2 weeks Ago
From tariffs to climate and policy challenges, it seems like farmers in Maine are under assault from every direction, threatening their very sustainability. Ninety-five percent of our farms are family-owned, and many have been in families for generations. Yet every year we see more and more shutter.
Over the last five years we’ve lost 600 farms. Agriculture in the state has an enormous economic footprint. It is responsible for more than 200,000 jobs totaling $11.
3 billion. It brings in more than $5 billion in tax revenue and exports nearly $650 million worth of goods. Jim Pitreau is president of Green Thumb Farms in Fryeburg.
Given all this, we should be doing everything possible to support our farmers and give them the tools needed to continue feeding New England, the country and some parts of the world. Some policies being considered in Augusta right now would do just the opposite. One of those is a bill — LD 1323 — that seeks to ban the use of insecticides known as neonicotinoids, or “neonics.
” Using seeds that are treated with neonics before being planted in the ground has reduced the use of large-scale pesticide spraying on crops once they’ve started to grow. One critical benefit of treated seeds is that they are precisely targeted and stop pests from attacking the roots while underground. Without using treated seeds, by the time you can see above-ground growth, the plant can already be damaged beyond repair.
I’ve seen entire crops wiped out. The truth is, neonics have been thoroughly vetted and proven safe for human health over and over again, including by the Environmental Protection Agency. And they are strictly regulated at both the state and federal levels.
They are not only an effective solution for pest management on crops, but they have the added benefit of reducing the amount of pesticide farmers use while still reaping the same, or larger, amount of product. And they help farmers like me implement good environmental practices that help retain carbon emissions. Banning the use of treated seeds would be devastating to me and the vast majority of farmers in our state.
It would jeopardize our ability to grow affordable food, would increase our operational costs and worst of all, we’d have to resort to older chemistries that are harsher. One pound of seed treatment would have to be replaced with five pounds of other pesticides. That’s an application increase of 375% per acre.
There are also legislative efforts to remove about 70 pesticide active ingredients, translating to thousands of products from the Maine market in 2032. If those efforts are successful, lawmakers will be removing tools that farmers in 48 other states, Canada and Mexico will still have. Lawmakers are also considering labor bills that would have a drastic and detrimental impact on farmers, the most problematic of which would get rid of the overtime exemption that is in the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and is adopted by 45 other states.
For many farms, this would raise costs dramatically beyond the level of being profitable. This is a farm-killer. All of these policies will disadvantage Maine farmers.
Last but not least, Maine is part of the New England Food System Planners Partnership — a great collaboration of food system organizations, agricultural, economic and environmental department representatives that unites the food system community. The group has set a goal that 30% of the food consumed in New England will be produced in New England by 2030. It’s a lofty goal but one that will be extremely hard to pull off by enacting policies that increase our production and labor costs and take away proven tools that we rely on to feed our families, our neighbors, people across the state and food pantries.
I urge lawmakers to take all this into consideration and to listen to farmers as they consider their actions. We believe it’s important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way.
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