Dairy task force recommends boosting subsidy to preserve Maine farms

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 17, 2024

A task force is calling for added taxes on gambling, cannabis or cigarettes to strengthen Maine’s milk price stabilization program and help prevent more dairy farms from going out of business. A draft report from the Maine Dairy Task Force also recommends asking voters to approve a multimillion-dollar bond issue that would support a variety of other proposals intended to bolster the state’s struggling dairy industry. And it recommends establishing a minimum annual budget appropriation of about $7.5 million to reduce wide fluctuations in state funding for the price stabilization program and uncertainty related to highly volatile federal milk pricing, market conditions and other factors.