As the chart below indicates, organic is growing in leaps and bounds in the State of Maine.
Maine Organic Farmers and Gardener’s Assn (MOFGA) certifies as Organic about 540 operations, over 450 of those are farms. Certified Organic farms represents 5.5% of all Maine farms.
The largest Organic Certifier in the United States is CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmers) and they certify 2300 farmers. Assuming for the moment all of CCOF’s certified farms are in California, Maine has 6x the number of Certified Organic farmers per capita as does California. If Maine’s population were to suddenly burgeon to that of California – Heaven Forbid! – and we maintained our proportion of organic farms, Maine would have 13,500 Certified Organic farms, or over 30 organic farmers per Maine Township. Jim

Regardless of one’s opinion about WFM, this distressing story does offer a good teachable glimpse into rough waters ahead.
The somber reality is that many family farmers – for many decades – have found farm stability and safe harbor by selling to Whole Foods. And similarly, many earnest eaters have sought out good food for their families by shopping at WFM.
Our advice for families: develop a relationship with an honest, local Certified Organic farmer and join a buying club or bricks & mortar retail Co-op for needs local farmers can’t provide. Jim, Caleb & Megan

https://newfoodeconomy.org/atlantafresh-whole-foods-contract/

Results from a major new poll were released today which reveal the VAST MAJORITY OF FARMERS ARE VERY CONCERNED OVER THE PROPOSED MONSANTO MERGER. https://foe.org/…/poll-farmers-overwhelmingly-oppose-bayer…/
Existing Anti-Trust laws need to be enforced and the Monsanto-Bayer merger blocked. A valuable white paper has been written which fleshes out Farmer-Poll results. Bottom line: ratcheted-up Monsanto monopoly control is bad for America. Jim http://foe.org/…/2018-FINAL-White-Paper-with-PAN-3-7-2018.p…

This map begs the question, how much of rural America’s economic angst and frustration correlates with the ascendancy of low wage employer Walmart?
Economists have explained Maine’s position as the ‘oldest State’ is not so much because we have so many older people as that we have so few younger people.
Could there be a parallel that has Walmart dominating because of job shortfalls in rural America? Jim

http://didyouknowfacts.com/map-shows-largest-employer-every-state/

A new study in the journal ‘Emotion’ provides reassurance that the most of us who are NOT rich don’t necessarily enjoy LESS happiness. However, our happiness comes in ways different from the rich. Jim

“After all, they wrote, people with money are more insulated from social and environmental threats. That gives them the luxury of being able to focus on their own “internal states and goals” instead of having to worry about other people.

First off, though it was much more diplomatically stated in the article by former USDA National Organic Program (NOP) head Richard Matthews, USDA has a long history of hatred for organic farming. Why? Because for its 100-year history organic farming has been a vociferous, rebellious, soil-based reform movement dedicated to correcting the gigantic errant failures of toxic and now increasingly concentrated modern agriculture. Organic farming has always represented a SERIOUS THREAT to the status quo and the financial prospects of Industrial Ag. Of course, Industrial Ag calls the shots at corporate-captive rogue agency USDA. The fact is, the biggest problem has been a LACK OF WILL at USDA to enforce provisions of the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) upon fake “organic” mega corporate operations.

In recent years, a major organic reform effort has been called “Keep the Soil In Organic” (https://www.keepthesoilinorganic.org/). We have been challenging the USDA’s illegal allowance of imposter soil-less multinational corporate Hydroponic produce to be labeled as “organic.” Do note the article’s failure to cover at all the hot-button Hydroponics issue. Could this ‘convenient editing’ be due to Amazon-owner Jeff Bezos, new owner of the ‘Washington Post’, being a MAJOR INVESTOR, along with other billionaires, in the huge soil-less Hydro vertical farm operation called ‘Plenty?’
Yes, increased USDA funding is needed to keep up with double-digit growth of organic. But even more important is for USDA to muster the will to enforce existing organic law. Jim

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/12/21/organic-food-fraud-leads-congress-to-weigh-bill-doubling-usda-oversight/?utm_term=.bb8dcf903f34

Thirty years ago Dr. James Hansen, then a NASA scientist, was one of the earliest researchers to sound the warning bell about climate changes so severe they would severely impact life on earth.
In the intervening years, a very independent Dr. Hansen has continued his research and issuance of sober warnings. Now he is advising the courts be used as a tool to lessen negative impacts from climate change. Jim

Contrary to many of her opponents – some of whom have become latter day converts – Barbara Simons knows her stuff when it comes to computers.
Understanding much better than the rest of us of the frailty and stunning hackability of inherently flawed electronic voting machines, Ms. Simons is certain “paper and pen” ballots are the only way to go. She is an expert to listen to.
Read this remarkable piece about the power of one, from the ‘Atlantic’ which relates rare perseverance and lonely determination to guarantee America will regain an honest and accurate voting process.
Our modest farming town of Bridgewater, Maine, population 610, like a lot of small towns, carries on and goes mostly unnoticed. However, Bridgewater stands ahead of the curve and WE HAVE ALWAYS USED PAPER BALLOTS. America, feel free to call for directions. Jim

Monsanto, leading a self-serving gaggle of monitarly-motivated malevolent mercenaries, is suing California in an effort to jettison science and replace it with a more profitable kid glove treatment of its deadly herbicide, Glyphosate.
To review, Glyphosate is the chief ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup, the world’s most commonly used herbicide. Over the past two decades, fully 80% of GE (genetically engineered) crops have been sprayed with deadly weed killer Glyphosate.
The scientific arm of the World Health Organization has determined Glyphosate to be a “likely human carcinogen.” This fact figured in prominently in California’s designation of Glyphosate as a carcinogen.
Alarmingly, studies show 93% of Americans have glyphosate in their bodies (https://livingmaxwell.com/93-percent-americans-glyphosate-u…). Even more worrisome is the fact that Glyphosate – at even the tiniest amounts (measured in parts per Billion) – delivers negative impacts on human health.
Monsanto and cronies legal efforts are designed to replace science with profit-making. No thanks, Monsanto, we’re not buying! Jim

With ponds and soil freezing over now in northern Maine – as well as bouts of snow – the National Park Service has seasonally closed the beautiful ‘Park Loop Road’ in the southern portion of America’s new KWWNM in the Katahdin Valley near Patten and Shin Pond.
One may still access the northern portions of KWWNM – those roads are still open for the time being.
For planning purposes, KWWNM is a little over a 3 hour drive north of Portland, Maine. Exit I-95 at Medway and head up the highway that goes through Grindstone.

https://www.nps.gov/kaww/index.htm