Maine Food System
Maine Harvest for Hunger Fights Food Insecurity
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Maine has the second highest rate of food insecurity in New England and ranks 35th in the nation. The USDA estimates that 9.5% of Maine households are food insecure. Nationally, 12.5% of households with children under the age of 18 and 9.5% of households where an older adult was living alone experienced food insecurity in 2021. With hunger affecting people of all walks of life in all communities, it is essential that every measure be taken to feed our neighbors in times of need.
Response
Since 2000, UMaine Extension’s Maine Harvest for Hunger (MHH) program has mobilized gardeners, farmers, businesses, schools, and civic groups to grow, glean, and donate fresh produce to food security agencies. Our work involves training volunteers, developing partnerships with farms and organizations, organizing and leading volunteer opportunities, maintaining databases of sites accepting produce donations, and building awareness of the extent, causes, and impacts of food insecurity.
Results
In 2022, 262 MHH volunteers grew, gleaned, and distributed 296,150 pounds of produce, valued at $568,608, to 204 food security agencies located throughout the state. We partnered with 131 farms and community gardens on these efforts. Notably this year, our teams gathered and distributed 14,000 pounds of apples from orchards throughout the state. These farms reach out to us to annually organize gleaning events, knowing our trained volunteers can be trusted to safely and efficiently get their apples to where they’re needed most. Old Town Elementary School’s free farm stand offered 6,300 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables gathered on-site and gleaned from area farms. Open to the public in an easily accessible site, this low-barrier program reached hundreds of individuals in a limited resource community. From backyards to farms to school gardens, MHH is enhancing access to healthy food and offering volunteers a truly meaningful way to engage with their community. Since 2000, MHH participants have distributed more than 3.5 million pounds of food to citizens grappling with hunger.
Master Gardener Volunteers Help Increase Food Security and Lift Communities
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Public and private gardens are important tools for enhancing physical and mental health. They also play a key role in sustaining the health and vitality of our natural communities. Successful collaborative gardening initiatives are an important tool for enhancing public health and providing meaningful community engagement opportunities by increasing access to locally grown food, providing a safe space to connect with neighbors, and offering learning opportunities outside the classroom. Supports such as volunteer leaders, educational resources, and manual labor are key contributors to the success of these projects. Extension trains and supports Master Gardener Volunteers, who help extend university knowledge to their neighbors through the teaching of sustainable gardening practices.
Response
The Master Gardener Volunteers (MGV) program provides participants with a minimum of 64 hours of in-depth training in the art and science of horticulture. Trainees receive current, research-based information from our educators and industry experts and are connected with service projects that match their interests, skill sets, and availability. MGV coordinators facilitate relationships between MGVs and community partners, assisting with needs assessment, program planning, risk management, and problem-solving. MGVs play a vital role in connecting communities with educational resources through community events, social media, and programming.
Results
In 2022, 664 volunteers donated 30,262 hours to a variety of educational and food security projects throughout the state, including 23 school gardens, 16 demonstration gardens, 12 horticulture therapy gardens, 13 pollinator and native gardens, and 56 food security projects. Their efforts reached 1,744 youth and adults through direct programming and 7,452 Maine residents indirectly through outreach, news articles, TV features, and more. Many volunteers enter the MGV program with the goal of improving their gardening skills for their own personal benefit and leave surprised by how deeply involved and passionate they become about community projects.
Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program Increases Food Security and Healthy Behaviors
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In 2021, 11.5% of Maine people lived in poverty, and in 2020, 10.4% of households experienced food insecurity. In 2020, 31% of Maine adults were obese. The combination of high rates of food insecurity and the complexity of the causes of obesity increases the risk of developing chronic diseases and reducing the quality of life for Maine people. The high incidence of chronic diseases continues to raise healthcare costs for the nation and strains current health promotion programs.
