Maine Farmland Trust’s efforts to protect farmland over the last two decades are evident throughout the state. As of this writing, MFT has protected 370 farms with agricultural conservation easements, ensuring the land will remain available and open for farming in perpetuity.
This work is critical in a state with a finite and threatened agricultural resource—Maine’s prime agricultural soils are limited in comparison to many states, and our best farmland continues to be targeted for development.
Only 3.6% of Maine’s remaining farmland is permanently protected. In comparison, Rhode Island and Massachusetts have protected 25% of their states’ remaining farmland, with Vermont, Connecticut, and New Hampshire each protecting between 15% and 20%. Yet Maine’s farmland is critical to the agricultural future of the entire region, and as development pressure and climate change accelerate, that land is increasingly threatened. Since the Ram Island Conservation Fund made a transformational investment in MFT nearly ten years ago, we have worked toward the goal of protecting 100,000 acres of farmland in Maine. As we approach our goal, what comes next? It’s time to rethink MFT and Maine’s farmland protection goals in a process informed by stakeholders and driven by data.
For the past two years, MFT has been reimagining our farmland protection work, adopting a new vision of what successful agricultural conservation looks like. This reimagining means accepting more nuance, considering a greater number of factors when examining farmland protection projects, working with new partners who bring new perspectives, and finding new roles for traditional partners. Our shift means pursuing more projects that create equitable and affordable land access, weighing economic and community considerations, and bringing greater transparency to the way we make decisions about farmland protection projects. Above all, we recognize the need to keep our farmland protection work nimble and adaptable to the needs of farmers as the farm landscape in Maine continues to change.
Why the shift? Because the world we are living in is not the same world that existed five years ago. Development pressure in Southern Maine is still high, but now migration to rural areas resulting from COVID-19 has driven the value of farmland in many previously affordable parts of the state to prices that are out of reach for farmers. Solar companies are attracted by Maine’s relatively limited regulation and flat, open hay and cropland for industrial-scale development. The unfolding PFAS crisis will have land use impacts of which we don’t yet know the full scale. Climate change impacts are felt in significant and often unexpected ways. The economics of local agriculture evolve in response to national and global influences. And deeply entrenched equity issues in agriculture demand that we reexamine the impacts of our work.
MFT’s approach to farmland protection must evolve along with these changes. Over the last two years, through reflection, learning, and conversation internally and with external partners, we have developed new priorities, strategies, and tools. As we move forward, our work will continue to evolve, adapting to the needs of farmers as the farm landscape in Maine continues to change.
MFT is working towards a future where affordable farmland is accessible to all farmers who seek to participate in Maine agriculture, where all farm businesses receive the necessary support to thrive, and where our state is home to a diverse and equitable agricultural community.
Who has access to farmland in Maine? Who wants to farm in Maine, and are these farmers able to take advantage of MFT’s programming to achieve this goal? Who is being left out? These questions shaped our analysis, and it quickly became clear that we need additional tools and resources to promote equitable access to farmland and to cultivate a more inclusive agricultural community in Maine.
Traditionally, MFT’s farmland protection programming required a farmer to own property or be able to access enough capital to become a landowner. However, a 30-year mortgage is often unattainable even for many skilled and experienced farmers. Farmland prices are increasingly out of reach, even with the sale of an agricultural easement to promote affordability. Institutionalized discrimination creates barriers for many BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) farmers. Beginning farmers often need opportunities and time to develop their businesses, along with support to do so, before they can qualify for a loan to purchase land. In a hot real estate market these barriers effectively exclude prospective farmers from accessing farmland.
Achieving a thriving, sustainable, and diverse agriculture sector in Maine means that we must find ways to help farmers overcome these obstacles. This work will require creativity, dedication, patience, higher risk tolerance, and significant financial support.
In 2023, MFT received news of a grant through the USDA’s Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access program. These funds will be used to provide affordable land access for farmers by offering medium-term lease opportunities and flexible ownership models, coupled with farmer support services to help position farmers to purchase land and succeed in the business of farming. This represents a big shift in our Buy-Protect-Sell model, which previously prioritized resale as fast as possible. A more patient approach, coupled with support, is essential for promoting equitable land access, especially for farmers who are experiencing lack of capital as a barrier to affordable land access.
