U.S. Department of Agriculture is opening signup for the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) on December 9, 2019. The deadline for agricultural producers to sign up for general CRP is February 28, 2020, while signup for continuous CRP is ongoing. Farmers and ranchers who enroll in CRP receive a yearly rental payment for voluntarily establishing long-term, resource-conserving plant […]

MOFGA’s Maine Farm Resilience Program provides individualized support to advanced-beginning farmers (5-9 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.  For more information visit MOFGA’s Maine Farm Resilience Program page.

These presentations will help farmers understand the opportunities and requirements to successfully participate in wholesale markets through: Determining costs of production, Grading and packing for institutional markets, Understanding consumer trends, Creating a brand, sell sheets, and more. For more information visit the Baskets to Pallets Wholesale Training for Farmers flyer and agenda.

FSA offers specially targeted farm ownership and farm operating loans to underserved applicants as well as beginning farmers and ranchers.  For more information visit the USDA’s news release.

Are you a farmer or rancher whose commodities have been directly impacted by unjustified foreign retaliatory tariffs, resulting in the loss of traditional export markets? The Market Facilitation Program was created for producers just like you.  For more information visit the Market Facilitation Program page.

The University of Maine Cooperative Extension has put together a fact sheet on the explanation of required records for the food safety modernization act produce safety rule.  This new fact sheet can be found in the  Food Safety category under Food & Health

Interested in Growing Your Business?  CEI has developed a collection of resources designed to help accelerate the growth of 3-5 businesses in our next round of the Tastemakers initiative.  Visit CEI’s newsletter for more information.

Registration is now open for The Business of Farming for Wholesale.  Are you an experienced Maine farmer who wants make more money wholesaling your products?  Farming for Wholesale helps farmers participate in, or scale up for, wholesale markets. We combine ongoing farm business planning assistance with day-long workshops and grant opportunities.  For more information and […]

The Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs were authorized by the 2014 and 2018 Farm Bills. For more information on ARC and PLC including two online decision tools that assist producers in making enrollment and election decisions specific to their operations, visit the ARC and PLC webpage.

Producers who had 2018 covered commodities enrolled in ARC-CO can visit www.fsa.usda.gov/arc-plc for payment rates applicable to their county and each covered commodity. For farms and covered commodities enrolled in 2018 PLC, the following crops met payment triggers: wheat, canola, barley and corn.  Oats and soybeans did not meet 2018 PLC payment triggers.