Maine advisory board elects co-chairs, sets September target to define agriculture infrastructure fund priorities

The advisory board to the Maine Agriculture, Food and Forest Products Infrastructure Fund elected Senator Craig Hickman and Tricia Rouleau as co-chairs and set a near-term target of September to decide fund priorities and instruments so staff can begin rulemaking, board members said at the group’s first official meeting, held virtually.

The board’s work will guide how the fund is structured and how the department distributes money once additional appropriations are available. Craig Lapine, director of the Bureau of Agriculture, Food and Rural Resources at the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry, opened the meeting by describing the board’s mandate and agenda and said the group should consider a consistent name for the fund. "We are functioning under, you know, a statutory mandate," Lapine said.

The board adopted draft working agreements presented by department staff to set expectations for meetings and decisionmaking. Jody, staff in the commissioner’s office at the Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry, summarized the draft principles, including starting and ending meetings on time, distributing materials 10 days in advance when possible, striving for equal airtime,…