Local farmers gathered to exchange opinions and hear about new developments from University of Maine Cooperative Extension specialists at the Lee Pellon Center in Machias during the Downeast Agriculture Conference on January 18. Topics included the future of wild blueberry cultivation, the use of high tunnels to increase yield and the growing season and the harvesting of kelp.
     Lily Calderwood of the University of Maine Extension began by addressing the difficulties facing small wild blueberry farms caused by competition from the ever‑growing number of high-bush growers. "Quality is the competitive advantage you have to focus on," she said, along with the need "to be your own marketers to the very specific markets you know best." She estimated the demand for Maine wild blueberries to be enough to supply 60,000‑70,000 pounds of juice and 110,000‑400,000 pounds of fresh berries at a value of $3 to $8 a quart. "The challenges," she said, are "storage and transportation costs" and to "collaborate with other small growers wherever possible."
     Mark Hutton gave an informative presentation on how to build a "high tunnel" that would "increase profits, extend the growing season, allow for early crops and suppress disease and insects" for winter crops. Most high tunnels are only hooked up to a water supply and only some have heat, yet they can still yield a healthy crop of greens, beets, carrots and other root vegetables.
     Discussion then turned from farming on land to the waters in the Gulf of Maine. Jaclyn Robidoux explained that Maine has quickly become a leader in seaweed farming thanks to a worldwide interest in sustainability and diversification; the fact that seaweed is a winter crop; the abundance of clean, cold water; and the well developed "wild harvest" industry, regulated as a fishery. In addition, starting in 2010, Maine began with a single farm in the waters of southern Maine and now has 180 sites, from the Isle of Shoals all the way to Eastport, producing various types of seaweed. Robidoux reported that kelp production is expected to be 600,000 pounds this year, twice the harvest recorded in 2019. Robidoux's colleague at Maine Sea Grant, Dana Morse, followed with a discussion on shellfish farming, providing an overview of the methods for growing oysters, mussels, scallops, soft-shell clams and bait fish.

Getting fresh product to market
     The conference then turned back to themes that cut across the spectrum of small farmers and their common challenges to the topic of "getting products to market" in a timely and profitable way. Inez Lombardo, head of Machias Marketplace, provided a useful historical review of how the idea of a "community market" was developed in 2003 and then reworked again and again as farmers and customers and modes of communication changed.
     Richard East, a self‑described "urban farmer" of six acres in Calais, continued this theme saying, "You're constantly reinventing yourself when you are a small farmer." He described how five years ago he "discovered" the community of Amish family farmers in Maine and made a pact with them, which he called a "farm community."

Federal regulations
     The Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002, a set of requirements following 9/11, is a bureaucratic process that is a relatively minor annoyance to agribusiness and big corporate growers but a tremendous burden on small farmers. A further problem for wild blueberry growers are the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rules that make no distinction between the low-bush Maine variety that is harvested only once in two years and the high-bush crop -- ironically developed at the Maine Cooperative Extension farm in Jonesboro -- that is harvested in huge amounts annually in multiple states and countries. As one grower said during the conference, "USDA is the problem. We were never asked for our opinions if the laws we now have to live with made sense."
     Marie Emerson of Wescogus Farms and the only woman serving on the Wild Blueberry Commission of Maine said, "Wild blueberries are one of four indigenous fruits that have been growing in North America for 10,000 to 12,000 years, and no one has ever gotten sick from eating them." Yet USDA treats the Maine wild crop as they do the agribusiness variety.

Labor problems
     All small farmers are struggling to sustain their crops and livelihoods with a labor supply that is tenuous, at best.
     Courtney Hammond of Lynch Hill Farms in Harrington needs 50 people to help in the harvest season and says, "The local labor force doesn't exist." During the conversation on this topic he went on to say, "The best recruiting source for us is in the nursing home." And backing this up was Lisa Hanscom in Roque Bluffs who said, "Four women over the age of 80 are some of my best workers." Hanscom went on to say, "When I was four, I raked blueberries, but that is legally called child abuse today. If you're 13 and you haven't raked blueberries already, you're not going to start after 13."
     And when the topic of migrant labor was discussed as a potential solution, Hammond said, "I know you will find this hard to believe, but 90% of migrant workers make more money than I do." A farmer from East Machias recalled the time a local mother called him to see if he would hire one of her children to rake blueberries. He was agreeable and asked the mother which of the two groups of workers, either Mexican or Haitian, she would like her child to join. There was no reply from the mother in answer to his question. But this farmer went on to stress, "It's vital for you to have workers' compensation if you're going to employ migrant labor."
     Carly DelSignore and Aaron Bell of Tide Mill Farm in Edmunds and Hammond both use apprentice programs to help initiate and train young people interested in farming but, while worthwhile, it is not a solution to their labor problems.