“What is grass-fed beef going for now?” "What should I charge for my finished steer?" If you are the seller, you are interested in getting the highest price in the local market for products raised in a similar method. And if you are the buyer, you are interested in paying the lowest price for local beef raised by your preferred methods.

USDA Market News works with the State Departments of Agriculture and local food systems to provide prices, volume, and other information on agricultural commodities sold at local and regional markets throughout the United States. Information gathered from Farmers’ Markets, Farmers’ Auctions, Food Hubs, Direct to Consumer sales, Retail advertisements, and Farm-To-School programs is currently available for select locations. But Maine has very few price reports available on the USDA AMS website.

Bryan Sullivan, Agricultural Market Reporter, and Levi Geyer, Assistant Field Chief with USDA-AMS are coming to Bangor, Maine, on Thursday, July 22 from 10:00 AM to noon at Dysart’s Restaurant, 1110 Broadway Ave., Bangor as well as by Zoom live streaming to discuss price reports for Maine.

Sullivan is a recent UMaine graduate and Geyer has been to Maine a number of times demonstrating cattle grading techniques. They have received interest from some agricultural producers in Maine regarding price discovery throughout the New England area for livestock and other agricultural commodities. They are looking to see what potential there may be to include reports to meet the needs of farmers/producers, wholesale buyers, auctions, stakeholders, and other interested people throughout the state of Maine.

Register online

Pre-registration is required if you are interested in attending either live or by Zoom. A recording will be made available to those unable to attend live. There will be only a limited number of seats available at the live site; please register early to get your seat. Those attending live will be asked health screening questions and required to wear a mask while in the meeting room as per University of Maine COVID-19 protocol.

For more information or a reasonable accommodation, please contact Donna Coffin at 207.564.3301, 1.800.287.1491 (in Maine), or 207.262.7726 (to leave a voicemail message) or at donna.coffin@maine.edu.

Traceability through the entire food supply chain from conception to consumption is a pressing need for the food industry, consumers and government regulators. A robust, whole-chain traceability system is needed that will effectively address food quality, food safety and food defense issues by providing real-time, transparent and reliable information from beef production through slaughter and distribution to the consumer.

Traceability is an expanding part of the food safety continuum that minimizes the risk of foodborne diseases, assures quality and cold-chain integrity. Traceability can be a positive competitive marketing edge for beef producers who can verify specific quality attributes such as humane production or grass fed or Certified Organic.

Source: Crandall, et. al. 2013, Whole-chain traceability, is it possible to trace your hamburger to a particular steer, a U. S. perspective, Meat Science, Vol. 95 Is.2.

HerdDogg just launches its Bluetooth- and QR-based animal traceability program for Wyoming Beef Producers to trace that hamburger back to the farm and steer or heifer it came from.

Recent habitat loss due to development, climate change, and the intensification of farming has caused the Bobolink's population to decline by as much as 3% a year in Maine.

The Ag Allies Grassland Bird Project partners with Maine farms to delay hay harvest until the 2021 crop of bobolinks take flight and settle into nearby wetlands — likely in early July. The Ag Allies project provides an incentive payment to offset the cost of adjustments farms make to account for the loss of forage quality. This helps balance the tradeoffs of grassland bird habitat protection with sustaining Maine’s farms.

“Agricultural lands are their habitat, and so we work with farmers to support them,” said Laura Suomi-Lecker, program manager of the project.

As development pressure builds in many regions of our state, the alternative to farming is often development, which would permanently eliminate habitat for the birds. Lecker has found that other grassland bird species benefit from the adjustments in management as well.

Any landowner who has bobolink habitat on their property in Maine is eligible to participate in the program. To learn more, visit the Ag Allies website.