Changes in average and extreme weather are affecting Maine agriculture, bringing both risks and potential opportunities. Here are some observations of how Maine weather is now different from the past, what may lie ahead, and examples of farmer choices and actions that can minimize risk and help ensure productivity.

Maine has become the leading edge in both understanding the destructive consequences of Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) contamination of food and farmland and identifying and adopting comprehensive policy solutions to address these consequences.

By growing just one crop species in a field at a time, monocultures enable farmers to use machinery, increasing the efficiency of activities like planting and harvesting. But despite supplying the lion’s share of the world’s food, monocultures are amongst the most controversial features of today’s agriculture.

It is the policy of the State to work to find ways to use the minimum amount of pesticides needed to effectively control targeted pests in all areas of application.