The Great Recession gave rise to an innovative model for meeting Maine’s food needs with local resources. The number of residents experiencing hunger had grown markedly by 2010 just as donations of shelf-stable foods declined due to increased efficiencies in the grocery trade.
After importing travel-weary produce from farms out West, Good Shepherd Food Bank attempted to meet the growing demand with supply from struggling Maine farmers. Kristen Miale, who now leads Good Shepherd, recalled that the food bank’s staff then “did something incredibly smart; they approached farmers to ask, ‘How can we design this so it works for you?’”
opinion: targets for protected lands could help slow climate and extinction crises, support local food production
Conserving land to save our future: A goal to protect 30 percent of lands from development by 2030
Marina Schauffler, Maine Monitor Sat, 04/17/2021 - 12:00pm
A view of Mount Katahdin from Abol Stream at the edge of Baxter State Park. (Photo by Wendy Almeida/Maine Monitor)
Extinctions since 1500. Courtesy of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.
In a recent working paper, “Delivering on Biden’s 2030 Conservation Commitment,” researchers identified the most cost-effective lands around the U.S. that could contribute to four potential strategies for the 30×30 conservation target – minimizing acquisition costs, protecting species from extinction, protecting climate refugees and corridors, and protecting carbon sinks from land conversion. A large swath of Maine scored high on all those criteria, with much