The Merrymeeting Food Council is all about getting your program idea off the ground!
With a robust network of individuals, organizations, and resources, we’re happy to discuss your program idea and see how we can help.
Below are some of our programs:
The Farm Skills Training Program offers participants facing barriers to employment, such as housing insecurity, with opportunities to develop farm skills and to gain knowledge about how to grow their own food. Partners include Goodwill Workforce Solutions, Growing to Give, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA), MidCoast Hunger Prevention Program, Merrymeeting Gleaners, Tedford Housing, and the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. The pilot program launched in 2022 with the following objectives:
Work with participants to identify and offer foundational job skills training
Increase employment opportunities for participants by providing training and hands-on farm skill building
Expand the applicant pool for farm employment in response to our region’s farm labor shortage
Connect participants with their community through engagement in local food access efforts
All participants will be required to reach specific milestones in order to be certified through the program. The milestones will include a total of 40+ hours of participation in on-farm work plus additional off-farm training over the course of 10 weeks. Individuals will gain job skills as well as community connections during the program. The program runs each spring from March through June.
Participants will be paid for their time and assisted in finding solutions to childcare, work clothing, transportation and other needs. Following completion of the program, MFC and Goodwill Workforce Solutions will work with participants to make connections with local farms that are hiring.
If you’re interested in getting involved, please fill out the form at the bottom of this page.
Roundtable Program
Our roundtable events are a way to bring together diverse stakeholders to address common challenges in our food system that are best addressed collaboratively. Through a combination of presentations and group discussions, these gatherings offer the community opportunities to discuss the challenge, identify both solutions and new connections, and share resources. MFC began hosting roundtable events in 2019 with a Food Access roundtable (read more) and a Farm Labor roundtable. Due to COVID, 2020 events adapted, sharing Community Garden roundtable resources online and hosting the MidCoast Regional Dialogue for the Maine Food Convergence virtually.
Have an idea for a round table topic that you would like help organizing? Fill out the form below.
Workgroup Program
Merrymeeting Food Council supports community-led work groups. Members of these groups meet as needed to collaborate on ideas, initiate and execute projects, and discuss key food system issues facing our communities. The type of groups, and members involved, are ever-changing!
If you’re interested in joining or starting a group, please fill out the form at the bottom of this page.
Food Access Programs
MFC’s work began with focused efforts to increase access for everyone to local nutritious foods. MFC grew the Merrymeeting Gleaners program from a pilot launched in 2016 to a what became a passionate network of farmers, volunteers, and recipient partners making a significant difference in the food security and connectedness of disparate parts of our communities. Merrymeeting Gleaners became a program of Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program (MCHPP) in July 2021! MCHPP was a core partner in the gleaning program as it developed and MFC looks forward to continued close collaboration with the Merrymeeting Gleaners and MCHPP.
MFC continues to address this goal of increasing access to local nutritious food through maintenance of Community Nutrition Resource Guides, work to expand acceptance of SNAP and Maine Harvest Bucks at area farmers’ markets, support for the sliding scale Community Kitchen project at MCHPP, and developing food sovereignty resources for municipalities.
Learn more about the history of the Merrymeeting Gleaners program here. NEW Merrymeeting Gleaners Webpage at MCHPP | Contact the Gleaning Coordinator.
Learn more about our current Food Access work and resources here.
Our collaborative work is enabled by our funders and the backbone support of our two fiscal sponsors: Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust and Kennebec Estuary Land Trust.