Response
To improve the food security and diet quality of Maine’s low-income parents and caregivers, UMaine Extension delivers education through the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP). The goals are to improve behaviors related to diet quality and daily physical activity and to use food resource management practices to plan and shop for healthy meals and snacks. Program outcomes are measured for all adults using validated pre/post-program surveys.
Results
In 2022, 233 adults participated in Maine EFNEP, and the education delivered reached a total of 958 individuals in program families. Sixty percent completed pre- and post-surveys showing these results:
- 38% report eating fruit more often each day
- 42% report eating vegetables more often each day
- 29% report drinking soda less often
- 43% report planning meals before shopping more often
- 33% report making a list before shopping more often
- 45% report using a weekly or monthly food spending plan
Seafood Processing Education and Validation Helps Ensure Safety of Maine Seafood Products
Relevance
The Maine seafood industry adds more than $2 billion to the state economy annually. Maine seafood producers must complete training in seafood hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) principles as required by U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation. Processors that are cooking products must complete a thermal processing validation performed by a thermal process authority.
Response
Extension provides education and process validation services to seafood processors in Maine and the United States to ensure the proper processing of products to prevent foodborne illness. This service allows processors to meet FDA requirements and sell safe seafood products. In 2022, Extension delivered eight seafood HACCP trainings and provided six thermal process validations.
Results
More than 200 seafood processors participated in the trainings, and more than 40 participants reported that they assembled and updated seafood HACCP plans to safely produce seafood products and meet FDA regulations. In addition, the six thermal processing validation studies completed for three processing plants allow the plants’ workers to safely produce more than 2,000,000 pounds of seafood products annually with an estimated value of more than $20 million.
Helping Culinary Arts Instructors Build Agriculture Literacy through an Immersive Culinary Experience
Relevance
The USDA 2018 Food Away from Home data reveal that since 2010 more than 50% of meals are eaten away from home. Restaurants are a driving force in Maine’s economy, providing 63,900 jobs, which represents 10% of Maine’s employment. The COVID-19 pandemic reinforced the need for a sustainable local agriculture-based food system within the restaurant and food service industry to support reliable, stable food access.
Response
UMaine Extension and Maine Ag in the Classroom collaborated to create the Building Agriculture Literacy through an Immersive Culinary Experience project to help career and technical education (CTE) culinary arts instructors increase their agricultural literacy and enhance the connectedness between agriculture and food service. This project seeks to create a skilled and educated workforce that will increase the usage of Maine-grown, -processed, and -produced foods in their programs and careers. Project activities included a weeklong Immersive Culinary Arts Summer Institute for CTE culinary arts instructors, hands-on experience in local food procurement practices, demonstrations of food system lessons, educational field trips, financial support for experiential activities through their existing school restaurants, participation in a University of Maine Local Foods Competition, and coaching during the school year.
Results
At the program midpoint, we had reached 74% of Maine’s high school CTE culinary arts programs with at least one of our efforts. More than 800 students statewide have engaged in classroom/kitchen visits to learn about dietary restrictions, consumer food preferences, and local foods, and complete a local food cooking challenge to meet a dietary food preference, thus demonstrating their proficiency in local foods and dietary restrictions. Thirteen schools received $28,000 in funds through a mini-grant program to support activities to develop their knowledge base of agricultural literacy. The Culinary Arts Summer Institute reached nearly 30% of Maine’s culinary arts chef instructors. This immersive event involved experiential learning opportunities at multiple Maine food processing and production sites across the state.
The program is contributing to the success of Maine’s local food system by changing the way tomorrow’s food professionals think about food. Through the project’s emphasis on local food systems through strategic career readiness, experiential education, and connecting with local stakeholders (career and higher education), these students are gaining a realization of the importance and value of local foods. Our project requires CTE culinary arts programs selected for mini-grant funding to be engaged at the local level with stakeholders related to culinary arts and hospitality, including nonprofit organizations, community groups, private businesses, industry representatives, and higher education faculty and staff at Maine community colleges and universities. This type of community connectedness is fostering youth leadership and offers opportunities for students to develop a greater understanding of federal, state, and local food and agriculture policy and to network to make tangible connections for future careers.
