Maine advisory board hears $20 million ask, weighs how to split agriculture and forestry funding

Members of an advisory board convened by the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry reviewed potential ways to capitalize a proposed Agriculture, Food and Forestry Fund and debated how any new dollars should be allocated across farming, food businesses and the forest-products sector.

Staff reported that two agriculture-related bond bills are under consideration and said both “have the potential to capitalize the fund.” Staff further told the board that “the administration is advocating, for, in the ballpark of 20000000 dollars for the fund,” but that there was no clear breakdown yet for how that amount would be earmarked across sectors.

Several members urged that any funding plan explicitly preserve both forestry and agricultural allocations. “We have been encouraging that any funding that comes to this particular fund have both a forestry and an agriculture allocation,” said Sarah Littlefield, a director with the Maine Dairy Promotion Board, noting the fund’s statutory charge to serve both sectors.

Participants flagged that bills on the table could be part of larger bond packages and that only a portion of a package might go to the fund. That reality, they said, makes it important to design a fund structure that can adapt if the legislature provides variable annual allocations.

Board members repeatedly raised access and equity concerns tied to capitalization choices: small farms and smaller forestry contractors routinely lack staff to prepare complex applications and are less likely to compete for funds directed primarily at larger operations. Several members pushed for a microloan or recoverable-grant option for requests under roughly $50,000 and for a funding portal or referral system to connect applicants to technical assistance before submission.

The board did not take any formal votes. Staff said a more concrete outline of an initial fund structure — including potential allocation scenarios and scoring approaches — will be presented at a future meeting for the board to review and refine.