PORTLAND – A partnership announced Wednesday between Maine’s beef producers, Wolfe’s Neck Farm in Freeport and Hannaford supermarkets will likely triple Maine’s beef production, infusing an industry that already pumps $84 million annually into Maine’s economy.

Hannaford had previously been carrying a line of beef from a Colorado producer.

Carroll Caron, who operates a feed lot in New Canada, said Wednesday that the program will pay him “better than $900 a piece” for specialty beef that grades choice. Maine’s farmers already are proving they have the right stuff since the last shipment of Maine-raised beef he sent to Wolfe’s Neck graded 100 percent choice.

The program begins with farmers across the state selling beef calves at 6 to 8 months of age and between 700 and 800 pounds to feed lots. Feed lot operators, who have the contract with Wolfe’s Neck, “finish off” the animals for another five to six months.

Each calf is documented from birth to slaughterhouse, ensuring a quality, natural meat that when graded choice, will be sold by Hannaford.

Wolfe’s Neck bought 1,500 head of cattle in the past year to market under their label. The product, marketed as natural beef – no hormones, no antibiotics, no animal by-product feed -previously has been available only in Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Under the limited scope of that program, Wolfe’s Neck meats have brought nearly $250,000 extra in premium prices to Maine’s livestock economy.

While busy grilling thick, juicy Maine beef steaks at a Portland Hannaford store, Gov. Angus King said, “If we have learned anything about Maine’s economy and economic development in the last few years, it is that diversity counts. This program should return a thriving beef industry to the state of Maine.”

With many farmers switching from dairy operations to beef farms, Caron said, “Maine has a long way to go” but genetic research will assist farmers in growing bigger, more choice beef. In addition, Caron said, “We really need a [federal] slaughterhouse in Maine.” He said it would take 5,000 head of cattle annually to keep one open. Right now Caron has 1,400 head at his feed lot. Under the new partnership, he expects to raise that number to more than 3,000.

All natural beef, born and raised in Maine, will now be offered at 77 Hannaford stores in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Purchased from feed lots such as Caron’s in Aroostook County and processed in a Pennsylvania slaughterhouse, the 5,000 head of cattle required for this program represents a major turnaround in the beef industry that flourished a century ago.

Linda Rogers-McKee, co-chairman of the state’s Legislative Agriculture Committee, said Wednesday she was thrilled with the new program.

“It worked with Oakhurst. It not only turned around but drove the industry. And it shows that consumers care about where their food comes from,” she said. “There is not an American consumer out there that is not cautious about beef.”

The legislator said this cooperative program just scratches the surface of possibilities. “If we can do it in milk and beef, we can do it with potatoes and everything.”

Erick Jenson, Wolfe’s Neck farm manager, said that more than one-third of Maine’s existing beef herd will be needed to support this program. More than 52 farms, mostly in Aroostook County, have joined the program. “It will take about a year and a half before Maine can supply the consistent quantity that Wolfe’s Neck and Hannaford require,” said Jenson. “We are already hearing that farmers are buying more cows.”

Jensen envisioned the concept more than six years ago when he heard about a western beef cooperative that sold under a single brand name and found relief from commodity price fluctuations.

Duane Theriault, a feed lot operator from St. Agatha, said that consistent price is one of the benefits of dealing with Wolfe’s Neck Farms. At a calf sale last fall, Theriault said, producers received an average of $90 more a head than they would have because Wolfe’s Neck producers were buying.

Jensen said he is particularly committed to contributing to the Maine landscape by provided a use for thousands of acres of land not being used in rural Maine. He estimates that the new meat program will put an additional 24,000 acres under pasture and feed production. In addition, the program will create new demand for feed production, including barley, forage and potato by-products.

Wolfe’s Neck Farm’s Foundation for Agricultural Renewal, a nonprofit entity, developed the program using a $13,000 grant from the Maine Department of Agriculture and a $35,000 grant from the Common Good, a philanthropy arm of the Maine Community Foundation.