Amanda Beal

In partnership with the Freeport-based Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture & the Environment, the grocery chain is investing in the Northeast Farmers Fund to boost regenerative agricultural practices.

Organizations across 10 Maine communities have been awarded state grants to expand local food production and agricultural education through the construction of greenhouses.

While the vast majority of Maine farms are not impacted, state officials are providing testing, financial assistance, research and technical support to 127 farms of all sizes.

Recipients include brewers, oyster growers and specialty producers, with award amounts ranging from $10,000 to $100,000.

Maine is home to more than 130 dairy farms that care for herds of dairy cows, goats and sheep and that steward 700,000 acres of farmland.

The state PFAS Fund has selected seven research projects for funding to better understand so-called forever chemicals, which some 90 farmers unwittingly applied to their soil by fertilizing with municipal sludge.

On Monday, the USDA announced that a portion of the funding for Maine agriculture contracts was being sent out, which followed ag commissioner Amanda Beal's recent appeal.

Maine is home to more than 200 dairy farms that care for herds of dairy cows, goats and sheep.

"If agriculture is your passion, embrace it," says Amanda Beal, commissioner of the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry.

Recipients include ND Paper in Rumford, which will receive $1 million to boost the efficiency of its R15 paper machine.