Action Alert: Support Investment in Maine’s Agricultural Sector

The Second Session of the 132nd Maine Legislature kicked off last week and there’s an important opportunity coming up to advocate for investment in Maine’s working farms and farmland. If you followed MFT’s action alerts in the First Session, you saw a few different advocacy requests related to proposed bond measures that would provide much-needed state funding for Maine’s agricultural economy and farmland conservation. We are continuing this work through support for LD 2094, An Act to Authorize a General Fund Bond Issue to Support Maine's Agricultural and Forestry Sectors.

A public hearing for LD 2094 is scheduled for Tuesday January 20th, 2026 at 1pm before the Legislature's Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee in State House Room 228. Please consider lending your voice in support of this important effort!

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More about this bill & why MFT supports it:

LD 2094 proposes a $40 million bond issue that would fund multiple agricultural priorities by making strategic investments in the following established capital and technical assistance programs for farmers:

• $24 million to capitalize the Maine Agriculture, Food and Forest Products Investment Fund;

• $5 million for the Working Farmland Access and Protection Program;

• $4 million for the Farmers Drought Relief Grant Program;

• $4 million for the Maine Healthy Soils Program; and

• $3 million for the Dairy Improvement Fund

MFT supports LD 2094 because agriculture is infrastructure and it is time that we invest in it as such. A thriving agricultural economy in Maine is critical to rural economic development, to farmers’ ability to keep their land in agricultural production, and to ensuring a vibrant and resilient food system for our state and communities. The existing state programs that this bond issue would fund were created with broad-based support in response to important needs facing the hardworking Mainers who produce the food and forest products we consume and care for the land we all depend on. However, these programs must be funded adequately to be able to serve as an effective source of support for Maine’s agricultural and forestry sectors.

Note: This bill would help move the needle on increasing much-needed public funding for farmland conservation through its investment in the Working Farmland Access and Protection Program. We have some other creative and exciting strategies in motion this legislative session for securing additional funding for this important program that we will keep you updated on - stay tuned!

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Take action

A public hearing for LD 2094 is scheduled for Tuesday Jan 20, 2026 at 1pm before the Legislature's Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee in State House Room 228. Whether you are a farmer or a community member who believes the agricultural and forestry sectors are important to Maine, please consider sharing your support for this bill.

If you are a farmer or producer, consider speaking to these prompts in your written and/or oral testimony:

• What do you need right now for the successful operation of your business?

• How would increased investment in Maine agriculture, forest products, and food production benefit your local community or the state as a whole?

• Could support from one or more of the programs that would be funded through this bond make a big difference for your business right now? If so, how?

Here are some options for getting engaged:

Testify at the public hearing (Tues January 20th, 2026 at 1pm)

In-person: The hearing is being held in State House Room 228. There is a 3-minute time limit per person, so be prepared to keep your oral delivery of your testimony brief. Written testimony is not required, but if you want to distribute copies of your written testimony to committee members you should bring 20 copies. If you are testifying in-person, you do not need to submit your written testimony through the online portal.

Over Zoom: You can submit written testimony and/or sign-up to deliver oral testimony over Zoom by following this link. Once there, select “public hearing,” select the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee, the date of the hearing (January 20th at 1p), and the bill title (LD 2094 - An Act to Authorize a General Fund Bond Issue to Support Maine's Agricultural and Forestry Sectors). You will then be able to upload written comments and/or sign up to provide live testimony. If you would like to deliver your testimony orally, you need to sign-up at least 30 minutes prior to the start of the hearing. There is a 3-minute time limit per person, so be prepared to keep your oral delivery of your testimony brief.

Submit written testimony: If you cannot make it to the hearing in-person or on Zoom, you can submit written testimony online anytime before the hearing by following this link (follow the steps above for testifying over Zoom).

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More about the agricultural priorities this $40 million bond measure would fund

Capitalizing the Maine Agriculture, Food and Forest Products Investment Fund (AFFPIF): Expanded agricultural infrastructure in Maine is critical to helping farmers grow and diversify their businesses and to supporting local and regional supply chain development. The AFFPIF was established by the 130th Legislature to facilitate strategic investments in the state’s agricultural, food and forest products processing and manufacturing industries, but the Fund has yet to be provided with the financial resources necessary to carry out its purpose and meaningfully move the needle on increasing in-state agricultural infrastructure and processing capacity. Expanded processing and distribution infrastructure for Maine farms and food producers is also an important strategy included in the state’s climate action plan Maine Won’t Wait in order to reach the plan’s goal of increasing the amount of food consumed in Maine from state food producers to 30 percent by 2030.

Support for working farmland access and protection: Protecting farmland through an agricultural conservation easement keeps land available for agricultural use and creates more affordable access to farmland for both new and established farmers. The state’s updated 2024 climate action plan Maine Won’t Wait establishes new targets specific to farmland protection – calling for Maine to secure and commit ongoing, dedicated funding for farmland conservation to double the amount of permanently protected farmland in the state by 2030 and ensure no net loss of farmland in Maine. In order to realize this goal, we need to meet the rapid growth in development pressure across the state with an equally rapid expansion of our farmland protection efforts, especially publicly funded farmland protection. Maine’s Working Farmland Access and Protection Program provides funding to protect Maine’s most productive and economically significant farmland.

Support for the Maine Farmers Drought Relief Grant Program and the Maine Healthy Soils Program: These programs help farmers become more resilient to climate change impacts and support their ability to run viable businesses in increasingly unpredictable conditions. The Healthy Soils Program provides information, tools, and assistance to help more Maine farms use practices to build soil health and benefit from the climate change resilience and mitigation as well as the economic benefits that healthy soils can provide. The Farmers Drought Relief Grant Program helps alleviate risks associated with drought conditions by providing farmers with grants to establish a sustainable and affordable source for irrigation water. Funding for these programs would provide essential support to Maine farmers as they adapt in the face of climate impacts that are already affecting their livelihoods.

Support for the state’s dairy industry through funding the Dairy Improvement Fund: The economic viability of Maine dairy farms allows for vast acres of farmland across the state to stay in agriculture, contributes to the strength of our entire agricultural sector, and supports the vitality of rural communities. In the 131st Legislature, MFT advocated in coalition with farmers and partners across Maine’s agricultural sector to create a task force to develop a set of recommendations on how the State can support the long-term sustainability and resiliency of Maine’s dairy sector. Included within the recommendations of this Task Force’s final report is the need to provide additional funding for the Dairy Improvement Fund, which provides dairy farms with funding for capital improvement projects.

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Questions? Reach out to Shelley Megquier, MFT’s Policy and Research Director at smegquier@mainefarmlandtrust.org.

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