MOFGA worked till the end of this past legislative session to advocate for farmers and sustainable growing practices in the capital in Augusta. The political climate was very challenging as the branches of government feuded over priorities. Throughout it all, MOFGA spoke with a clear voice calling for agricultural resilience in the face of market forces and climate change, PFAS contamination of agricultural soils, and economic justice for farmers and farmworkers across the state.
Support for Organic Dairy Farmers
One of the biggest successes of the year was winning continued funding for the Milk Tier Program, which pays dairy farmers when the cost of milk production is above the price paid to the farmers. The arcane price controls of the federal government were never designed to support small- to medium-scale farmers that are located far from the grain-producing states of the Midwest. Maine farmers face the triple challenge of surging fuel costs for a state located at the end of the highway system, a short growing season, and a terrain more suited to smaller dairies. For this reason, Maine has been supporting our dairy industry with supplemental payments through the Milk Tier Program since the early 2000s. At the same time, the market pressures on our farmers mean that we have lost the great majority of those farms in those years. For the remaining approximately 145 dairy farms that continue in production, 53 of which are certified organic, the financial pressure is mounting as they struggle to keep their cows fed and their products in the market. The Milk Tier Program is vital for the resilience of this iconic heritage industry that keeps our land open and productive. The bill that was passed through the Legislature ensured a reasonable increase in the program for farmers, though it was still short of what the farmers need if we want to stem the tide of dairy closures. The Legislature also passed a bill calling for the formation of a dairy taskforce, which has been meeting all summer, to issue a report to the Legislature in 2025, including a recommendation of where we need to go from here to protect our farmers, and keep our food production local and our farmland undeveloped.
PFAS Contamination
The industrial attack on the laws protecting us from PFAS contamination continues on many fronts. Current Maine law says that all PFAS have to be phased out of use in pesticides in Maine by 2032. A bill was put forward by the Senate President to halt this phase out. In a state where farms are closing due to PFAS contamination, when European studies show that PFAS in fruits and vegetables is on the rise, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has taken action acknowledging the long-term effects of PFAS on human health, it is completely irresponsible to allow the use of these toxics in our food system. The effort to directly apply PFAS to our food in the fields makes no sense financially for the state when we factor the public health cost of long-term exposure to these toxics. Whenever industry’s profits are threatened by public health concerns, we know that they will keep pushing for profits. Because the current law has a long-term phase out, they will have many years to attempt to overturn the law. MOFGA will continue to stand as a bulwark against their financial and political power in Augusta.
MOFGA also fought to defend Maine’s PFAS in products law, which phases out the use of PFAS in many products. This was an especially difficult fight as many different industrial sectors — from aerospace and aviation to veterinary supplies manufacturers — are regulated by the existing law. A small group of nonprofits stood fast against their army of corporate lobbyists, and MOFGA was proud to stand alongside Defend Our Health, Maine Conservation Voters, and Maine Farmland Trust to defend our public health. Because of the lack of action by the federal government to pass comprehensive policies protecting us from the effects of PFAS in everyday products, states are having to pass regulations piecemeal. In the face of heavy pressure from industries profiting off the use of PFAS and the contamination of our bodies, the final version of the bill delayed the phase out of the use of PFAS in many products, which brought us in line with laws passed in other states. In exchange, we won the immediate phase-out of PFAS in many personal products in our everyday lives: carpets, fabric treatments, cleaning products, cookware, cosmetics, dental floss, children’s toys, upholstered furniture, ski wax, and menstruation products.
Unfortunately, the veterinary products lobby won the right to continue using PFAS in livestock. It does not make sense to include PFAS in food production in any way. We expect this deregulation of PFAS in livestock will encourage those who want to try once again to allow PFAS in pesticides. MOFGA will be watching and ready to defend our food production systems and public health from toxics.
Farmworkers’ Rights
MOFGA has been working to create a minimum wage for farmworkers for six years now. Every two years, an agricultural minimum wage bill has passed either the House or Senate, or both, only to be vetoed by the governor. The fight will continue in the years to come.
Following a veto of a farmworker minimum wage bill in 2023, the governor created a committee made up of representatives from the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry and the Department of Labor, as well as many diverse representatives of Maine’s agricultural community. Coming out of that committee’s work, a recommendation to establish an agricultural minimum wage was given broad support. While the recommendation from the committee did not provide any standards around overtime or rest breaks, the compromise appeared worthwhile in order to get some sort of protection on the books for the workers. Unfortunately, even though the bill would have still maintained farmworkers as second class to all other workers in the state through the lack of overtime protections, the governor offered a bill that would have removed the right to sue for wage issues that farmworkers already have. With one hand she offered a bill to advocates that was a very small step forward, and with the other she took away the workers’ right to advocate for themselves in court on wage issues. Because of the inherent inequity, the Labor and Housing Committee amended the bill so that workers maintained the right to sue their employers for non-payment of wages. This was the bill that passed both the House and the Senate and went to the governor’s desk.
Once again, even after months of compromises and wide consensus, the governor vetoed the bill arguing that farmworkers should not have the same rights as all other workers because of the potential issues it could cause farmers who do not pay their farmworkers accurately. Obviously, this was a devastating decision for farmworkers and their allies who had been working on this issue for years. MOFGA will continue to stand on the side of farmworkers in the years to come and to reach out to the governor’s office to see if there is the potential for a compromise that would please the governor and secure the rights of farmworkers into the future.
MOFGA’s engagement in the legislative process is as crucial now as it has ever been. Operating at the intersection of farm viability, toxics in our food system, and social justice, MOFGA is a vital voice in Augusta. We are proud of our wins in a difficult political environment and pledge to continue our work in the face of our challenges.
– Bill Pluecker, Public Policy Organizer
