‘Meet Your Farmer’ on film and in person
PRESQUE ISLE — The Aroostook County Farm Bureau and the Maine Farmland Trust will co-host a Meet Your Farmer event to connect community consumers with providers of local food Monday, April 11 at 5:30 p.m. at the Crow’s Nest Restaurant and Events Center on Maysville Street in Presque Isle.
The program will feature a screening of a documentary film, “Meet Your Farmer,” commissioned by the Maine Farmland Trust and produced by Cecily Pingree and Jason Mann of Pull-Start Pictures. The film showcases eight Maine family farms including Ayotte Farms in Hamlin, and portrays the diversity, opportunities and challenges currently facing local farmers. “Meet Your Farmer” has had over 2,500 enthusiastic viewers around the state.
The evening is designed to bring together local producers from small farmers’ market vendors to large capacity operations, from conventional or organic and community consumers — restaurants, grocers, institutions, shippers, packers and financial firms, as well as the general public.
Highlights of the evening will include a pre-screening reception with a sampling of local foods, the “Meet Your Farmer” screening, and a discussion with farmers who provide our community with local food.
There is an increasing interest on the part of consumers in buying local agricultural products. Supporting local agriculture has numerous benefits including plowing money back into County soil, supporting family-based production, protecting Maine farmland and the environment, providing greater assurance of quality, and helps insure food security in our local area.
The public is welcome to help celebrate Maine’s farming heritage and kick off a new season of planting, farm stands and farmers’ markets.