Integrated Pest Management Saves Millions for Maine Potato and Fruit Tree Industries
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The potato industry is the largest agricultural sector in Maine, encompassing more than 530 businesses generating total sales of more than $540 million with total employment of 6,150 jobs and a total income greater than $233 million annually. The Maine potato crop, which in 2022 was 1.8 billion pounds, has its challenges from insects and pathogens alike. Costs to manage these pests can eat up the profitability of the crop, and insecticide applications used to manage these pests can pose threats to the applicators, non-target species, and the environment. Additionally, Maine’s tree fruit sector is vibrant, active, and growing.
Response
The University of Maine Cooperative Extension Diagnostic Research Laboratory provides pest identification and integrated pest management (IPM) education to commercial and home clients. IPM is a comprehensive approach to solving pest problems with the goal of providing safe, effective, economical, environmentally sound, and socially sensitive outcomes.
Extension’s Potato IPM program worked with 270 farms to monitor pest populations in potato fields in northern and central Maine. Using insect traps and field scouting, farms were visited weekly during the growing season to determine pest population status, and growers were given field reports and up-to-date management recommendations. Data collected from the potato farms were shared with potato growers throughout the state, the northeastern states, and eastern Canada through a weekly newsletter with 456 subscribers.
Growers using the information available through the IPM program have been able to successfully manage potato pests using minimal pesticide applications because sprays were used only when population data indicated a specific need for control. Yields were improved or pesticide sprays reduced, and due to less pest damage, profitability was maintained or improved.
Extension’s Tree Fruits program staff developed and delivered research-based information on the production of tree fruit crops, primarily apples, through publications, workshops, meetings, farm visits, correspondence, and telephone consultations. We conduct annual meetings, including preseason IPM in March and a summer tour in July. Periodic newsletters address current cultural practices and pest management strategies. We maintain applied research plantings in cooperation with the Maine Agricultural & Forest Experiment Station.
Results
Each year, Extension’s IPM research and identification efforts save Maine’s potato industry an estimated $10 million in losses avoided, yields increased, and pesticide uses reduced. The IPM program saves Maine’s fruit tree industry more than $5 million in losses avoided and more than $1 million in pesticide cost savings.
Supporting Maple Producers and Encouraging Workforce Development
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Maine has the third largest maple production in the United States, behind Vermont and New York. Maine’s maple industry has an estimated annual statewide economic contribution of more than $48 million in output, 805 full- and part-time jobs, and more than $25 million in labor income. Maine’s maple industry annually produces more than 700,000 gallons of maple syrup.
Response
In 2004, a grant from the Maine Agriculture Center funded a collaborative effort by UMaine Extension, University of New Hampshire Extension, and the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets to create an International Maple Syrup Institute (IMSI) Maple Grading School. To meet ongoing demand, the Grading School has been held annually and has been adopted by the IMSI as a signature event aligned with the IMSI mission to protect the quality and integrity of maple products. School attendees are from all areas of the industry: producers, bulk buyers, and syrup packers, Department of Agriculture inspectors, Extension personnel, and chefs. Extension’s maple education programs provide producers with resources about international grade standards, maple grading techniques, quality control, and food safety in the production process. A revamped UMaine Extension Maple Syrup Production website contains information on access to financial and business management resources, maple quality control, labor management, and expanded information for beginning producers.
Results
In 2022,
- 1,192 members of the public learned about the maple industry, syrup grades, and diverse uses of syrup through direct contact and through podcasts
- 116 beginning or backyard sugarmakers participated in four Maple Sugarmaking 101 courses led by our team
- 32 commercial maple syrup producers gained expertise with grading and quality control of maple syrup
- a six-week 4-H club engaged 25 youth, ages 9–16, including an in-person workshop at a Maine maple sugar house.
