Maine farmers work hard every day to produce the food, steward the land, and grow the businesses that sustain our communities. But their hard work isn’t always enough to keep their businesses afloat as they are face challenges such as rising production costs, taxes, and land prices; limited processing capacity; labor shortages; and increasingly severe and unpredictable weather. State policy shapes the tools and resources that are available to farmers, what land is protected and how, and all aspects of our local food economy. In the wake of the First Session of Maine’s 132nd Legislature, it is evident how important it is for MFT to continue to have a voice at the State House, working alongside partners, legislators, supporters, and farmers to advance farm-friendly state policy and program implementation – because Maine’s farmers can’t do it alone.
Going into the session, MFT’s state-level policy priorities were to:
1.) Protect farmland from development by supporting increases in public funding for farmland conservation through new and existing mechanisms, advancements in smart growth strategies, and balanced solar siting policy implementation.
2.) Help farm businesses thrive by creating more flexibility within existing State programs, securing funding for popular farmer support programs, and investing in agriculture infrastructure and food systems strengthening.
3.) Advance equitable access to agricultural land and resources by strengthening access to existing State programs, supporting tribal sovereignty, supporting minimum wage provisions for farmworkers, and other strategies.
After a busy 6+ months at the State House, the Maine Legislature convened on June 25th. Over the course of the session, MFT provided testimony on 26 bills, helped to draft portions of several bills, suggested bill amendments to ensure things like a stronger ability for institutions to purchase local foods and better farmer representation on legislatively mandated working groups; coordinated testimony with partners to ensure consistent messaging; lobbied policymakers to fund programs that farmers rely on; co-organized a lunch and learn with 100+ legislators; circulated a sign on letter to demonstrate the broad support for an agriculture and forestry bond measure (280+ signatures!); and more.
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Farmers and MFT members worked alongside us and were critical to many of the policy wins achieved this session. You stepped up...with calls to legislators, testimonies, social media posts, and thoughtful emails/conversations with MFT staff. It makes such a difference to legislators and our policy team to have members of the public engaged and active as we strive collectively towards a stronger policy environment for Maine farms. We especially appreciated the numerous contributions of our Farmer Advocacy Committee members, who were with us every step of the way. If you stepped up, keep it up! And if you'd like to get involved, read on for more details on the session and how you can advocate for Maine farms.
MFT was grateful to contribute to several policy wins, including measures that will increase access to and improve upon existing State programs. Unfortunately, everything outside of the State supplemental and biennial budget that was funding related, including bond proposals, were carried forward until next session.
Some highlights of bills recently signed into law include:
LD 1925, An Act to Improve Access to Grant Funding for the Maine Farms for the Future Program
The State’s Farms for the Future Program is a competitive grant program that provides helpful business planning assistance and investment support to farms. Programs such as this provide farmers with the skills and capital to improve the profitability and stability of their farm businesses.
The new law ensures that farmers who lease rather than own land, those who farm on less than 5 acres, and those who farm on land that is already protected by an agricultural conservation easement are able to fully participate in the Farms for the Future Program. In the past, farmers who fit one of these criteria were not able to fully access the program. These changes matter deeply from an equity perspective and were supported wholeheartedly by both the State and the Legislature.
LD 1450, An Act Regarding the Voluntary Municipal Farm Support Program
The State’s Voluntary Municipal Farm Support Program (VMFSP) allows towns to create their own local, non-permanent agricultural conservation easement program while lowering the property tax burden on farms. Under state guidelines, municipalities in Maine may develop and codify a VMFSP to enter into farm support arrangements with eligible farmland owners. Those farmland owners who are formally accepted into the town’s program enter into a farm support arrangement that grants a non-permanent agricultural conservation easement in exchange for full or partial reimbursement of property taxes on their qualifying farmland and farm buildings during the easement term.
The amended law reduces the minimum qualified easement term from not less than 20 years to not less than 10 years and enables more flexibility in the approval process for each farm support arrangement so that municipalities are not required by statute to have each individual farm’s application to the town’s program be approved by the town’s legislative body. Both of these changes were suggested based on feedback received from farmers and members of municipal governments. This updated law allows for more flexibility and local decisionmaking authority in implementation of the program.
Do you think your town might be interested in learning more about the VMFSP? Contact Krista Chappell, MFT’s municipal policy planner to learn more!
LD 589, An Act to Make Agricultural Workers and Other Related Workers Employees Under the Wage and Hour
Maine farm workers are now guaranteed the state minimum wage. A guaranteed state minimum wage provides an important layer of legal protection for farm employees and, given that most farm businesses already offer at least the state minimum wage and that no additional provisions were included in this legislation, the new law will be unlikely to create undue economic hardship for our valued farm businesses across the state. This long-awaited law was a major compromise between various players in the agricultural labor space. Three cheers for farm workers and the critical role they play on Maine farms!
LD 1976, Resolve, Regarding Legislative Review of Chapter 379: Compensation for Impacts to High-Value Agricultural Land from Solar Energy Development, a Late-filed Major Substantive Rule of the Department of Environmental Protection
The passage of LD 1976 this session provided the necessary legislative approval to connect and implement the final rules that were prepared through an extensive and coordinated process by the Dept of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (DACF) and the Dept of Environmental Protection (DEP) for LD 1881, the hugely important balanced solar siting legislation that passed in 2023. As a refresher, LD 1881, which MFT strongly supported, created a permitting process for solar installations over 5 acres on high-value agricultural land, where one didn’t exist before, and a mitigation fee program in which companies must pay a fee for solar installations of over 20 acres on high-value agricultural land. The rules adopted by LD 1976 regulate the compensation requirements and establish an in-lieu fee compensation program for impacts to Maine’s most valuable farmland.
Bills still in play and on hold until next session:
Bonds and items on the “Special Appropriations Table” were “carried forward,” meaning that they were put on hold in their current form until next Session. This postponement includes bills that MFT supported that were passed to be enacted by the House and Senate but dependent on funding such as:
• LD 1528, An Act to Support Farmland Conservation
• LD 593, An Act to Extend Funding for the Land for Maine’s Future Program
• LD 468, An Act to Address Food Insecurity by Helping Maine Residents Access Locally Produced Food
The Land for Maine’s Future bond as well as the Agriculture and Forestry focused bond measure are also on hold until the Legislature reconvenes in January. Thank you to all the members and farmers in our network who helped to promote and support these bond measures. We were overwhelmed by the outpouring of support for the Agriculture and Forestry focused bond measure (LD 1140) in particular that would provide funding for established programs upon which farmers, food producers, and forestry businesses rely for capital and technical assistance. MFT worked with partners to circulate a sign on letter to demonstrate broad support for this bond making it to the ballot and presented the letter with 280+ signatures to Appropriations Committee members as well as all members of the House and Senate. We are optimistic that some good momentum has been built and this effort will have a fighting chance in 2026.
The bills left on the Special Appropriations table and bond proposals will need to be revisited during the next session. There is energy building behind these efforts that needs to be sustained – you can help speak up for Maine farmers and farmland.
Learn how you can get involved throughout the year, and sign up to receive policy updates and action alerts. We’ll keep you in the loop on opportunities to contact your legislators and other actions you can take.
Are you a farmer interested in joining MFT to create policy change? Share your priorities and get involved.
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