Transcription of Amanda Beal for the show Farms & Food #296
Dr. Lisa Belisle: Today, it’s my pleasure to speak with Amanda Beal who is the president and CEO of Maine Farmland Trust, a member-powered statewide organization that protects farmland, supports farmers, and advances the future of farming. How are you today?
Amanda Beal: I’m great, thank you for having me here.
Dr. Lisa Belisle: Yeah, it’s great to have you in. I’m a big fan of farms, and I’m hoping most people who are listening are big fan of farms because that’s how we eat these days. How did you become a big fan of farms?
Amanda Beal: Well, I guess I was born into it. Actually, my father is a commercial dairy farmer, and so I grew up on a farm and I don’t know that I really appreciated that upbringing until later in life, but I definitely appreciated having access to woods and fields and animals. It was a rich upbringing in that way. I went away after high school like a lot of kids do and I ended up taking an extended gap year which turned into maybe two-and-a-half years where I lived out in Yosemite National Park. There, I really started to learn about ecology and the environment and conservation and the impact that humans have on land and on the earth.
I think that, as I came back around to Maine and really having still a great appreciation for our working landscape here and for my upbringing on a farm, I started to put things together and started thinking a lot about how we produce food and how we don’t appreciate enough how hard farmers work for us. That they really do try to be good stewards and that it’s important that we start to pay attention to that. I think that’s how it came around. I also got really interested in human health and what we eat and nutrition, which eventually lead me to do my master’s degree at Tufts, at the Friedman School of Nutrition. Yeah, that’s been my journey in a nutshell.
Dr. Lisa Belisle: You are looking at nurturing, I guess, people both at a micro and a macro level. If you have a master’s degree from Tufts in nutrition, that’s a little bit more micro and then you’re looking at the circles that go out from that. Not everybody who goes into the field that you’re in has that background.
Amanda Beal: Yeah, yeah. I think it’s an interesting time too. I started getting more and more engaged in the conversations about looking at our food system as a system and so, that’s been a way that my mind has expanded in terms of thinking about how we produce food and how move it around and who has access to it and all of those components of the system itself.
Dr. Lisa Belisle: One of the things I’m interested in hearing from you is we have this great access to farmland in the state of Maine and many people are doing organic farming. It seems it has been difficult to transition to a place where we can provide all the food that we need for all the people who need to eat it and have it all be, at this point, organic, and coming from small farms. How do we make this transition from big agriculture to smaller, more sustainably managed farms?
Amanda Beal: Yeah. Well, I think, 90 percent of the food that we eat actually comes from outside of Maine, and in Maine, we really don’t have those big agribusiness, large farms that tend to have real issues with pollution and challenges like in other places where there are really large farms. One of the things that we can do is try to buy more food locally because the farms that are in Maine, whether they’re organic, certified organic or not, most farmers are working really hard to take good care of their land and their animals and you can get to know that farmer if they’re in your community and you’re going to know what their practices are. I think the more that we can think about spending food dollar here and with our farmers and supporting our farmers in the state, the more that we’ll move toward that sustainable vision of our food production and food system.
Dr. Lisa Belisle: Your family is from Litchfield?
Amanda Beal: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Dr. Lisa Belisle: Do you still have a family farm there?
Amanda Beal: We do, we do. Yeah, it’s actually an exciting story for me personally because a few years ago, I really started trying to help my father and my brother, my youngest brother, figure out how to transfer ownership of that farm to my brother. He’s known, all his life, that’s that what he wanted to do when he grew up. He wanted to take over the farm, that’s what my father has wanted for him. It’s a challenge that a lot of farmers face and this generational transition point is a point in time where a farm can actually be very vulnerable.
There’s just so many complicated issues that come up when trying to figure out how to pass something like that on and especially a dairy farm because there’s a lot of infrastructure and there is a herd of animals. It’s not just a few fields and some greenhouses. For a young person to try to access the kind of capital that allows them to buy into a farm like that is really challenging. Totally coincidental, Maine Farmland Trust was actually shooting a film right around that time and they were looking for a few different stories to tell.
