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How central Maine farmers help make the state’s PFAS recovery program a success

Photo credit: Rich Abrahamson / Morning Sentinel - Jim Buckle is shown last month in the entrance to a room that holds a PFAS filtration system at The Buckle Farm in Unity, purchased with help from a newly created state fund. Buckle’s farm is one of roughly 60 across the state that have so far had to deal with PFAS contamination, and he and other farmers credit the state fund with helping them stay in business.

Read the full article by Dylan Tusinski (Central Maine)

“Jim Buckle was floored when he got the news.

Buckle, along with his wife, Hannah Hamilton, owns The Buckle Farm in Unity, a 17-acre operation where they primarily grow onions, potatoes and broccoli. In 2022, he received a letter from the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry saying that the water on the farm contained 150 parts per trillion of PFAS — 750% more than what the state says is safe.

The farm had to shut down immediately, and at that time, indefinitely.

‘It’s a crushing blow to find out that you have some sort of PFAS contamination on your farm,’ Buckle said. ‘You’ve gotta shut everything down and try to get rid of these literal ‘forever chemicals.’ I mean, how do you navigate that?'” …

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