For Farmers — of Land, Forest, or Sea
Resource Index:
- Trainings
- Legal stressors
- Financial stressors
- Assistance with PFAS-related stressors
- Movement, health and wellness
- Mindfulness for farmers
- Communication, goal setting and more
Trainings:
- Rural Resilience: Farm Stress Training – What is farm stress and how can you help? Learn to recognize the signs and symptoms of stress and suicide, effectively communicate with people under stress, reduce stigma related to mental health concerns, and connect farmers and ranchers with resources.
- Agricultural Community QPR For Farmers and Farm Families – QPR training teaches laypeople and professionals to recognize and respond to mental health crises using the approach of Question, Persuade and Refer.
Legal stressors:
- Farm Common’s Resilience Workshops are interactive, skill-building workshops helping to create or support legal resilience. All workshops are free for members. They offer workshops specifically for farmers and ranchers, agricultural service providers, and self-paced online, advanced workshops.
- Legal Food Hub helps match farmers and food businesses with the legal help they need, pro bono. Contact 1.844.529.4769 ext. 2 or email legalfoodhub@clf.org
- As a step before litigation, consider mediation to help with conflicts from the Maine Agricultural Mediation Program as you navigate changes in the future of the farm, immediate markets, and relationships with lenders. Email maineagmediation@maine.edu or complete the form on the Request Mediation page.
- The Farmers’ Legal Action Group is dedicated to helping farmers understand their rights and has a long list of legal resources for farmers and ranchers facing anything from financial or natural disasters to land succession to tough situations with contracts. You can also call FLAG at 877-860-4349 if you have any questions, they will not be able to represent you but can help talk through your legal questions.
- Pine Tree Legal’s Farmworker Unit provides free legal services to eligible farmworkers in Maine. They help people who harvest crops like apples, broccoli, and blueberries; work in forestry, packing houses, the seafood industry, and wreath making. They also provide legal services to farmworkers in other New England states and publish information for farmworkers each year. Contact by phone at 207.942.0673, Whatsapp 207.233.2930, or TTY 207.942.1060.
- Pine Tree Legal’s Farmworker Library has a wealth of resources around the rights of farmworkers which have been translated into 15 different languages.
Financial stressors:
- Farm Advocate Link is a network of professional farm advocates who address the need for fair access to credit, risk management, and disaster assistance programs for farmers. For additional information or to get involved with the Farm Advocate Link, contact Farm Aid at farmhelp@farmaid.org.
- MOFGA’s Shared Use Farm Equipment Program can be accessed for an annual fee.
- Check out MOFGA’s financial resources section which includes the organic farmer loan fund, technical assistance grant program, Maine produce safety improvement grant program, and more.
Assistance with PFAS-related stressors:
- The Maine PFAS Farmer Wellness Fund is open to Maine farmers, farmworkers, and Indigenous food and medicine producers for wellness support (broadly defined). Farms do not need to have confirmed high PFAS test results though those farms and farmworkers will be prioritized. Applications are open now!
- Link to the English application: Maine PFAS Farmer Wellness Fund
- Link to the Spanish application: El Fondo PFAS de Bienestar para Trabajadores de Agricultura en Maine
- Link to the Haitian Creole application: Fon PFAs pou Byennèt Kiltivatè nan Maine
- UMaine Extension’s Guide to Investigating PFAS Risk on your Farm.
- MOFGA’s Roadmap for Addressing PFAS Contamination (Google Doc) offers a comprehensive guide for farmers dealing with PFAS.
- PFAS Emergency Relief Fund for Farmers from MOFGA and MFT can help to provide short-term income replacement for farms that the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (DACF) has identified as having high test results, pay for initial PFAS testing on farms that choose to do their own testing, and support access to mental health services for impacted farmers.
UMaine Extension PFAS Contamination Response
Home | Agriculture | Garden & Yard | Contacts: General PFAS Information
To direct PFAS questions to University of Maine Cooperative Extension, please email: extension.PFASQuestions@maine.edu
Movement, health, and wellness:
- Labor–Movement believes that when you move well, you work well. Its mission is to help farmers, fishermen, landscapers, and industrial athletes to improve their movement health + wellness, increase efficiency and extend longevity in a season or career.
- Maine AgrAbility offers tips around farmer health, including topics such as arthritis and agriculture, back health, medical / rehabilitation, mental health and stress management, vision and hearing loss, and women’s health.
- Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness provide culturally relevant services to Native Americans.
If you don’t own land:
- Not Our Farm (NOF) is a project and community of farmers who have chosen farming as a career but do not have their own farm business or land. NOF created A Guide to Working On Farms (PDF).
- MOFGA has a job page, which can be organized by county, payment, farm type, marketing strategy, and job type.
- Mano en Mano supports immigrant and farmworker communities to live and thrive in Maine through access, advocacy, and education. Check out their programs on their website. Contact 207.546.3006. or email info@manomaine.org
Self-Care:
- Farmers: here’s what mindfulness can do for your health, an article from the SIU School of Medicine.
- Why Mindfulness is essential for farmers and their health, an article from Ecofarmingdaily.
- Mindfulness Mondays offered by Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness.
- Real Farmer Care – Making space to center and prioritize the needs of all farmers with small grants.
- Mindfulness Series with University of Maine Human Development Specialist Leslie Forstadt:
Communication, goal setting, and more:
- Farm Coaching from the University of Maine Cooperative Extension: Discuss planning, stress, and decision-making. Visit the Farm Coaching: Supporting Relationships for Farm Success page to complete and submit a request.
- The Maine Agricultural Mediation Program can talk with you about priorities, goals, and decision-making as you navigate changes in the future of the farm, immediate markets, and relationships with lenders. Contact 207.581.3487, email maineagmediation@maine.edu or complete the form on the Request Mediation page.
- Maine Family Farms: Life and Business in Balance, Bulletin #4806: Active Listening to Improve On-Farm Communication
- Maine Family Farms: Life and Business in Balance, Bulletin #4801: Why “Thank You” Matters: Expressing Appreciation Toward Partners and Family Members Farming Together
- Small Bites – Practical Tips for Farm Resiliency – Small Bites are short, informational articles with practical ideas about stress reduction, improved communication, and farm and family well-being. They are written by coaches from UMaine Extension’s Farm Coaching team.
For New or Beginning Farmers:
- Maine New Farmers Project – Have you been farming for fewer than 10 years? Are you a farmhand? Do you own your own farm? Do you hope to own or lease your own farm? The University of Maine Cooperative Extension can help! Check out their Farmer Training and Resources pages for more.
- Maine Farmer Resource Network is a coalition of Maine agriculture agencies and organizations working together to connect aspiring and beginning farmers to resources for farm business success.
- MOFGA’s Farm Beginnings Program is a farmer-led program to help guide those with a strong commitment to creating a sustainable farm business to achieve their goals. Applications annually.
- MOFGA’s Maine Farm Resilience Program provides individualized support to advanced-beginning farmers (5+ years experience) grappling with critical questions of scaling up, accessing and adapting to new markets, managing risk, innovation and diversification, and re-strategizing business plans to achieve long-term farm viability. Email amueller@mofga.org or call 207.568.6017 for more information.