Maine nonprofit launches $20M fund to help farmers adapt to climate change

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 25, 2026

Orchard managers, sustainability advocates and state officials gathered Tuesday to celebrate a big financial pivot for regional climate-friendly agriculture: the Northeast Farmers Fund. What makes this climate-friendly farming program different than those that came before? The source of the funding. Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture and Environment, a farming nonprofit based in Freeport, is bankrolling the $20 million Northeast Farmers Fund with corporate donations, starting with a $500,000 contribution from Hannaford Supermarkets. As big as it is, the fund will not fill the massive funding void created last year when the U.S. Department of Agriculture canceled Wolfe’s Neck Center’s five-year, $35 million climate-smart farming grant. But it’s a very good start, said Dave Herring, Wolfe’s Neck Center’s executive director.