CARIBOU - Although still in the seedling phase, efforts to grow the diversified agriculture cluster in Aroostook County are under way.

   The Aroostook Partnership for Progress (APP) identified small agriculture as an area ripe for economic growth during the

Jay LaJoie, Bob Clark, Jay Kamm, Stan Maynard and Troy Haines participated at the diversified agriculture discovery meeting held at NMDC last Friday.

Mobilize Northern Maine process, which is a strategic planning initiative to help focus economic development efforts.

   To gauge interest and potential, staff from APP and Northern Maine Development Commission invited a small group of beef producers, growers, distributers and others to participate in a preliminary discussion held at NMDC last Friday.

   "There are some very smart, committed people who have thought a lot about agriculture diversification in Aroostook," said Mike Eisensmith, NMDC director of regional planning. "People recognize that land utilization is changing."

   Leah Cook, who runs Crown of Maine Organic Cooperative with her sister Marada, took part in the initial meeting.

   "I think it's the right step to ask people, who are currently engaged in the work, what's going on in their worlds, instead of relying on an understanding of some small farming practices that may hold true regardless of refinements in the market or the model," she said.

   "It looks like there are a multitude of opportunities in agriculture, but we don't exactly which ones are the best opportunities," said APP President Bob Dorsey. "We put some subject matter experts together to brainstorm what is the situation and what are the opportunities."

   During earlier steps in the Mobilize Northern Maine initiative assets, like thousands of acres coming out of conservation, fallow land that may be suitable for crops other than potatoes and emerging markets for local food, were identified.

   Local food or the local food movement is a collaborative effort to build more locally based, self-reliant food economies - one in which sustainable food production, processing, distribution, and consumption is integrated to enhance the economic, environmental and social health of a particular place.

   "In the next three decades Aroostook County will be feeding the Northeast," said Troy Haines, who owns a meat cutting facility in Mapleton.

   Topics during the two-hour meeting included marketing and branding, distribution, establishing a slaughterhouse in the region, organic farming, agri-tourism and more.

   Eisensmith, who organized and facilitated the meeting, said this was just the first step in seeing what has the best opportunity and value. He added additional stakeholders will be asked to participate in future sessions to better map the assets and form strategies to grow the agriculture economy.

   "The only way that we well be successful is to have local subject matter experts informing and guiding the discussions on the best opportunities to sustain and grow diversified agriculture in our region," said Eisensmith.

   Agriculture representatives at the meeting included Cook, Haines, Meg Scott of Nature's Circle Farms in Houlton and New Limerick, Jay LaJoie of Lajoie Growers LLC in Van Buren and Stan Maynard of Orchard Hill Farm in Woodland. Also in attendance for part of the meeting were NMDC and APP staff, Eisensmith, Dorsey, Alain Ouellette, Jay Kamm, Connie Bondeson and Bob Clark.