2014 Agriculture Trade Show Program
At the Ag Trade Show this year, MESAS held two workshops on the afternoon of January 7, 2014 that were well received. The first was entitled “Building Farm Friendly Communities” and featured Stacy Benjamin of Maine Farmland Trust, Penny Jordan of Cape Farm Alliance, and David Whittlesey of Bowdoinham Community Development Initiative speaking to the audience about tools and techniques farmers and farm organizations can use to create support in their communities for agriculture.
Thanks to Penny Jordan, David Whittlesey, and Stacy Benjamin for a great session on “Building Farm-Friendly Communities”
The other program addressed the recent issues concerning the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and featured Roger Noonan, President of the New England Farmers Union. Roger gave an overview of FSMA and the work NEFU and others did in convincing the Food and Drug Administration to take another look at their proposed rules and regulations and how they impacted New England Farmers.
Roger’s presentation was followed by a panel of producers discussing the direct impacts of the proposed rules for them.
Further Information about can be found at New England Farmers Union website.
Other News from the Trade Show
During MESAS’s Annual Meeting, Donna Coffin from UMaine Cooperative Extension gave an update on the producer survey for our More Maine Meat Project. The survey can be accessed here, and a summary of the results to date was also handed out. MMM Draft Survey Results 2014
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