Agricultural trades show opens in Augusta

AUGUSTA – Children were climbing on tractors, the smell of roses was in the air and bees were buzzing busily. It wasn’t a flashback to summer, however, it was the opening day of the 65th annual Maine Agricultural Trades Show.

The show, which will draw more than 5,000 interested Mainers, continues today and Thursday at the Augusta Civic Center.

The event provides three days of networking for farmers and producers, a chance to catch up on the latest technology, farming methods and regulations, and a few hours away from winter farm chores to visit with neighbors and old friends.

Snatches of conversations around the trade show floor illustrated Maine’s diverse agriculture:

. “I just cut down that patch of alders and opened up that field.”

. “You really want to plan ahead so your lambs aren’t born too early.”

. “I found a flock of 120 turkeys in my back field last week.”

. “The land is pretty smooth there and should work well.”

Even though state-of-the-art equipment, from the newest in dairy milking machines to the latest evaporators for maple syrup, covered the Augusta Civic Center floor, farmers were split on whether technology has affected their industry over the last 20 years.

Dairy farmers have long used computer chips to keep track of their cows’ production and large vegetable farmers use GPS coordinates to keep track of their planted fields.

And then there is beekeeper Jean Vose of Nobleboro. Not too much has changed in the technology of beekeeping in the last two decades, but Vose said that the Internet has proved invaluable.

“The technology has helped us keep in touch with other beekeepers and educate ourselves. We are able to keep up on the latest research and get the latest and most accurate information,” she said.

The biggest boost, however, is using the Internet as a marketing tool. “We have a Web site and it really helps our marketing,” she said.

Maple syrup producer Ed Jillison of Sabbatus has embraced technology about halfway. He said he still uses buckets for about half of his 1,200 trees, while the rest are connected by state-of-the art vacuum tubing systems. “When we began in 1969, we used a flat pan [to boil off the sap] in the yard, just like the first settlers,” he noted.

Jillison now uses a sugar house for processing, but he still watches for old-fashioned signs from Mother Nature to know when to begin tapping.

“We wait for the signal: the crows start to caw in the morning,” he said.

The trade show also provides state officials with an opportunity to recognize the best of the agriculture industry. Former Agriculture Commissioner Robert Spear was crowned Maine’s farmer of the year Tuesday before a sellout crowd at the Commissioner’s Annual Luncheon.

Acting Commissioner Ned Porter called his former boss “a textbook example of diversification.” Spear and his family operate a second generation vegetable and dairy farm in Nobleboro.

“As commissioner, Bob spent a good time on the road. The good relations that the [agriculture] department enjoys today in farm country are due to his hard work,” Porter said.

During his opening remarks, Porter said that many Maine farmers are being squeezed by global economies and pricing.

“But we must build on our accomplishments,” he said. “Maine’s bright spot is its local agriculture. Maine households spend $3 billion on food a year, and Maine’s farmers and fisherman receive only 4 percent of that $3 billion. We need to convince more of those consumers to buy local.”

On Thursday, the Maine Department of Agriculture will release a report on a new state food policy that will recommend increasing the consumption of local products.

“Our existing food policy was created in 1984,” Mary Ellen Johnston of the department’s marketing division said. “We need to create an awareness in Maine of how the agriculture industry is linked to all other industries, including tourism and the economy, and raise the consumers’ awareness.”

After a food conference in July 2005 held at the Blaine House by first lady Karen Baldacci, a working group was established that met throughout the fall. They have created a new food policy and a food policy council.

The group has set goals, including providing food to fulfill 80 percent of all calories that Maine people consume, creating a farmers market in every town larger than 5,000 people, increasing Maine’s share of the $3 billion food market from 4 percent to 20 percent by 2010, and building a food safety net so that no Maine person ever goes hungry.