For Farmers — of Land, Forest, or Sea


Resource Index:


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:

Assistance with PFAS-related stressors:

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:

Communication, goal setting, and more:

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.