The filmmakers came to talk to me, thinking they were going to have me be an academic perspective that they would interview and intersperse my opinion throughout the film. They asked how I got interested in agriculture and I talked about my family’s dairy farm and that we were really in an interesting turning point and that it was complicated. They said that’s the story we want to tell, so there is actually a 15-minute vignette that is part of the growing local film that was released a couple of years ago before I ever worked for Maine Farmland Trust.
It tells the story of the challenges that we are facing, but in the end, it’s a cliffhanger and you don’t know if they were actually successfully able to do a number of things that they needed to do. I always like to have the opportunity to say that yes, they rebuilt the barn, they’ve been growing the herd, they are well on their way to making this transition and they’ve come a long way but it’s taken years. I think that that’s something that also has helped me to understand that farmers need to be thinking about succession long before they think they’d like to retire.
Dr. Lisa Belisle: It seems to me that we went through a time where people didn’t want to go into farming so the succession wasn’t really an issue. It was mostly, “How do I sell this farm?” or “How do I donate the farmlands to a land trust?” There’s now a resurgence in interest, I believe, in farming. Why did you think that happened?
Amanda Beal: I think it’s been the result of a lot of really hard work. When you look at the census numbers, what has been happening in Maine has actually been happening in New England as a block and it’s quite different than what’s happening in the rest of the country and that we are increasing the numbers of farms and we have been for a couple of decades now. When you look at the long history, if you look at a 100 years’ scale, it’s almost imperceptible, that uptick.
What I think is that there are a lot of organizations and people that have been working hard at really getting people to change their minds about the importance of agriculture particularly in a state like Maine where we have an incredible natural resource base here.
I think that young people are really starting to get excited about the idea of knowing how to do something like grow their own food. It feels like a really satisfying profession. I think we still need to keep working really hard though because the economics don’t always work out and there are a lot of challenges that our farmers face that we need to keep trying to figure out how to move through.
Dr. Lisa Belisle: Tell me about some of those challenges.
Amanda Beal: Yeah. Well, I mean, basically the share of the food dollar that the farmer gets is still quite low. People spending on food, the rate of which they spend, has remained relatively flat for decades and meanwhile, we’ve got farmers who are dealing with the rising cost of inputs, and then you throw in climate change and some of these other challenges that are changing the way that farmers can anticipate things on the ground and can create more risk for them in terms of crop failure and things like that. Farmers operate with a pretty slim margin anyway and the price of food, the cost of food is not necessarily reflected in what we pay and they’re not necessarily getting the share of the food dollar that helps them to be more stable. We have to work on that from a lot of different angles.
Dr. Lisa Belisle: I believe I remember statistics from a few years ago about how much Americans spend on food and I don’t think that’s changed really much, but we spend less on food then most modern nations?
Amanda Beal: Correct.
Dr. Lisa Belisle: I think that we actually spend more on healthcare dollars.
Amanda Beal: Correct.
Dr. Lisa Belisle: That’s an interesting irony there.
Amanda Beal: Yeah, I think there’s a real connection there.
Dr. Lisa Belisle: You said a lot of people worked very hard to bring younger farmers into doing this type of work, how do we help encourage people to focus their efforts on eating good food rather than waiting until the effects of that food cause healthcare problems?
Amanda Beal: Yeah. I think that’s a great question, I wish I had the answer but I think a piece of the answer is to just continue talking about this. I think that we’ve come a long way in the last 10 years when you think about all of the books and the articles that had been written about where your food comes from and really digging into some of these issues, and I think that the awareness is rising and we just have to keep doing what we’re doing and doing more of it so that more people understand that connection, so that more people know how to access healthy food and see the value of it.
Dr. Lisa Belisle: There’s also an education that is necessary for running a farm which not all of it can be had in a university setting. Some of it. We spoke to someone who had a soil science degree from a university and that is a very scientific thing that is useful, but some of the stuff that farmers do is very practical and really can only be learned while you’re going through it. How do you help young farmers know what they need to know?
