PORTLAND, Maine —Rep. Chellie Pingree wants the federal government to investigate an emergency federal loan made to a supposed farm in her state that doesn’t seem to exist.
The business is named Common Ground Organic Farm LLC and it claims a Bridgton address, but no such company is registered in the state. The farm has received a $1.2 million loan from the federal Paycheck Protection Program.
The federal Small Business Administration should investigate the farm and the loan, Pingree told the Portland Press Herald. Pingree is an organic farmer herself and said no one in the state’s organic agriculture community has heard of Common Ground Organic Farm.
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The company has reported 91 employees, which would be a large farming operation relative to Maine agriculture.
The SBA’s Office of Inspector General has declined to say whether the loan is under investigation.
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