The federal government’s investing more than $600,000 in a Portland group that works with immigrants and refugees to teach sustainable farming practices.
Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree says the awards will go to Cultivating Community, which manages and supports urban food growing. One of the grants is a $100,000 award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for a project to build refugee agriculture in Maine.
The other award’s for more than $500,000 and it’s from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers Program. Pingree says it’s for Maine’s socially disadvantaged farmers.
Cultivating Community farmer training program director Alex Redfield says the grants will help the group partner with others to improve food access for new Mainers.
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less