Throughout September, ReVision Energy of Liberty and Portland will be raising funds $1at a time for this month’s Check in for Charity recipient, Maine Farmland Trust. Maine Farmland Trust is a statewide organization based in Belfast committed to strengthening farming in Maine and whose mission includes protecting and preserving Maine’s farmlands, keeping agricultural lands working and supporting the future of farming in Maine.

Structured as a land trust, MFT is Maine’s leading force in preserving farmland, often working in partnership with local and regional land trusts. But MFT is equally engaged in keeping farming vital. Programs such as FarmLink place next-generation farmers on viable farming property; their Buy/Protect/Sell program helps make farmland more affordable for farmers; and their Farm Viability projects help existing farmers prosper, through both direct assistance and innovative community projects.

Since their founding in 1999, MFT has participated in over 139 land transactions that have preserved more than 26,000 acres of farmland. MFT is leading the efforts of farmers, landowners, local land trusts, farm groups, towns and state agencies collaborating to keep Maine’s productive agricultural land available for farming now and in the future.

MFT estimates that as much as 400,000 acres of Maine’s best farmland (or about one-third of the state’s farmland resource) will be in transition in the next 10 years, simply because of the age of the landowners. Much of this land is at risk of not being available for farming in the future unless MFT and its partner groups successfully intervene. MFT’s goal to preserve 100,000 acre is supported by a detailed plan to get there, and by a major fundraising campaign that was publicly launched in late 2010.

Your ‘check in’ this month directly supports the Maine Farmlands Trust efforts to foster the future of farming in Maine. Click HERE to check in.