In early 2023, MFT used an Option to Purchase at Agricultural Value (OPAV) to add a new layer of protection on the Wormell Farm in Cumberland, which had been previously protected with a conservation easement in 2016. The OPAV will give MFT the option to buy the farm and resell it to a farmer if future owners attempt to sell the property out of agricultural use. Funds from the OPAV purchase facilitated an inter-
family generational transfer of the farm. “We could not have purchased the farm without Maine Farmland Trust’s involvement. We are the fifth generation to own and operate a working farm, and we hope to eventually make our two young children the sixth. It is incredibly meaningful to us to keep this farm in our family, and have the chance to watch our children grow up on the same active farm where Brendon spent large portions of his childhood.”–Brianna and Brendon Wormell
Providing equitable farmland access opportunities for New Americans is essential so that a diversity of Mainers can eat culturally appropriate foods. “Our people rely on fair and equal access to land to grow food for our families, neighbors, and communities. We are a farming people, who find joy, meaning, spirituality, and cultural identity in working closely with the land, and with each other. Somali Bantu history and traditions revolve around our connection to agriculture and to the land, and we are grateful to be grounded in a place to call our home—our collective heartbeat. It is our dream that Maine’s farmland and food system could be made more accessible and supportive to different kinds of people, with different paths to access made a reality.”–Muhidin Libah, Executive Director, Somali Bantu Community Association (SBCA) speaking about Liberation Farms. MFT is working with the SBCA to craft a conservation easement for possible use on Liberation Farms in Wales. To facilitate full community participation in the decision-making process, we are working with illustrator Sara Cannon to produce an animated video to convey the legal nuances of conservation easement restrictions to non-English speakers.
Maine realizes the benefits of protecting farmland when that land is home to successful farm businesses that provide the foundation for thriving rural economies and communities.
By preventing sprawl and helping to keep farmland active, protected farmland is a critical contributor to the economic vitality of rural Maine and a building block of thriving rural communities. Historically, MFT’s farmland protection work has been responsive—in most cases, farmers motivated to conserve their land initiate the project—and as a result, nearly 25 years into this approach, our state is home to a robust network of over 400 permanently protected farms across all 16 counties.
As we move forward, MFT is taking a proactive network approach. We started this shift in early 2022 with the launch of MFT’s Farm Network, a department that unites our stewardship, climate resilience, and business planning into an integrated and farmer-centered agricultural service center. We are continuing this shift by adopting shared geographic priorities for all of our programs based on the identification of clusters of high agricultural economic activity. Farms are most successful when they are embedded in robust farming communities, and farming as a sector in Maine is most successful when we have multiple strong farming clusters. We are moving into a new phase of farmland protection in which we will proactively seek farmland protection projects in these clusters and build out the protected farmland base as nodes in the Farm Network.
Maine’s farm and food sectors are poised for growth and present a key opportunity for economic development that is grounded in Maine’s rural character and communities. By using our farmland protection tools strategically and in tandem with our robust Farm Network, Policy and Research, and Farmer Engagement programming, MFT can help these critical cluster communities foster, promote, and support their networks of local farm businesses to drive local and statewide agricultural economic growth. Our network-building approach will facilitate greater natural connection opportunities between farms so they can support and advance each other and their communities.
Over the past year MFT has been analyzing GIS data to identify priority farming communities based on converging concentrations of farm businesses, open agricultural soils, and organizations and businesses that support the agricultural industry. The map to the right represents some of Maine's most vibrant farming communities.
Because the threats to farmland in different parts of Maine are evolving and multiplying, we reorganized our Farmland Protection staff into two teams that specialize in protecting farmland in different geographic areas of the state: Southern Maine with its well-known challenges from urban encroachment, and Central and Northern Maine. “Although Northern and Central Maine don’t face the same level of small-lot subdivision pressure as seen in Southern Maine, non-agricultural development pressure has increased substantially in recent years. This area is comprised of larger tracts of farmland that are being threatened by large-lot residential and real estate development and increasing demand for land that can easily accommodate industrial-scale energy infrastructure. We need to protect Maine’s most productive farmland from irreversible non-agricultural development.”–Brett Sykes, Assistant Director of Farmland Protection, Central and Northern Maine
MFT's 2022 purchase of a former blueberry processing facility in Union was driven by demand from the local farming community.
