Advisory board agrees to design $500,000 pilot grant for farm and forest programs

The advisory board to the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry voted unanimously earlier to add a second co‑chair and then spent the bulk of its meeting shaping how to use a $500,000 pilot allocation for the Farm & Forest Investment Fund (FFIF).

Lily Kenny, the fund coordinator, described options for using the money and recommended a cautious, iterative approach. "We do have 500,000 that is currently available for us now," Kenny said, noting that the sum is unlikely to support a full revolving loan fund but could seed several targeted grants or pilot instruments.

Board members discussed tiers of grant awards (options included caps such as $10,000–$50,000), whether to offer a down‑payment or collateral match to unlock larger loans, and a technical assistance set‑aside to help historically underserved applicants complete competitive applications. Members debated a narrow definition of maintenance versus capital infrastructure, with some warning that an uncapped maintenance category could be open to misuse and others arguing targeted repairs can restore productive capacity.

On program design, members discussed whether to issue one RFA with sector‑specific scoring or two separate RFAs for forestry/forest products and agriculture/food. Staff and several members recommended splitting scoring criteria by sector while keeping one application portal to reduce administrative burden.

Following breakouts and reports, the chair asked the board to confirm priorities for the next meeting. Board members reached consensus to dedicate the November 19 meeting to developing the detailed $500,000 pilot design, including eligibility, scoring, and outreach. The board requested that staff line up subject‑matter experts and examples from other state programs (for example, Vermont Working Lands and Land for Maine’s Future) to inform the November discussion.

Next steps: staff will solicit additional technical input and present a detailed pilot design for final advisory recommendation at the November meeting; the board did not take a formal binding vote in this session but recorded consensus to proceed.