FARMINGTON — Farmers from across the state reunited their fellow Mainers with their food Sunday, opening barn doors and pasture fences for the 23rd annual Open Farm Day.

A total of 110 farms took part in the daylong event, from McElwain’s Strawberry Farm in Caribou to Sea Hill Farm Alpacas in Kittery Point. Organized by the Maine Department of Agriculture, Open Farm Day was created to educate the public about Maine agriculture through hayrides, farm tours and lessons in horticulture and animal husbandry.

At Black Acres Farm in Wilton, farmer James Black spent the day giving tours of his family’s 600-acre property to curious visitors.

“I think too many people don’t realize where their food comes from. I mean 90 percent of beef today has hormones added in it, and people don’t realize that,” said Black, who operates the farm with his father, state Rep. Russell Black. “Dad and I and the entire family are trying to make people more aware of where their food comes from.”

The Blacks have farmed their Wilton property since 1963, and today raise more than 100 head of beef cattle. Although they raise Hereford hogs and broiler chickens, sell wood and tap 1,000 maple trees every March, the Blacks’ major source of income comes from selling grass-fed beef through a vendor to Whole Foods.

“In the recent few years with the beef prices and stuff happening out West with the droughts, we’ve seen an increase in our grass-fed beef,” Black said.

With droughts drying up Midwestern corn and raising the price of corn-based feed, grass-fed beef has become popular with an increasing number of Maine farmers and consumers.

With the help of Open Farm Day, Black and his family were able to explain to their neighbors how a drought half a continent away could affect their own farming practices and the price of a rib-eye steak at the neighborhood grocer.

Similar conversations played out at farms throughout the state. At Marble Family Farms in Farmington, Richard Marble explained to visitors how he is able to make a living on his 135 acre farm — despite intense competition from modern industrial farms.

“You can’t compete with commodities that are grown out west on 600-acre farms. So how you compete is you bring the value up of what you do produce,” Marble said. “You can’t compete with commodities. If somebody’s got 600 acres in Illinois and they’re growing corn – or whatever they’re growing — how in the hell are you going to compete with them up here on a 5-acre field?”

Instead of growing corn and selling it to a wholesaler, Marble and his family have diversified. Today, they operate several greenhouses ripe with tomatoes, spinach and squash, while their pens and paddocks are filled with chicken, sheep and cattle. They also operate a commercial kitchen where they bake “Hotties,” half-moon pastries filled with spinach, goat cheese and other ingredients produced on the farm.

Instead of selling their goods to a middleman, Marble and his family sell their produce and pastries at local farmers markets and stores.

“We can compete quite easily doing it that way, as compared to these guys that are just a cog in the wheel, relying on somebody to buy it wholesale,” Marble said.

A steady stream of visitors — young and old — toured Marble Family Farms throughout the day on Sunday. One visitor, Isabelle Foss of Temple, said she was reminded of her youth growing up in South Paris, where her family ran a small, diversified farm. It was the era before factory farms, Foss said, when people knew where their food came from.

“You live on a farm, you see chickens born, you see chickens die, you get the whole idea that life is born and you die, and you expect that.” Foss said.

Thanks to Open Farm Day, Foss saw that Maine agriculture is coming full circle, and that its future may not be much different than its past. 

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