“For years the Midcoast Farmers Alliance had been talking about the need for a centrally located facility that would give local farmers a place to store and market products and produce value-added goods. When the ideal spot became available, MFT acted quickly to purchase the building, taking it off the market and giving farmers the time and motivation to develop a vision for and begin using the space. MFT’s involvement has moved the project forward in a way that would not have been possible without secure access to a dedicated building located in a community with a significant cluster of farms and agricultural businesses, and this project will encourage continued agriculture-centric economic activity in the area.” – Heidi Baker, Brodis Blueberries
MFT’s work sits at the critical juncture of climate change mitigation–protecting farmland from development at scale–and climate adaptation–supporting farm resilience in the face of evolving conditions.
Farmers are on the front lines of climate change. Its impacts on agriculture include extreme temperatures, severe weather, pests, disease, and increased unpredictability that affects farmers’ ability to plan each year. In response, MFT started working with farmers on soil health practices and other adaptation strategies several years ago, and has been advocating for climate-smart agricultural policies and programs for years. Now it’s time to reexamine our farmland protection work in the context of climate change.
Protecting farmland from development is an important tool to address climate change. As a state, Maine needs to dramatically increase the amount of farmland protected in order to meet our climate goals. To scale-up will require a significant increase in public funding available for farmland protection and strong partnerships with the state and other conservation entities.
In comparison to the rest of the Northeast, Maine lags far behind many other states in number of farms protected by a conservation easement, acres of farmland protected, and the percentage of the state’s existing farmland that is under conservation, as well as the amount of public funding dedicated to farmland protection.
At the same time, changing conditions for farmers on the ground mean we need to think through the potential climate impacts on farmland protection projects. We need to prioritize protecting farmland that will be the most resilient to climate change impacts and remain productive land far into the future. To better vet farmland for climate resilience and support farmers as they face climate adaptation challenges, our farmland protection work is increasingly coordinating with the climate resilience work of MFT’s Farm Network team. For the last several years, the Farm Network team has been building upon its pilot soil health program to create a robust suite of climate resilience supports for farmers that will help them adapt their farm planning and practices in the face of threats from extreme and unpredictable weather.
This integrated approach—protecting our agricultural land base while at the same time offering comprehensive support and resources to farmers to help them adapt —helps ensure that agriculture in Maine will continue to thrive, and can be part of Maine’s climate solution.
MFT has been developing an interactive tool to assess the climate resilience of farms through GIS data and mapping.
"Our expanded vision of farmland protection involves not only ensuring that the land remains open and available for farming but also productive and resilient. The climate risk assessment tool that we are developing will allow MFT staff and farmers to understand and plan for the unique vulnerabilities and resilience and adaptation potential of a farm in the context of climate change." – Sarah Simon, MFT Climate Resilience Specialist
Achieving scale in farmland protection is a critical climate change strategy to avoid the emissions associated with development. MFT has traditionally worked farm by farm and is now partnering with food companies to explore whole-supply-chain strategies that may provide a pathway to incentivize farmland protection. In Aroostook County MFT is working with farmers growing for Harvesting Good, a subsidiary of Good Shepherd Food Bank. MFT will help secure the land farmers need to produce at the scale required for this new venture designed to bring healthy Maine produce to a larger year-round market. Protecting the large tracts of farmland will allow growers to scale up production for Harvesting Good and expand the base of conserved farmland in Maine’s top agricultural county at a scale that is not possible with Southern Maine’s smaller farms.
“MFT’s involvement in helping farmers access land is critical to the success of a supply chain producing quality local produce, available year-round to Mainers at an affordable price point.” – Matt Chin, President, Harvesting Good
Thanks to a new grant from TD Ready Challenge, MFT is building upon our soil health programming to develop a replicable, holistic approach to climate resilience in agriculture through planning assistance, peer-to-peer learning, design and installation of climate-smart agricultural practices and farm infrastructure, and by encouraging land management practices to strengthen the whole farm ecosystem. We’ll add these more robust climate resilience supports to the wrap-around support services we offer for our network of protected farms, like East Forty Farm, a participant in our pilot soil health programming. “In 2016, after months of unsuccessfully looking for a farm that would fulfill the needs for expanding our cheese business while allowing for growing a dairy herd in support of the operation, we found a historic Waldoboro farm that was priced to reflect its waterfront location. MFT worked to make it feasible for us to purchase the farm at a reasonable price. Since buying the property, we have also participated in MFT’s soil health programming, with the goals of increasing our farm’s resiliency in the face of extreme weather events associated with climate change, and helping promote healthy and sustainable grazing practices on our farm. As the farm needs have evolved, we have had the support of a number of programs that have helped to improve both our financial health and the health of the land, which has been critical to our success.”–Allison Lakin, Lakin’s Gorges Cheese and East Forty Farm
Including more stakeholders in collaboration better serves farms and positions farmers for long-term success.
