BANGOR, Maine — Nearly 50 farmers and orchardists gathered in Bangor on Tuesday morning at a daylong Maine Vegetable and Fruit School.
Topics included growing raspberries, pumpkins and strawberries; weed management; rotation crops; favorite vegetable varieties; and crop insurance.
This was the sixth year the school was offered. Mark Hutchinson of the Knox-Lincoln County Cooperative Extension said it was “a great turnout.”
The morning session focused on managing farm energy costs and helping farmers to assess their needs and find funding.
Caragh Fitzgerald, a University of Maine Cooperative Extension educator in Kennebec County, went through a laundry list of options and suggestions.
Fitzgerald acknowledged that while the high cost of energy and fuels experienced last summer has eased somewhat, farmers still could make a big dent in their costs. She suggested they conduct an energy audit of their farms, focusing first on conservation.
“Conservation is the low-hanging fruit of energy costs,” she said. “It’s easier to save energy than to try to make energy.”
Fitzgerald said accurate record keeping is vital to determine a farm’s use of diesel, propane, electricity, wood and oil. Once the use is assessed, goals for cutting back and saving can be set.
She suggested a free energy audit of the farm through Efficiency Maine and the Harvesting Clean Energy Project. Both can be obtained at no cost through AgMatters at 873-2108. She said there are commercial energy auditors who also can be hired.
She said there are simple nuts-and-bolts actions that farmers can take to cut energy costs, such as following owner’s manuals with equipment, conducting regular maintenance, minimizing equipment idling time, reducing excess weight and shading fuel tanks.
Fitzgerald also discussed alternative forms of energy, such as solar and wind power, as well as biodiesel.
“There are cautions with alternative energy,” she said. “You must take into consideration the cost of the system, the cost of installation, maintenance, a learning curve, permits and zoning, and neighborhood relations.”
She said the payback period for wind turbines could be 16 to 23 years, depending on the size of the turbine and the wind pressure on the farm. Solar hot water systems are “very promising” and could decrease hot water bills by 50 percent to 80 percent, she said.
Photovoltaic solar projects no longer need batteries if the farm is connected to the utility grid, but could take 43 years to be paid back. “I’d have to have a pretty compelling reason to install this system,” she said.
Fitzgerald also explained to the farmers that there are several funding options for alternative energy upgrades, including federal tax incentives, federal grants and loans. “You could put together a series of incentives, grants and loans that would drop the high payback time for a system,” she said.
The afternoon keynote speaker was Dr. Vernon Grubinger, who is the vegetable and berry specialist for the University of Vermont and director of the Northeast sustainable agriculture program. Grubinger spoke about rotation planting.
The workshop was sponsored by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, Maine Crop Insurance Education Program, and Maine Vegetable & Small Fruit Growers Association.
A second workshop will be held today in Portland.