Maine Organic Farmers Gardeners Association Farmer To Farmer Conference

The MOFGA Farmer to Farmer conference held over the past weekend in Portland Maine.

MOFGA, the Maine Organic Farmers Gardeners Association offered 30 education sessions at the Portland Holiday Inn By The Bay.

Here is the rundown of the 2026 Farmer to Farmer sessions offered.

The Farmer to Farmer conference kicked off with a farm tour of North Spore Mushroom facility.

Sorry, no photos allowed at the 25,000 square foot facility that provides spawn to dozens of farms around the county. Saw the labs, steamers, all the stages of creating mushroom substrate and learned much about the health benefits.

After learning about mushrooms we walked over to a meet and greet hospitality social at Allagash Brewing.

Networking is critical to make organic farming sustainable and viable.

Meg my life partner invited me to tag along to Maine’s largest city and beef up my organic farming knowledge at this year’s MOFGA Farmer To Farmer Conference.

She is co owner of Nature’s Circle Farm with her Dad Richard York.

Her organic farming experience all started in 1996 from a small humble produce veggie stand. Nature’s Circle Farm, based in New Limerick Maine grew to an over  400 acre full time Maine organic farm spread.

Meg, her Dad and crew raise, store, ship fresh market organic produce. Nature’s Circle Farms also selling over 20 varieties of Maine organic seed potato stock from their Aroostook County fields.

The MOFGA conference happened during the super bowl and watching the Patriots lose on the big screen did not damper the enthusiasm of organic produces.

When you own and are totally invested in a small organic family farm in Maine, time spent fretting about who won or lost a sporting event is not the end of the World.

Ever thought about starting a small Maine farm?

     Your family, chores around the Maine organic farm to keep it vibrant and sustainable suddenly more important.

The conference jam packed with worthwhile education sessions on everything from where to get grant moneys, new markets for your produce, how to deal best with the pesky Colorado potato beetle and more.

A half acre organic farm and expansion to an acre may sound small potatoes.

But rich well nurtured farm soil can produce thousands of pounds of organic food with careful year round prep work. It’s not just creating a big crop and develop markets to sell it. Soil health, protecting the river or waterfront you border is key to eliminate erosion. Appreciation and protection of nature is always a concern of every Maine organic farmer or gardener. Farmer to farmer meetings help keep the dream a reality around Maine.

No Farmer, No Food.

I have read about food insecurity and that up to a third of the food produced does not get consumed.

In Maine, when you think about all the school cafeterias, the colleges, prisons, the big consumers of shipped in produce, you have to wonder. Why can’t we funnel Maine organic locally sourced wholesome food to these food stream consumers?

The need for a processor to peel the squash, to cube it and fresh freeze to be ready to quick and easy prepare it is part of what’s missing.

Community freezers, coordination with legislators, and a grass roots passion to help stop wasting food and help the small Maine farmer at the same time is key.

Shout it out. make some noise.

Let’s clean up the plate and not scrape it into the garbage stream.

Support locally produce Maine agricultural products.

Where you shop, do you get the impression local matters and the suggestion area farmers are able to peddle their crops at the Piggly Wiggly?

Do they really or are some of the grocery store posters and propaganda on their websites from long ago and faded?

Not a grow it and we will give you shelf space to get it placed from the farm to the family table practiced for local shoppers where you stock up on groceries?

Is there a strong current grocer to local Maine farmer connection underway?

There should be and speak up for fresher, cheaper, locally sourced Maine farm food that is not trucked in from many time zones away.

Pulled locally and not from out west or out of the country.

Let where you push the wire cart with the squeaky wheel know you noticed and ask them why local growers are replaced with far away from who knows where producers.

Support local Maine farmers, organic and conventional or everyone misses out from the farm to table nutritious habit at family meal time.

Thought of purchasing a small Maine farm?

Here’s one farm property that was just listed in Northern Maine with 36.5 manageable acres.

 

Horse around, have critters and crops. Could you do it? Serving up what you grow and bartering with other local producers for what you don’t. It’s a lot of work and you have to be healthy. Starting out it helps to have savings, a nest egg.

Or someone holds down a real job to tame and flatten the peaks and valleys when operating a small Maine family farm.

Maine real estate is my real job but growing up on a farm and owning one is a passion too. Thank you for sticking around, reading until the very end. I appreciate you out in the blogging audience and here for suggestions on blog posts you want to see all about Maine.

I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker

207.532.6573   |   info@mooersrealty.com   |   

MOOERS REALTY 69 North Street Houlton Maine 04730 USA