Youth learned about tree ages, identification, the versatility of commercial and ecosystem benefits, the diversity of forest-related careers, and tapping maple trees. Youth interacted with forest industry professionals and received kits for accompanying hands-on activities, including tree cookie ornaments, identification books, maple candies, and maple syrup thickness and taste samples.
For 19 years, the Grading School has helped promote the wholesome image of the maple industry and shown that its participants are high-quality and careful producers of unique maple products. The continued success of the school and its participants helps promote the exceptional image of both the maple industry and its producers who create high-quality products. The perpetuation of the school provides an excellent platform for industry discussion and education about maple products, grading, and quality issues concerning pure maple syrup. The school has received media attention including news articles by the Associated Press and National Public Radio, as well as local television and print media.
Home Horticulture Programs Help Gardeners Increase Yields and Efficiency and Reduce Inputs
Relevance
Every day, Maine gardeners are deciding on whether and how to manage pests, which fertilizers to use and how much, which plants to grow, methods to cultivate the soil, and how to use water resources to maintain landscapes. Nearly every residential site has a landscape that requires maintenance, and decisions made in these sites can have a significant impact on our natural resources. Home gardener success also results in improved food security and has an economic role in our green industry.
Response
In 2022, home horticulture programming directly reached 8,650 adults and 733 youth through more than 365 hours of educational programs, both in-person and virtual. This included 4,052 questions, received via email, phone calls, in-person events, and walk-ins, that were answered for home gardeners. Garden-related videos, newsletters, newspaper columns, and publications from Cooperative Extension indirectly reached an additional 49,679 home gardeners.
Results
As a result of Extension programs, participants reported using Extension to identify pest problems and determine research-based management strategies; develop a new garden or expand an existing one; increase garden yields and consumption of home-grown food; adopt sustainable gardening practices, including techniques to improve soil quality and practices that improve efficiency, reduce inputs, and negative impacts; adopt and maintain integrated pest management strategies; and adopt water-saving techniques.
Maine Compost Schools Train Respondents for Animal Disease Outbreaks and Disaster Mortalities
Relevance
There is a national need for compost education as we move toward a more environmentally sustainable society. Composting is a management tool that a variety of sectors can use to reduce waste volume through decomposition and stabilization. Composting can reduce food waste, manage animal mortalities, stop the spread of disease, and create a valuable and safe product that can be used in the agricultural, horticultural, and environmental engineering sectors.
Response
UMaine Extension, as a member of the Maine Compost School team, offers weeklong training multiple times a year focused on comprehensive composting training and composting as a means to manage animal mortalities through general agricultural production, disease outbreaks, or disaster mortalities. Participants in these trainings are tested on their composting knowledge and receive recognized certification.
Results
The nation’s longest continually running compost education program (27 years), the MCS has graduated more than 1,000 students from most of the 50 US states and over 40 countries from around the world. Participants have used the training as professional development and as a way to bring a more robust and rounded set of composting skills back to various businesses to improve understanding, efficiency, and profitability. More than 75 participants have completed our Carcass Management Training Programs have passed the initial requirements to become a Composting Subject Matter Expert (SME) and may deploy during animal mortality outbreaks due to diseases such as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) and other disaster events. Fourteen participants responded to the 2022 HPAI outbreak and are now full compost SMEs.
Results of the Carcass Training Program include the establishment of a trained community/team that is prepared to rapidly and expertly respond to animal disasters; understands core compost concepts that can be applied to many different situations; have competencies in carcass mortality management and have resource materials they can share with others; understands how to assess and troubleshoot unique issues to effectively use compost as a disposal tool.
Teaching Climate Adaptation to Farmers and Service Providers
Relevance
Current and projected changes in weather present new opportunities for Maine agriculture, such as longer growing seasons, but also increased risks, such as spring frosts, summer droughts, and more frequent and intense rainfall. In many cases, climate adaptation practices (e.g., irrigation and weather-based decision support tools) require new knowledge and skills, not just for the farmer but also for their service providers.
