EVENTS
Twilight Meetings
Each year, MVSFGA has two twilight meetings. A twilight meeting is hosted at a member's farm. The host provides a tour, and provides more insight into how their business works. These meetings also serve as a time for Extension to fill us in on the latest updates on their end. The first meeting happens in the spring, the second in the fall.
Spring
Twilight Meeting
June 7th, 2022
Bells Farms
Auburn
Fall
Twilight Meeting
TBD
This year’s spring twilight meeting will be held at Bell Farm in Auburn Maine. The meeting will be on June 7th at 6pm. Bells Farm primarily grows potatoes, sweet corn, some grains and grain corn. They also grow some small vegetables for their retail stand. Their primary markets are wholesale outlets such as Wal-Mart, Market Basket and other local farms. Bell farm has one of the most sophisticated and efficient sweet corn packing lines in the state. The can harvest and pack 1300+ bags of corn per day. Their corn is harvested with a 4 row Oxbow harvester. They farm approximately 500+ acres. They have farmland in Lewiston, Auburn, and Durham on some beautiful sandy Androscoggin River bottom soil. Bell Farm has been in operation since 1937 and is family owned and operated. Ray and Dave Bell are the owners, they have several other family members that are a part of the operation.
Educational Opportunities
UMaine Extension offering farm labor guidelines workshops
Orono, Maine — The University of Maine Cooperative Extension will host an online discussion on Farm Labor Guidelines on April 19 and 21.
These two programs will be led by Brian Cleasby from the U.S. Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division (WHD). The April 19 session will focus on the requirements of the H-2A program. The program will cover key considerations to avoid common wage, disclosure, housing, transportation and recordkeeping-related violations at worksites where H-2A workers are employed. Links to WHD H-2A, Fair Labor Standards Act, Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Workers Protection Act and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Field Sanitation compliance assistance resources will be shared during the webinar. The April 21 session will cover the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Key topics will include avoiding common overtime, child labor and recordkeeping-related violations in agricultural settings. The presentation will cover basic compliance principles under the act, including coverage, exemptions, minimum wage, overtime, recordkeeping and child labor requirements. A question-and- answer period will follow both presentations.
More information, including dates and registration links, is available online. To request a reasonable accommodation, contact Jason Lilley, 207.781.6099; Extension.agcumberland@maine.edu