As MFT engaged in self-reflection around our farmland protection work over the last two years, we quickly realized that our different departments were siloed and needed to be more fully integrated with each other and with the farmers we serve. Dozens of MFT staff members connect every day with farmers across the state, but how are we sharing pertinent information with each other in order to best serve farmers? Beyond MFT, how are we engaging with perspectives that can help us shift our work to be more comprehensive and helpful to farmers and inclusive of a diversity of farmers?
More effective collaboration and communication with a greater diversity of perspectives is critical. To that end, our internal process for vetting potential farmland protection projects has changed to be more inclusive of all staff. By pulling in more geographic and disciplinary perspectives, we can factor in economic and farm business considerations, a property’s climate resilience, and greater knowledge of the local farming community in a particular area, rather than making decisions based on the characteristics of the land alone. The result is better internal decision-making, more effective communication across our teams, and more support and connection when farmers need it.
Over the course of 2023, MFT’s Farmland Protection and Access team and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Working Group collaborated to explore the role of cultural use agreements at MFT and to assess MFT’s easement template to make sure it was not inadvertently excluding Wabanaki cultural uses of protected farmland. Updates were made to the easement template to specifically include Wabanaki food and medicine production and ceremonial uses of land as traditional uses that are of value to the public, and to clarify that farmers who want to make their land available for these uses are allowed to do so by the easement. Through this process, the team became more aware of accounting for current Wabanaki uses of farmland on properties being protected or on properties abutting those being protected in order to make sure to craft an easement that allows for greater flexibility for possible future uses in those circumstances, such as allowing for possible future divisions that could be executed for Land Back decisions. By taking in more perspectives, we are challenged to think about what “protection” could look like beyond easements.
Work at the staff level lays a solid base for moving toward including more perspectives on the MFT Lands Committee, the advisory group that evaluates farmland protection projects cultivated by staff, and makes recommendations to our Board of Directors on easement purchases. The Lands Committee includes perspectives that ground our work in deep knowledge of MFT’s history, such as Nina Young, a recently retired MFT staff member. Nina holds a wealth of information and connections all over Maine, especially in Aroostook County. The Committee also now includes fresh perspectives such as that of farmer Caitlin Frame of The Milkhouse, who joined the MFT Board in 2023. “As a new member of the Lands Committee, I'm excited to lend my perspective as a woman in the dairy industry to the important work done by MFT to ensure a future for farming in Maine.”
A holistic evaluation of potential farmland conservation projects involves looking at more than just the physical characteristics of the land—it is also important to consider the viability of the existing farm business or the capacity of the property to support a viable farm in the future.
“By involving the Farm Network’s farm business planning staff early in the farmland protection process, we’re able to collaboratively assess the specific viability needs of each farm and help ensure a successful outcome. This farmer-centered approach includes working with farmers to help identify their long and short-term goals and challenges and offering resources and support to address them. When working on farmland protection projects, MFT is committed to a long-term partnership with a farmer. Having these types of conversations early and often allows all of us better to support the changing needs of farms over time.” – Tricia Rouleau, Farm Network Director
MFT is also taking steps to foster better communication with stakeholders in land access work. In March of 2023, MFT hosted a New England Regional Farmland Access Convening centered around exploring new tools and strategies that organizations had developed in response to increasing pandemic development pressure and the need to pursue more equitable farmland access. Participating organizations included many long-established farmland access practitioners in New England, new land trusts and practitioners focused on Land Back and BIPOC land and food sovereignty, and national key partners. Shirley Sherrod, a longtime civil rights and land access advocate, gave the keynote address.