Blunt Talk on Jobs

Posted on July 13, 2012July 13, 2012 by President

I was invited to Governor LePage’s “Workshop on Job Creation” on July 10th in Springvale where he asked members of the Maine business community for “blunt and honest” suggestions on how to improve the relationship between the public and private sector to foster job growth. I took him up on his request and as the Biddeford Journal Tribute accurately reported the next day:

Without a boost in the number of dairy inspectors – there’s just one for the whole state at present, Rector said – new cheesemakers can’t get into the industry and existing manufacturers can’t expand their operations.

Guild Input Into New Agriculture Conservation and Forestry Dept.

Posted on June 26, 2012June 26, 2012 by President

Broadly speaking the legislature has decided to merge the Maine Department of Agriculture with the Maine Department of Conservation. They have also transferred several functions from the State Planning Office to this new “super” department among other smaller moves across state governement.

As these government entities contemplate how to re-organize under this single new entity they are holding public meetings across the state to hear from organizations and individuals who have an interest in this new department, and who want to have input on how it is finally pieced together.

I attended a meeting held on June 26th in Augusta, and following are the recommendation I made on behalf of the Maine Cheese Guild to Commissioners Whitcomb (Ag) and Beardsley (Conservation).

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Food Security Fears Discussed

Posted on May 14, 2012May 14, 2012 by President

At our last meeting (May 7th at Fuzzy Udder Creamery in Unity) we had a guest join our group — G. W. Martin, of Montville, who had worked to get his town to adopt the “Food Sovereignty Ordinance” that several other towns in Maine have passed in the last few years. He also marched on the State House on April 17th in support of “Farmer Brown” who is being prosecuted for selling unlicensed dairy products to the public. Martin had been invited to the Guild meeting by Jessie Dowling of Fuzzy Udder to try to provide some perspective to the Guild about the concern of food producers and farmers who feel that state licensing is an impediment to supporting their local communities by producing food for their neighbors.

Even though the discussion was not on the agenda for the meeting, there was a lot of interest expressed by the group to hear from Martin about his perspective, as well as to educate Martin about why the Guild has adopted a Quality Statement insisting that state licensing be the minimum level of oversight for any commercial cheese maker in Maine to insure the quality of their products.
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