U.S. Rep Chellie Pingree addresses farmers, restaurateurs and chefs gathered for a discussion Friday at Bar Futo on how climate change is affecting Maine’s food industry and food supply chains. Photo by Michael Amato

Restaurateurs, chefs, farmers and aquaculture professionals met with state and federal lawmakers Friday for a roundtable discussion on the economic impact that climate change is having on Maine’s independent restaurants and their supply chains.

Organized by the James Beard Foundation, the event was held at Japanese-inspired restaurant Bar Futo on Fore Street as part of the foundation’s Climate Solutions for Restaurant Survival campaign, being held in cities around the country. The talk was meant to provide a forum for policymakers – including U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, and Maine House Majority Leader Maureen Terry, D-Gorham – to learn how extreme weather events are disrupting the food supply chain and threatening the economic viability of local restaurants and farms.

Here are three takeaways from the discussion.

1. Unpredictable weather patterns are making farming harder and less profitable than ever.

Anne McBride, vice president of programs for the James Beard Foundation, noted that 2020 was the driest growing season on record in Maine, while 2023 was the wettest. “Finding solutions in production that work no matter what is happening when there is no consistency makes everything really, really challenging, particularly in a place where you don’t have a long growing season to begin with,” she said.

“In the last five to 10 years, the variability of weather in general is by far the biggest impact,” said Seth Kroeck, owner and manager of Crystal Spring Farm in Brunswick.

When Kroeck first started farming his land 22 years ago, he said weather patterns were much more predictable over the course of a year. “We could generally count on the last freezing date to fall within a two-week period in mid- to late May. We could count on the first frost of fall coming in a two-week period in late September,” as well as generally regular dry and wet spells. “And now, it’s like you’ve taken all of those standards, as if they were a deck of cards, and thrown them up in the air, and they’ve landed all over the place.”

Kroeck lost his entire 70-acre crop of blueberries in 2020 and 2023 to frost. “The older generation of farmers I know remember losing a blueberry crop to frost once in their 40-, 50-, 60-year careers,” he said.

Farms are getting harder rain in higher volumes, and heavy winds too, which all disrupt crops. Kroeck said that this year his farm received 3 inches of rain shortly after he’d planted carrots, and the seeds washed out of the rows where they were planted and into the tractor wheel paths.

“With farming, like in the restaurant business, margins are very tight, and we rely on some degree of expectation about how the weather is going to be,” Kroeck said. “The unpredictability seriously threatens the profitability of farms.

“Here in Maine, we’re losing dairy farms right and left, we’re losing vegetable farms,” he continued. “Things are really getting rough. And my worry as a grower is I don’t think the public knows anything about it. They go to the grocery store and see higher prices from produce that was grown in California. They’re very disconnected from their local food systems, and they have no idea that maybe a regional food system would be better for everybody.”

2. Restaurants are struggling to buy local, sustainable products in the face of rising operating costs.

Alex Wight, owner of the Crown Jewel restaurant on Great Diamond Island, said restaurant operating expenses have increased significantly, and many operators have been forced to pass the cost on to the customers. She said she worries that some restaurateurs might opt for cheaper options that are less climate-friendly in a bid to survive. “It feels like we’re headed into a tough time,” she said.

Chef Colin Wyatt, of Portland fine-dining restaurant Twelve, agreed that a key dilemma is how to get restaurants that source their food from large national distributors like Sysco to invest in local products instead.

Pingree said a tax credit for buying locally might be something for lawmakers to consider.

“A lot of what I’ve been hearing is about money set for studies for long-term plans, but that doesn’t necessarily help people who need help now,” Wyatt said. He wondered if there might be funds available to help chefs and owners buy locally and sustainably.

Terry said state lawmakers are working on bills, grants and revolving loan programs that would help restaurateurs and small food producers get through lean periods.

Wyatt also said there are fewer options for Maine chefs to source local meat these days, and the few providers who supply it only sell whole animals, which many restaurants don’t have the space or resources to store, break down and portion. “So we’re having to bring in more meat from outside of the state.”

“The people who aren’t really carrying water right now are the Hannafords and the Shaws,” said Jake Stevens, chef-owner of Portland Italian restaurant Leeward, arguing that the supermarket chains don’t carry enough local produce. Yet most Mainers buy their groceries from those stores and don’t have the luxury of shopping at farmers markets or Whole Foods, he said.

Carl Deuben, chef-owner of the East Ender in Portland, said a lot of restaurant operators are not able to strategize long-term, climate-friendly solutions because they’re focused on short-term survival.

“Coming out of the pandemic, we found out how tenuous we all were,” Deuben said. “None of us would be here if taxpayer assistance hadn’t come. I think it’s more difficult now than it ever has been.” He also acknowledged that customers are also feeling the financial pinch these days, and that many don’t feel it’s their responsibility to subsidize restaurants.

Deuben said restaurants and food producers need systemic solutions to help them adjust to new climate realities.

“Adaptation is the key to our future for sure,” said Matt Moretti, co-owner of Bangs Island Mussels.

3. Bolstering the state’s fisheries and aquaculture is critical for the state’s future economic viability.

Kyle Foley, sustainable seafood director for the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, said her organization is partnering with restaurants to help them diversify their seafood offerings and ensure they’re sourced locally. She noted that it’s becoming more important as the temperature in the Gulf rises.

Author, chef and sustainable seafood advocate Barton Seaver said chefs in blind tastings have been shocked to discover the superior flavor and low prices of bycatch and less popular fish like dogfish, Acadian redfish and skate.

“With all the amazing (seafood) products we have in this state, we don’t want people coming here only to eat lobster,” said Bar Futo co-owner Jordan Rubin, adding that a concerted effort should be made to publicize local products like Maine uni, scallops and bluefin tuna.

“Regenerative aquaculture industry in Maine as a whole is ripe for growth,” said Moretti. “With that growth comes a ton of extra benefits to the Maine economy, the regional economy, the workers, the environment, everything.”

But, Moretti said, to fuel that growth, it will take more efficient permitting and approval processes and lower barriers to entering the industry – while maintaining stringent standards – at the state and federal levels.

Moretti said Maine’s mussel industry alone could grow from producing 5 million pounds of mussels a year to nearly 60 million pounds a year, the output of mussel mecca Prince Edward Island.

“The future I see for the Maine aquaculture is where you can’t distinguish where the aquaculture ends and the fisheries start.”

“Seafood is under threat from climate change, but it is also in and of itself a solution to climate change,” said Seaver. “So much is now going right, but there’s so much still to do.”