Know Your Organic Producers
MOFGA has been certifying organic farmers since 1972 and is one of the country’s oldest certification programs. MOFGA Certification Services LLC (MCS) was formed by MOFGA in 2002 to provide USDA-accredited organic certification services to Maine farmers and food processors. Our service area currently consists of Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. MCS certifies crops, wild crops, sea vegetables, livestock, livestock products, and processed products to the USDA National Organic Program standard.
Get to know some of our certified organic producers in the features below! These features were originally published in The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener, and may reference farms that are not currently certified by MOFGA. For our regularly updated listing of organic producers, and to find organic products near you, use our find organic search tool. You may also check the certification status at the Organic Integrity Database site.
Farmer Collaborative Aims to Increase Grain Production in New Hampshire
By Jennifer Wilhelm New England is not currently known for its grain production. Due to topography and climate, growing grains — particularly small grains like oat, wheat and rye — has more recently been left to the Midwest, where land is flat and open. The forested and mountainous landscape in
Fermentation and Friendship at Thirty Acre Farm
By Sonja Heyck-Merlin Like the owners of many small businesses, Simon Frost and Daniel Price of Thirty Acre Farm have found that division of labor works best. Price grows the vegetables and Frost adds value by transforming the produce into lacto-ferments in their processing facility in Bremen, Maine. The product
Telling Their Own Story at Passamaquoddy Wild Blueberry Company
The Wild Blueberry Heritage Center is housed in an iconic bright blue dome on Route 1 in Columbia Falls, Maine. On its website, the center calls on its users to take a pledge. The pledge reads: “I pledge to always Use the word WILD whenever I reference the ‘WILD’ Maine
Beech Hill Farm at College of the Atlantic
Where students and community build relationships through food By Sonja Heyck-Merlin Mount Desert Island, Maine: What comes to mind? Maybe it’s catching the sunrise from atop Cadillac Mountain or sea kayaking in a lobster-buoyed bay? Or maybe whale watching, or biking Acadia’s famous carriage trails? Or maybe you roll your
Farm Incubation is More Than Just Sharing Land, It’s Building Community
By Sam Schipani Zoe Shwidock and Nicole Heker had been working and apprenticing on farms for years when they decided they wanted to strike out on their own. They had a vision of growing local herbs for teas, medicine, and more to fill a niche for their community in Arundel.
Perspective Shift Needed for Small Farm Viability in Maine
South Paw Farm owner says despite grant funding farms are struggling By Dani Walczak Meg Mitchell, co-owner of South Paw Farm in Freedom, Maine, is tired of perseverance stories. The narrative of the hard-working white farmer personally overcoming obstacles to feed their community has started to fall flat for the
On-Farm Fungus Cultivation
Maine farms develop indoor and outdoor set-ups for market-scale mushroom production By Holli Cederholm Courtney Williams of Marr Pond Farm in Sangerville, Maine, says that outdoor mushroom production is a way to manage marginal lands profitably. She and her partner, Ryan Clarke, branched into mushrooms in 2016 in order to
From Artist to Craftsperson
How The Buckle Farm Streamlined Their Business for Profitability and Improved Their Wellbeing By Jennifer Wilhelm Husband and wife team Jim Buckle and Hannah Hamilton of The Buckle Farm worked “epically long days” to get their business up and running. Five years after starting their farm in Unity, Maine, they
Creating a Multi-Family Farm at 3 Level Farm
By Tim King When Kim Patnode and Christopher Hahn came separately to 3 Level Farm in South China 11 years ago, they were acquainted with each other but had no idea what the future would bring. Hahn had just purchased the 143-acre farm, formerly known as French Farm, and imagined