Amanda Beal: Yeah. Well, I think, we have an incredible resource here in the state. The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association has an excellent apprenticeship and a Journey Person Program. I think the hands-on nature of those learning experiences are really great for people who are thinking about farming and it also gives them an opportunity to step into it without taking on all the overhead and the risk. It also helps to build that network, the social network, of young farmers. I think that’s a really important piece of the puzzle in terms of the new farmers succeeding. I think they really need to feel connected and supported by each other, as well as by older generations who are mentoring and I think that that program does a really nice job of helping to make those connections happen. There are some other more informal ways that people can learn how to grow food in different parts of the state, but I think that particular program has really solidified it, a pathway for young new farmers that want to learn how to grow food.
Dr. Lisa Belisle: You also have, I’m sure, both personal and professional relationships with these older farmers. I hope you still have a relationship with your own family members.
Amanda Beal: Definitely.
Dr. Lisa Belisle: I’m wondering what they think of all this?
Amanda Beal: Well, I don’t know what other people think about it, but I know what my father thinks about it. At one point in time, I remember him telling me that of all of his children, I was the one he least thought or least suspected would end up being really invested in agriculture and the future of farming in Maine. I don’t know why he thought that but I know he is excited that I do feel passionate about it. From helping out on our own farm, all the way to thinking about what is the broader future of agriculture in Maine and how do we make sure that this excitement, these young farmers, these new farmers, not all of them are young but new farmers, who are interested in growing the agricultural base here in Maine, that they’re not just connecting with land but they’re actually building viable businesses and able to sustain what they’re creating now, long, long, long time into the future.
Dr. Lisa Belisle: How does the Maine Farmland Trust work with other organizations like the fisheries organization and the lobstering organizations within the state that are doing different types of, I guess, sourcing of food products?
Amanda Beal: Yeah. Well, maybe it’s helpful for me to just say a little bit of our work and how it connects to what work that others are doing. We have three primary program areas: we work on protecting farmland, we work on farmland access so these new farmers that are looking for land, helping them to find people who want to lease or sell land, farmland and then, farm viability which is another really important component of success.
Our interest is in making sure that there’s a future of farming in Maine forever and that all of these pieces have to be in place in order to make that happen. Other organizations, and you mentioned some that are working on the fisheries issues, we’re just as interested in making sure that we have access to fish and that people can sustain themselves in coastal communities, fishing for the long-term as well.
We participate in a group called the Downey’s Fisheries Partnership which is really pulling together numerous organizations working on issues on the fishery side of things. We’re really at that table because we feel that all of these resources for Maine and the wonderful benefit that it brings us to have such great seafood and such great food growing on land, we want to see all of that working together.
We don’t want to forget about the fishery side of things. Then, we work with a lot of other organizations in Maine who are dedicated to other ag and food issues and I think the collaboration and keeping connected and understanding the work that we’re all doing is a really important component. If we were just trying to work on our piece by ourselves, it would be a really tough boulder to roll up that hill.
Dr. Lisa Belisle: I was talking about soil science a few minutes ago, and one of the things I think about often is how important healthy soil is and obviously, there’d been mills in existence for example, we’ve had the naval airbase that has opened and closed, there are lots of different industries that can contribute negatively to ground water to run off and healthy soil. Is that something that your organization is working on as well?
Amanda Beal: Well, I think, that we always have to be aware of competing uses or of land and ways in which land is being used particularly adjacent to farms or in proximity to farms that could have an impact on the ability to grow healthy food there. That’s certainly something that we pay attention to and to a certain degree, the work that we do around farmland protection is really aimed at preventing a good farmland from being developed upon in a way that would prevent its use as farmland in the future so whether it’s by industry or by residential developments, but just really making sure that we’re protecting our best agriculture soils.
Dr. Lisa Belisle: How closely do you work with conservation trust? We were up in Boothbay last weekend doing 48 Hours for Maine Magazine and they have a huge land trust up there, so many wonderful walking trails. I believe that they just purchased a large saltwater farm with many acres. Is that ever a collaboration that you engage in?
