MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • December 11, 2022
Without farmers, restaurants can’t exist. Our restaurants take pride in bringing food directly from Maine farmers to our customers’ tables. Both of us know farmers who have gone out of business in the past few years or are hanging by a thread because they can’t find enough workers. Farm work is skilled and physically demanding labor, and few U.S. citizens want to do it. Immigrants are essential to the very survival of Maine farms. The U.S., and the agricultural sector in particular, needs more immigrants if we are to have a stable and reliable workforce. The Farm Workforce Modernization Act would go a long way towards getting us there. Maine’s farms are running out of time. ~ Dana Street owns Street & Co, Fore Street, Scales and Standard Baking Co.; Arlin Smith co-own Big Tree Hospitality