Maine Feeds Maine: Is this an idea whose time has come again?

By Merry Hall

In late January, 2008, Ron Beard moderated a discussion on WERU radio’s Talk of the Towns entitled Maine Feeds Maine: Is this an idea whose time has come again? The panelists were Jane Livingston, Logan Perkins, and Jim Cook, all central to the success of Maine Feeds Maine. Jane Livingston, who organized Maine Feeds Maine (MFR), explained, “MFM was a series of four discussions, linking four high school sites State-wide using the Maine distance learning facilities. John Harker from the Department of Agriculture was a valuable ally who handled the technical end of getting the table out to the farmers, when it is hard for the farmers to come to the table. 150 people participated in open-ended, action-oriented discussions, moderated by Ron Beard, on how to accelerate the development of local food systems.” Livingston was pleased with the cooperative nature of MFM. She said that The Cooperative Development Institute participated in facilitating it and lent MFM its ten guiding values: self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, solidarity, honesty, openness, social responsibility, and caring for others.

Logan Perkins of Food for Maine’s Future said, “The most important outcome of MFM is that it made lots of important connections among people. It enabled us to consider how to rip down the infrastructural barriers such as a lack of storage, processing facilities, and seed banks.”

Jim Cook of Crown-of-Maine Organic Cooperative said, “MFM is a quantum leap forward for coordinating the local foods movement in Maine. I am gratified that people came together as equals. We went to listen to each other, not to a lecture by an expert. It was nice to be able to sit in a room close to home with people who were over 100 miles away. Maine used to have the facilities needed to feed itself. Now we need more and newer ones, like accessible certified slaughter houses, shared-use kitchens, and good retail outlets. Each of these represents a good economic opportunity for private entrepreneurs. We can’t sit around waiting for the government to do it for us.”

Carly DelSignore of Tide Mill Organic Farm called in from further Downeast. She and her family make their sole living from the farm, yet have had to drive to Dover Foxcroft for slaughtering. She credited MFM with introducing her to Jim Cook who could help with that transportation in the course of distributing organic foods from farms to buyers throughout Maine. Cooperation among Downeast farmers had faltered because “Nobody was stepping up to the plate,” when a leadership vacuum developed. “Maine Feeds Maine has changed that. Now we are re-energized. It takes everybody being excited and willing to work together with compromise. That’s hard, because farmers tend to be very independent, but now we are doing it, because we must. We are including the fisheries, so important out here, too. This movement focuses on the issues where we can make a difference in our lives.”

Cook credited DelSignore, in turn, as “the impetus for us to move farther Downeast. Since she contacted us, we’ve already found markets and buyers clubs in Washington County. We need more stops along the way to keep the whole venture affordable.” This is the benefit of statewide networking.

Perkins responded, “Carly is an amazing, dynamic, diverse producer. We need for people like this to keep in touch, so we can learn from them how to advocate effectively for such producers.”

Livingston was reminded of a phrase that had grown out of Winter Cache that Perkins helped to form: “Agriculture Supported Community.” It appears to this writer that MFM is helping to bring the support full circle. We are building a symbiotic, mutually beneficial relationship between local agriculture and community.

Jim Bunn of Garland called in from his small farm, noting the fact that MFM might thrive where the FEDCO Organic Warehouse went under, because the current cooperative movement is producer oriented whereas the previous one was consumer oriented. “Co-ops went downhill because consumers bought into the convenience model of big box chains.” Likewise, Paul Bernacki of Wayback Farm in Belmont noted that we had many obstacles remaining to Maine feeding Maine again, including oil-based fertilizers destroying soil fertility and a farming lifestyle that is too strenuous for too little financial reward to fit the preferences of most modern Americans.

Yes, we face many obstacles, historical and sociological pitfalls, and challenges, but Ron Beard chose to wrap up the broadcast with words of hope from the three primary participants. Beard hopes that the question posited in the title of the show, Maine Feeds Maine: Is this an idea whose time has come again?, has been answered with a resounding, “Yes!” Livingston hopes that MFM has demonstrated the participatory process in a way that will inspire others to follow suit. Cook says that MFM signals the fulfillment of his hope that we can create a better society and lifestyle to bequeath to our children. Perkins hopes for the flourishing of a visionary community here in Maine that will stake its claim on the future.

MFM makes me feel hopeful about our cooperatively creating a local food community, economy, ethic, and food security. Both producers and consumers are coming together through MFM, which is good, because both are responsible for completing the full cycle of local food.