Last year, a team of educators from the University of Maine met with nearly 200 farmers to hear their thoughts about the future of agriculture in Maine.

Agriculture has long been an important component of our state’s natural resource-based economy. Considering the upcoming challenges facing our national/international food system with regard to energy and climate change, Maine should start now to develop a more regionally based food system. By implementing many of the instructive and positive suggestions made by growers in these sessions, agriculture would stand to significantly increase its contribution to the state’s economy, and position the state’s residents for a more secure and healthy food future.

The energy around local foods is a great source of optimism for Maine farmers. If one considers the market potential of the New England region, and the land and water resources available, Maine could once again be the breadbasket of the region. Maine producers today are incredibly knowledgeable and are very attuned to changes in markets and consumer interests.

In contrast to many business sectors, growers actually enjoy sharing production knowledge with other growers and genuinely want to see each other succeed. But this is only possible by increasing markets, and getting more locally grown food into institutions such as schools, hospitals, nursing homes and rehabilitation centers.

One grower spoke about the need to increase the amount of local foods consumed in Maine from 20 percent to 50 percent in the next 10 years. To get there, we will need to make specific strategic infrastructure investments (grist mills and slaughter facilities, among others), but the benefits would be tangible.

When asked about their vision for the future, farmers saw large farms increasing in size to take advantage of economies of scale, but many others thought small farms numbers would continue to increase.

Several small-acreage farmers spoke of the potential to positively influence the food culture because they sell fresh food that must be cooked. When incomes stagnated in the 1970s and early 1980s, women increasingly entered the workforce to maintain their standard of living.

With both parents often working 40 or more hours/week, many families essentially outsourced food preparation to industry (fast food, takeout and frozen prepared meals). In doing so, we ceded control over portion size, ingredients and worse — we lost basic food capacity.

We have a generation of young people who lack even the most basic food preparation skills. Farmers selling directly at markets or through community-supported agriculture programs have the potential to rebuild some of this lost capacity, as most fresh, local food requires preparation.

Access to this quality food must be available to all. Farmers identified the need to make it easier for all people of all income levels to purchase food directly from growers. Efforts to get electronic card readers at farmers markets is one step, and doubling the purchasing power for limited-income families is another way to achieve this.

University of Maine Cooperative Extension’s Eat Well food program for limited-income families is increasingly important in demonstrating the benefits of fresh food. As one farmer noted, more than $30 million per month comes into the state for supplemental nutrition assistance; if farmers could get 1 percent of that, growth in local agriculture could be significant.

Food purchased in local markets generates money and stimulates the local economy. In contrast, food spent at big-box groceries largely leaves the state.

By changing the food culture, we have a chance to improve our economy and possibly slow the obesity problem. Also, as we strive to regionalize our local food economy, we must continue to rebuild and protect our Gulf of Maine fishery. It is our regional food system’s ace in the hole.

We all eat. It is how we choose to eat that can make such a positive difference to our state’s economy and our long-term health.

Wendell Berry said, “Eating is an agricultural act.”

The more we consider food in this light, the brighter and more secure our food future will be.

John Jemison is an extension professor of soil and water quality at the University of Maine