The Maine farm funding bill has stalled in the Legislature again with only days left to secure a spot on the November ballot, putting small farms — including many in Washington County — at risk if Congress does not advance farm funding soon.
Unstable weather and economic conditions are a real concern for farmers if funding falls short, said Lisa Hanscom, a Washington County wild blueberry grower who co‑owns and manages Welch Farm in Roque Bluffs with her father.
“I feel like it’s getting harder to be a farmer,” Hanscom told Monitor Local.
She said it takes five years for the farm to recover from a drought — five years of smaller crops and less revenue to put toward equipment, repairs and other improvements.
Her family’s farm has been operating since the early 1900s, but she worries how much longer it can withstand tariff hikes and extreme weather. She applied for a healthy soil grant, and if it falls through, she said she is not sure how the farm will keep running.
Concerns like hers have brought farmers to the State House in Augusta twice in the past month to rally for the bond measure.
Despite support from a majority of Maine lawmakers, the bond has twice failed to reach the two‑thirds House supermajority needed for enactment. As of Monday morning, April 13, it is awaiting Senate concurrence.
Sen. Marianne Moore, R-Calais, said the debate centers on budget and borrowing concerns.
The bill, which began with a narrow focus on agriculture and forestry, has expanded in recent weeks to include — and then drop — an omnibus package with multiple bonds aimed at broader rural issues.
The added proposals — including housing and environmental protections — temporarily pushed the bond package to more than $200 million, alienating Republican lawmakers who raised concerns about fiscal responsibility.
“It is our job as legislators to prioritize where taxpayer funds are allocated,” Moore said, “and I strongly believe a responsible supplemental budget should have included these agricultural priorities.”
Moore split from her party to support the agriculture bond once the omnibus package was removed in early April, returning the proposal to its original $45 million.
In Maine, bonds must receive a two‑thirds supermajority to pass. Approval would have allowed the Senate to send the pared‑down bill back to the House for reconsideration, but it failed the roll call despite Moore’s vote.
“While I support the agricultural programs due to my longstanding support for Washington County farmers, I am concerned about proposals to max out our state’s debt limit through numerous bond issues,” Moore said.
Moore backed an amendment Wednesday to the supplemental budget to fund agriculture through the general fund. The proposal, introduced by Sen. Scott Cyrway, R‑Benton, would support critical agricultural programs, with the money distributed once the budget takes effect this year.
Simeon Allen of WR Allen Inc. received a federally funded grant from the Agricultural Infrastructure Investment Program in August 2022 for his Midcoast blueberry farm in Orland.
Allen, who produces quick‑freeze, packaged blueberries, said the $465,000 grant upgraded a 30‑year‑old optical sorter, replacing it with a state‑of‑the‑art laser sorter. The new equipment produces more high‑quality berries per hour, he said, helping the company maintain the highest‑grade frozen blueberries.
“In addition to grants, the bond funds low‑interest loans,” said Eric Venturini, executive director of the Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine, adding that access to those loans helps Maine farmers grow with less debt.
“Infrastructure grants are great, but low‑interest loans could help,” Allen said, adding that low‑interest loans make equipment more affordable for farmers.
Hanscom said she does not think anyone should rely solely on grants, but if funding is not accessible in these increasingly competitive conditions, she fears what Washington County stands to lose.
“The wild blueberry in Maine goes back 10,000 years,” she said, adding that without financial support, small farms like hers — a bastion of the county’s long‑standing history of wild blueberry farming — could soon be a relic of the past.
Melissa S. Razdrih is a Community Reporting Fellow receiving training through the Journalism New England Career Lab to do civic reporting that provides people in towns across New England with the information they need to be engaged in their community.
