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My family’s company, Treeline, Inc. was founded in 1981 and is a diversified, second-generation logging and forest trucking business that supports over 100 families. Businesses like Treeline, Inc., depend on reliable local markets for wood. When mills close or reduce capacity, the impact is felt by loggers and their families immediately, in rural parts of the state, which aren’t blessed with diversity of opportunity.
Like all other logging businesses, Treeline is facing rising costs for equipment, fuel, insurance, and labor. It is imperative that we invest in updated equipment and technology to operate efficiently, safely, and responsibly.
Markets have also been reduced and we are being paid less for the products that we produce. Economics are simply not in our favor, but the agriculture, forestry, and food producers bond being considered at the Legislature will help companies like ours reinvest for the future in face of strong headwinds.
This $40 million bond would provide an opportunity to fund a new low-interest loan program for loggers, which would be a game changer for businesses operating on thin margins. By investing resources in a low-interest loan program, the bond will allow businesses like mine to upgrade to safer and more efficient equipment, and invest in technology that improves productivity, while having less impact on the environment. I urge all Maine Legislators to please support the agriculture, forestry, and food producers bond.
Whitney Goodman
Lincoln