Amanda Beal: All the time, yeah. Our local land trusts throughout the state are such an asset, and we a really wonderful opportunity right now. We have a donor that has really invested in our ability to protect farmland and has given us $16 million. We have to raise the match for that so that comes with a challenge, and we’re working really hard to do that. With that opportunity to protect more farmland and especially more farmland here in Southern Maine where there’s so much development pressure, we work really closely with these local land trusts because they know where the farms are in their community that are most vulnerable and where there could be opportunity to ensure their future. We work closely with them to help identify those farms and also in helping to protect them.
Dr. Lisa Belisle: You have done a lot of academic work in addition to the advocacy work and the leadership that you’re doing with the Maine Farmland Trust. You are co-author of A New England Food Vision: Healthy Food for All, Sustainable Farming and Fishing, Thriving Communities. What did you learn from that and what have you learned from the academic side of your existence?
Amanda Beal: Yeah, yeah. It’s interesting. I am actually a PhD candidate at the University of New Hampshire now and so I definitely love the academic side of things. I love researching, and I love understanding trends and why things are the way they are. What was great about working on the New England Food Vision was that I got to work with some people who had been thinking about our ability to produce food and the fact that we could be doing a lot more of it in New England for a long time.
Brian Donahue, who is the lead author, is a professor at Brandeis University, Russell Libby who was the executive director of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association before he passed away, Mark Lapping who was a professor, is retired now, at the University of Southern Maine, and a number of other people who just had a lot of experience working on some of these issues.
Being able to step back and look at our natural resource base and think about a future 50 years forward and what’s possible if we really put our minds to it. On the other side of it, we came out with a moderate projection that if we really all pulled together, we could be producing about 50 percent of the food that we eat here in the region. That it would actually be a really wonderful and diverse diet, and we could really enjoy what we have to offer here in that way. I think it was really just all the way around a great experience to think about what’s possible.
Dr. Lisa Belisle: You, personally, how does working on food and having spent so much time thinking about food and having spent so much time thinking about food academically and practically in your current role, how has that changed the way that you lived your life?
Amanda Beal: Boy, that’s a tough question. I don’t remember ever not really caring about food. I love food. I mean, I grew up on a dairy farm and then I have another portion of my family who are lobstermen and fishermen and so I’ve always had good food around even as a kid. Our family celebrations were always about food and so I think I’m just really excited that I’ve found a way to work on issues that I feel so passionate about and I get to have a delicious meal on a pretty regular basis, too. Yeah, I’m really committed to buying locally and supporting local farmers. I think because I come from a farm family, it’s so important and real to me. I really do feel a connection to the food producer when I’m making that effort to support local food.
Dr. Lisa Belisle: As far as the Maine Farmland Trust, what is your highest hope?
Amanda Beal: My highest hope? It’s an incredible organization. I’ve been in this position now for five months, and it’s been a really fast five months, I have to say. The staff are incredible and my highest hope for this organization is that we keep doing what we’re doing and for a long time into the future because we’ve, at this point, protected 55,000 acres of farmland, we do a lot of one-on-one work with farm families and I think that’s going to be needed for a long time, that kind of work. I should say the other piece that I haven’t talked about is that we have a really robust outreach program as well and that includes an art gallery. We’re working to really find creative ways to tell stories about why agriculture is so important in the state and to really help people who maybe haven’t made the connection yet. Make it in a new way and want to support the work that’s being done by a number of different organizations around the state who are really changing our food system and I think for the better.
Dr. Lisa Belisle: I appreciate the work that you are doing and I’ve enjoyed our conversation. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to come and have a conversation with me today. I’ve been speaking with Amanda Beal who is the president and CEO of the Maine Farmland Trust, a member-powered statewide organization that protects farmlands, supports farmers, and advances the future of farming. Thank you so much for coming in today.
Amanda Beal: Thank you.