To the editor:
As a resident of Aroostook County, I feel Maine’s new food self-sufficiency law is going to be very beneficial to our economy.
Elderly and low-income supplemental food programs will now be stocked with healthier and local grown products, which is going to help keep our farmers in business. It is also going to help with the shortage of workers our farmers are experiencing by linking up available workers with the farmers.
With the bill requiring the Department of Agriculture to purchase food that is grown, harvested, prepared, processed, and produced in Maine for the emergency or supplemental food programs for elderly or low-income people whenever possible, there will be many beneficial outcomes. The programs will have healthier food for its recipients leading to healthier lives. This will also bring in new business and create reliable partnerships for our farmers to keep their farms alive.
The Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry is directed to develop and administer an agricultural jobs network. This is going to be a very easy way for farmers to find available workers. More people in our community will find employment and more farmers will have capable workers.
I think itís a great idea for the bill to also encourage people to grow their own gardens, raise their own animals, and preserve food that they have grown themselves. Freshly grown and preserved foods made in our own homes are so much better for us than food we can buy at a store.
I think this new law is going to do great things for our state and more specifically our county. As the saying goes, growing your own food is like printing your own money, I think Maine should be printing more of its “money.”
