,000: wild blueberry school food service program.