"Incubating" a New Future for Maine Agriculture
Creating new and/or expanded
opportunities for
Maine’s Agricultural
Community
Opportunity Knocks
In order to be successful, each community in southern and western Maine will need to make a commitment to expanding economic opportunities for agriculture. In March 2003, the Town of Windham was approved for a Community Development Block Grant Planning Grant to investigate the possibility of establishing the agriculture incubator concept in the community. This may well serve as a model for other communities as they explore ways to help agriculture. The effort is using Threshold To Maine's Agriculture Incubator Business Plan as the foundation. We will use this space to keep you posted on progress and results.
Update as of 2008:
The Lake Region Farmers Market was launched in May of 2007 as part of the larger
project. You can find out more about this Market at
www.lrfm.org.
Project information can be found on our Incubator
Fact Sheet
The project has shifted to the Parson Smith Farm. The town of Windham is
has formed a committee to pursue the agriculture incubator concept at this
location.
Another "incubator project" can be found in the River Valley Region of Oxford County. Headed by the River Valley Agriculture Commission the project has developed an economic strategy for agriculture and is in the process of implementing that plan. For more information or to get a copy of the plan please call or email the office.
Along with the business incubator concept, Threshold To Maine is also assisting on a number of shared use kitchen projects. These kitchens are designed to provide inspected commercial kitchen space to farmers, communities, or entrepreneurs who are interested in value added food businesses. It is hoped that these kind of kitchens can re-establish the necessary local infrastructure needed to expand agriculture locally. See our Shared Use Kitchens page.
Visit our Incubator Business page.
Goat Meat Enterprise For Maine
Over the last two years, Threshold To Maine has worked with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, Coastal Enterprises, producers and the City of Portland to promote the sale of locally produced goat meat to ethnic populations in southern Maine. The partnership developed a newsletter, enterprise budgets, slaughterhouse information, an industry profile, information and educational materials for producers, and coordinated a number of livestock auctions. The project is now functioning on its own with the following organizations taking the lead on various efforts:
Coastal Enterprises, Inc. - Working with the ethnic populations on slaughterhouse issues, marketing, and access to capital.
University of Maine Cooperative Extension - Producer information and education, coordinating auctions.
Producer Groups - Advocacy and market development
Threshold To Maine - will continue to maintain the enterprise budget information and provide support for business planning.
For more Information Contact:
Threshold To Maine threshold@gwi.net
Richard Brzozowski, University of Maine Cooperative Extension; (800) 287-1471; rbrz@umext.maine.edu
John Scribner, Coastal Enterprises, Inc.; (207) 775-1984; jscribner@ceimaine.org
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