COA Partridge Chair in Sustainable Agriculture Systems Dr. Kourtney Collum is a co-principal inve...COA Partridge Chair in Sustainable Agriculture Systems Dr. Kourtney Collum is a co-principal investigator in “Finding the Sweet Spot: Scale Challenges and Opportunities for Beekeeping and Maple Syrup Production in Maine.” Credit: FOX ABC Maine

College of the Atlantic and the University of Maine are teaming up on a project that will help maple and honey producers in the state.

They’ve received a half million dollar grant to study ways to help those producers manage their businesses and in some cases, expand. 

Project leaders said there’s a lot of interest in locally produced foods and helping those businesses thrive is not only good for them, but also for the states economy and consumers.

The project will help connect producers with others and find the resources they need to be successful.

COA Partridge Chair Kourtney Collum said “We’re trying to find the sweet spots around the state where we have the natural resources, where we have the infrastructure like processing facilities. And where we really have producers with the knowledge and interest in collaborating with other producers to expand.”

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