Threshold to Maine Resource Conservation and Development Area Success Stories

Maine's Bountiful Harvests Celebrated

The Threshold to Maine Resource Conservation and Development Area and the Maine Farm Bureau's Young Farmers and Ranchers joined forces to celebrate the bountiful harvests that exist in Maine one October weekend at the Maine Mall.  Maine Mall Harvest Days was sponsored by the Maine Farm Bureau’s Young Farmers and Ranchers, in conjunction with Maine Roots Festival, which was sponsored by the Threshold to Maine Resource Conservation and Development Area.  Harvest Days provided a wide variety of exhibits accentuating Maine ’s agricultural business diversity.  The Festival included several components such as a recipe contest and chefs’ demonstrations.  The chefs demonstrated their working talents by utilizing Maine-grown products in their creations. 

In keeping with the Maine Roots Festival theme, Local Farms Have It All, Threshold to Maine Resource Conservation and Development is offering a 2004 calendar. Each of the 12 original works of art, painted by Maine artist Jan Kilburn, depicts a rural Maine scene highlighting Maine ’s bountiful harvest.  Calendars are available at the Threshold to Maine RC&D office, or on their web site at http://www.thresholdtomaine.org/.

"Local Farms Have It All"_tm  

The Threshold to Maine Resource Conservation and Development Area has implemented an ambitious program of services to expand and support the agricultural industry which is imperative to the future of food self sufficiency and security.  Their projects are an integral part of returning us to a collective understanding of the priority agriculture business and economic drivers that have shaped the past of this state and its future.

The Threshold to Maine Resource Conservation and Development Area has developed an economic strategy keyed to agriculture to make this a reality.  This strategy is based on three core initiatives.  The first is an Agriculture Incubator Center.  The second is an emphasis on value added and infrastructure development envisioned by a "Mobile Kitchen" theme.  The third is expanding our reach into the public through a series of promotional projects. The theme is "Local Farms Have It All"_tm.

As a result of this focus, the Threshold to Maine Resource Conservation and Development Area was able to report 10 successful projects focused on agriculture development for an approximate value of $400,000 and 300 volunteer days in Fiscal Year 2002.  Six businesses were actively supported and 75% of that value was leveraged with the help of Resource Conservation and Development funds.

("Local farms have it all" is a trademark of the Threshold to Maine Resource Conservation and Development Area, Inc., and reproduced with executive permission.)

Compact Disc Simplifies Information

The Threshold to Maine Resource Conservation and Development Area has completed a compact disc of their overall program mission and strategies.  The purpose of the compact disc is to provide in one easy-to-use format business plans for our major projects and information about who we are.  It eliminates the need to reproduce volumes of information on the program, giving people maximum ability to access information that interests them the most.  The compact disc is intended as a marketing piece to promote agriculture in the Threshold to Maine Resource Conservation and Development Area and was used in Washington, DC when the Council representative met with the Congressional Delegation. 

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