Response
UMaine Extension initiated a three-year Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) professional development program to increase the ability of agricultural service providers to help farmers adopt climate adaptation practices, with each focused on a set of specific practices. The aim is not to create topic experts, but to help trainees become well-informed advisors who, in the context of their current positions, will help farmers frame the right questions, address relevant considerations, evaluate options, and connect with the most appropriate resources and experts.
Results
Agricultural service providers from Extension, nonprofits, state agencies, conservation districts, and the University of Maine increased their knowledge, skills, and confidence in providing information and recommendations about irrigation and other practices to cope with the increased frequency of dry spells and drought. Participants: 1) learned about water sourcing, water rules, and regulations, types of irrigation systems, irrigation management and efficiency, and drought and water monitoring through farm tours and monthly webinars, 2) applied their knowledge by working in teams with farmers to develop farm plans for reducing the risks associated with increased drought and dry spells, and 3) co-developed the “Directory of Resources on Irrigation in Maine,” a curated list of more than 50 online resources covering all aspects of irrigation that will be posted on the UMaine Extension website for farmers and agricultural service providers to use.
Extension Shares PFAS Resources for Farmers
Relevance
“PFAS” is the short name for a large class of harmful, fluorinated synthetic chemicals that have recently been found in the environment, often at low levels. Higher levels are sometimes found near airfields and factories that have used fire-fighting foams, or on land where certain waste materials or biosolids containing PFAS have been used. Crops may be grown on soil containing these PFAS, but how much of these chemicals are in the crop depends on the type of crop, what part of the crop is edible, soil properties, and PFAS levels in the soil. These chemicals may end up in the milk and meat of animals fed crops such as hay containing PFAS. These chemicals can also move from the soil into the groundwater and into well water. Consuming contaminated milk, meat, plants, or water are potential ways people can be exposed to these chemicals.
Response
The state of Maine has allocated significant funding to address issues related to PFAS and is dedicated to supporting landowners who are affected by land application of wastewater biosolids and fire-fighting foams, as well as Department of Defense sites, landfills, or other PFAS sources.
Results
UMaine Extension offers a dynamic set of resources about on-farm PFAS contamination available online to the public in one location. Guide to Investigating PFAS Risk on Your Farm is a comprehensive collection of resources about PFAS contamination in Maine. Topics include information on the sources of PFAS contamination, steps to determining risks and mitigation options for farms, and Maine’s response to contamination at agricultural sites. The website is continually updated as the research and resulting information evolves. The resources are from multiple Maine state agencies, including the Departments of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry; Health and Human Services; and Environmental Protection; and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Supporting organizations contributing information include UMaine Extension, Maine Farmland Trust, and Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association.
So You Want to Farm in Maine Program Educates Potential New Farmers
Relevance
Current farmers thinking about changing farm enterprises and new farmers interested in starting a farm may lack the skills, knowledge, and confidence to investigate their options to start, adapt, and maintain a profitable land-based business. Major issues farmers and potential farmers (whether full-time or part-time) need to overcome include access to capital, understanding of rules and regulations affecting agriculture operations, and marketing options.
Response
Since 2015, 349 people have participated through face-to-face, video-linked, webinar, live-streamed, Zoom, and archived sessions of the So You Want to Farm in Maine program to learn about agriculture enterprise selection, business planning, record-keeping, market research, regulations, and resource identification. Each class is designed to be interactive and features many guest speakers, including agriculture service providers from an array of sectors and those who are currently farming successfully.
The 2022 series offered a different approach. Participants included 44 aspiring farmers as well as 13 UMaine undergraduates, providing the opportunity for richer discussions and connections between those interested in starting Maine farms imminently and students with a variety of backgrounds and experience. The undergraduates were teamed with aspiring farmers to create draft business plans and enterprise budgets over the course of five weeks.
