This winter it was seen as a test: Come May and June, would Maine dairy farmers plant corn for their herds or just give up.

Low prices have dogged them for more than a year. Legislators hinted then that as many as one-third of Maine’s then-412 dairy farms could close without relief.

So far this year, 12 have gone under. It seems the rest are staying in, for now.

“They’re planting corn and they’re cutting hay as we speak,” said Stan Millay, executive director of the Maine Milk Commission.

This week farmers will receive a third subsidy check from the state to temporarily boost the price they receive for milk at market, part of Gov. John Baldacci’s dairy relief package. He supported it this winter instead of a new eight-cents-per-gallon milk tax.

In June, farms with an average 95-cow herd will receive about $1,827.

“To be in the farming industry you have to be eternally optimistic,” said Peter Chapman, president and owner of Paris Farmers Union. “When there was realization there was help on the table, then people were willing to stay in.”

He noticed a reluctance among some customers to pre-order corn seed last fall. “There were a lot of farmers that were saying ‘Gee, I don’t know what’s going to happen here,'” Chapman said.

As a result, spring orders are up.

But the governor’s aid will stretch to December at best. Chapman wonders if it’s just delayed some difficult decisions.

Two of the 12 farms that closed this winter were forced by farmers’ deaths, according to Millay.

The others “just decided now was a time to get out. They didn’t want to take a gamble in the next year,” said Millay.

Ten years ago there were about 620 farms in Maine. They’ve been closing at the rate of about 20 a year. The loses in 2003 are on pace with that, but not as dramatic as predictions this winter suggested.

Milk prices for farmers have been suppressed by an overproduction of milk in western states with advantages such as better weather and cheaper electricity. The base price per hundredweight in January, for farmers who still qualified for a federal Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) subsidy, was $13.67.

In May, it was $15.16, an improvement but well below production costs estimated at $17.

A task force convened by Baldacci to come up with long- and short-term recommendations for the industry has met three times. Chairman Fred Hutchinson, the retired University of Maine president, said he feels as though people are already starting to agree on some basic steps, but it’s too early to say what those could be.

He wants to have a list of recommendations by the time the Legislature convenes in January, but it could be done as soon as October.

“Next winter is going to be even more important,” said Millay. Farmers will be awaiting those recommendations to see what Baldacci and the Legislature do with them, and watching the U.S. Congress to see if it continues MILC.

In the meantime, farmers got a boost at the polls last Tuesday.

The approved $60 million bond package included $2 million for Farms for the Future program. It has helped dairy farmers, including Nancy Smith.

Smith, a state representative from Monmouth, said she and her husband had focused primarily on dairy with a herd of 60 milking cows.

Using experts through Farms for the Future, they drew up a business plan and started restaurant and retail sales of grass-fed beef, veal, chicken and pork. A grant gave $25,000 toward expansion projects. They built a barn, bought freezers and a tractor.

“In exchange, farmers give a 10-year conservation easement on their land,” Smith said. “Rather than feeling like you’re getting a handout or a freebie, you’re giving something in exchange.”

Mort Mather, the program’s administrator at Coastal Enterprises Inc., said the two-year-old Farms for the Future program has also helped one small dairy switch to glass bottles and sent another farmer to composting school.

“Without (the bond money,) the program might have withered,” Mather said. His next application deadline for farmers is September.