BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 4, 2021
Maine farmers are facing chaotic and extreme weather events that make it increasingly challenging to provide food for our communities. Here at Bumbleroot Organic Farm we experienced significant crop loss. We’re working hard to adjust to the extreme weather events but it is increasingly difficult to keep pace. As we learned last year from the Maine Climate Council’s Scientific and Technical Committee, these weather extremes will only increase in the future, leading to poor crop and livestock growth as well as heat exhaustion for farmworkers. The Build Back Better Act reconciliation package takes direct aim at addressing the climate crisis through investments in climate-friendly infrastructure, practices and programs. Congress needs to ensure that farmers have the support they need to build resilience in the face of rapidly changing weather patterns, to protect and improve our carbon-sequestering agricultural soils, and to strengthen our local food system. ~ Melissa Law, Windham