Results
Knowledge change was assessed by a post-program evaluation. Participants responding to a program evaluation reported having moderate to considerable knowledge and understanding of these topics following the program: goal setting and farm business management plan development; enterprise budget development and evaluating profitability; land and asset assessment; marketing and marketing research; record-keeping (production and financial); estate planning and insurance; permits, licenses, and regulations; credible sources of production information and pricing; taxes (local, state, and federal); and financial management. In 2022, income from all plans developed for the class by students and farmers totaled more than $2 million. All participants had the opportunity to receive USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) borrower training credit; in 2022, 22 participants chose to get the FSA certification.
Soil Health Course Educates Farmers
Relevance
Soil health is of great interest to agricultural producers and a critical component of their success, yet farmers have limited access to in-depth training in the topic.
Response
Extension designed a new, 5-week online soil health short course for farmers to improve their understanding of soil health science, principles, and practical management strategies. Course topics included soil biology and soil organic matter, physical and chemical properties of soil health, soil health strategies and practices, cover cropping, reduced tillage practices, crop rotation, soil amendments, and soil health testing.
Results
Twenty participants completed the course, including nine farmers, five aspiring farmers, four gardeners, and two farm advisors. Fourteen said they intended to change a soil management practice as a result of what they learned, and 10 submitted soil for a free soil health test and received a follow-up consultation with one of the instructors.
Marine Extension Team Supports Community Sustainability/Resilience, Fisheries and Aquaculture, and Ecosystem Health
Relevance
Climate change is requiring Maine communities to build the capacity to make informed decisions on the management of coastal and marine resources that promote ecological and economic sustainability.
Response
Maine’s Marine Extension Team (MET), a collaboration of University of Maine Cooperative Extension and Sea Grant continued to help communities gain the capacity to make informed decisions on the management of coastal and marine resources that promote ecological and economic sustainability. MET members worked with communities to address problems and respond to opportunities in four major areas: ecosystem health; sustainable coastal communities; fisheries and aquaculture, and coastal community resilience.
Results
Our collaboration benefits Maine broadly by marrying Extension’s outreach and programming experience with Sea Grant’s marine research and knowledge of coastal communities and issues. Through research and outreach, the Marine Extension Team builds the capacity of coastal communities and marine industries to make informed decisions on the management of coastal and marine resources that promote ecological and economic sustainability. In 2022, our projects included Building Your Virtual Facilitation Skills, a training series in partnership with UMaine Extension educators in four states, last year training 82 professionals and community members in Maine; Advancing Scallop Aquaculture in Maine, a partnership with UMaine and Bigelow Laboratory scientists, Coastal Enterprises, Inc., Maine Aquaculture Association, and Maine scallop farmers to develop a bioeconomic model for scallop farming and develop new scallop aquaculture products; Tools for Maine’s climate-readiness practitioners and coastal communities, as part of our work with the Climate Change Adaptation Providers Network; Beach Profile Monitoring, working with more than 150 volunteers collecting beach profile data and providing valuable information for municipal officials, and with the Maine Climate Council’s Scientific and Technical subcommittee and to inform Maine Won’t Wait, a climate action plan for the state, The Maine Oyster Trail, continuing to support Maine’s oyster farmers with the first digital and interactive oyster trail in the U.S., partnering with more than 80 Maine oyster farms and businesses to drive coordinated tourism to Maine’s working waterfronts; Aquaculture in Shared Waters, continuing to support fishermen and others to start aquaculture ventures, with a12-week introductory courses including curriculum related to collaboration opportunities with the tourism and culinary industries, and incorporating the results of Sea Grant-supported UMaine research on aquaculture site selection; The Alliance for Maine’s Marine Economy that facilitates innovation and growth, allowing seafood businesses and the marine technology sector to develop new products, increase revenue, and create jobs. A MET professional has coordinated the Alliance since January 2018, and cumulatively, Alliance investment recipients have reported that their awards and Maine Sea Grant’s Alliance extension programming and support have resulted in 215 new and 211 expanded jobs, and 105 new contracts and research projects.