These days, I’m proud to work with the Aroostook Farm Bureau and serve on the state Farm Bureau board. I first learned of Farm Bureau as a young farmer back in the 1970s, but had the impression that it only represented “big” agriculture.
It was only years later that I learned I’d been wrong. It didn’t matter how big my operation was, or what I grew, I was a farmer and Farm Bureau wanted to know my thoughts. If I wanted to have a voice with the group, I just had to show up.
Our process here at the Maine Farm Bureau is actually about as grassroots as you can imagine. Each county has a say in state policy, and that means we probably have more division and debate within our ranks than other ag groups, but it also means we help develop a consensus among all farmers and those who support farming and then bring that position to Augusta and Washington D.C. — even if it is not aligned with the American Farm Bureau.
What I also discovered is that the only way to get on the same page as an organization is to get in there and vote. These days, thanks to the Farm Bureau, I have a voice in Augusta right now, and a very loud voice.
The fact is that the Maine Farm Bureau works for all farmers, even ones who oppose the collective positions, and our county chapters extend our voice way beyond whatever is grabbing today’s headlines — although you can bet we have influence in the high-profile issues also.
When somebody buys farm equipment without having to pay the state sales tax, they can thank the Farm Bureau. You know those “farm stand” signs along the highway, usually hand-drawn? They were illegal under Maine’s billboard advertising ban until the Farm Bureau helped make them an exception. The list goes on and on.
Some people don’t realize the local impacts unless they have become involved in specific issues, but the Maine Farm Bureau has become one of the state’s leading “property rights” groups, standing up to government overreach, both state and local, for decades.
Beyond fighting for policies that support farming and land use in Maine, we have a history of lending a helping hand to our fellow farmers. Our efforts to help some Maine dairy farmers a few years ago by creating MOO Milk is just one example of how the Maine Farm Bureau is really about farmers helping farmers and preserving a way of life.
Now more than ever, we need to stick together to help each other and have a collective voice. Recent studies from the USDA indicate that Maine is bucking the national trend in farming. We have more farmers, more young farmers, more women farmers, and we’re increasing acres involved with farming. But that means Maine farming is changing and that building a real community consensus will be challenging if we don’t have as many farmers participating in the discussions as possible.
The individual debates will go on and we understand that everybody is not going to agree all the time. But that’s the democratic process at its core, isn’t it? I remind my colleagues at the Farm Bureau to remember what it was like the first time I walked in the door and joined the debate “from the other side,” and so we’re all reminded to listen and maybe learn something.
We’re currently conducting a membership drive to get more farmers involved right here in Aroostook County, and we’re developing all sorts of discounts and educational programs and other benefits for the next wave of Maine farmers and the next incarnation of the Maine Farm Bureau. But let me also recommend that you consider joining for the same reasons I did all those years ago — get in here and make your voice heard.
Rommy Haines is a state director of the Maine Farm Bureau and a resident of Fort Fairfield.
