Pingree to introduce Bill aimed at encouraging local food production

Following is an exerpt from the press conference held Monday, October 24th at Jordan Farm in Cape Elizabeth. Over 100 supporters of local foods attended this event including Russell Libby of MOFGA, Warren Knight of Smiling Hill farm with the key note address given by Congresswoman Chellie Pingree. Mainestock was interviewd following Pingree's speach. Reporter Josie Huang from Maine Public Broadcasting was there recording the event.

"Pingree says she will introduce legislation she's calling the 'Local Farms, Food and Jobs Act' in the House this Wednesday. 'This is a way to divert our spending in this country from big commodity agriculture, subsidizing ethanol and corn and all the other of things we've trended into doing over the last 30 years.

 Pingree, who owns Turner Farm on North Haven, says her bill would make it easier for farmers to obtain credit to build things such as a hoophouse or farm stand... and to increase schoolchildren's access to local foods. 

Those attending the event at Jordan's Farm in Cape Elizabeth say they are not looking for as much money as large farms get, just more than they are getting now. 

"For a small state like Maine, a million dollars is a lot of money to put towards an infrastruture project, but when you look at the millions of dollars that go to corporate agriculture facilities in the Midwest and other places in the country, this is peanuts," says Sarah Greer, who is hoping to build a slaughterhouse in the Augusta-Gardiner area, and could personally benefit if a provision in Pingree's bill that would allocate funding for slaughterhouses and other agricultural processing facilities were to pass. 

Greer says it would cost $1.5 million to start up a small plant that processes 20 head a day. "The start-up cost is so high compared to a traditional vegetable or fruit start-up, or even seafood," Greer says. "The $1.5 million is not pocket change for most Maine citizens."

Greer says if she had the financing, she and her partner could be open in a year. She is working on securing funding from banks or investors. 

Pingree doesn't have have much time--only a week between introduction of her bill and the deadline by which the heads of the agriculture committees say they want to finish their bill. She says fellow Democrat, Sen. Sherrod Brown, is expected to submit a companion bill in the Senate. 
Listen to MPBN story