Maine Delegation Urges Administration to Deliver Targeted Economic Relief for State’s Wild Blueberry, Potato, Apple Farmers

Delegation also calls on the Administration to include lumber and fisheries in future targeted relief from tariffs.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King and U.S. Representatives Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden are calling on the Trump Administration to ensure its relief for specialty crop farmers addresses the needs of wild blueberry, potato, and apple farmers across Maine. In a letter to Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, the Maine Congressional Delegation urges the Administration to continue delivering targeted, data-driven support for Maine's specialty crop farmers, foresters, and fisheries so that they can withstand the economic impacts of on-the-ground, environmental realities.

"We write to urge the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to ensure that payment rates under the Assistance for Specialty Crop Farmers (ASCF) Program fully and accurately reflect the economic realities facing Maine producers," the delegation began. "Given the absence of reliable, up-to-date cost-of-production and farm-gate pricing data for many specialty crops, it is essential that USDA work directly with Maine's specialty crop stakeholders to establish payment rates that meaningfully address current losses. Failure to do so risks leaving critical sectors of Maine's agricultural economy without adequate relief during a period of extraordinary financial strain."

"As USDA evaluates current and future relief efforts, we strongly urge the Department to ensure that Maine's lumber and fisheries industries are not overlooked," they continued. "Equity in federal relief requires that industries facing comparable trade-driven harm receive comparable support. The Seafood Trade Relief Program (STRP) offered by the USDA in 2020 was invaluable for Maine's lobster fishery. We appreciate USDA's prior engagement with Maine's potato, wild blueberry, and apple stakeholders. However, continued consultation is not simply beneficial, it is necessary to ensure that federal assistance reflects on-the-ground conditions. We urge USDA to adjust payment methodologies where needed, account for crop-specific production cycles, and expand eligibility where appropriate so that relief is both fair and economically meaningful."

"Maine's producers are resilient, but resilience alone cannot offset sustained market disruption and escalating costs. We stand ready to work with you to ensure that USDA programs deliver the targeted, data-driven support that Maine's agricultural, forestry, and fishing sectors urgently need," the delegation concluded.

Click here to read the complete text of their letter.

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