LEBANON, Maine — Late march at a southern Maine farm is usually a time of shuffling.
Out with the indoor storage and in with the outdoor pens. Fewer pigs in the case of Sirois Family Farm in Lebanon, which moved from dairy operations to crops, beef, and pork.
"It's amazing how things are changing," Norm Sirois said. Sirois told NEWS CENTER Maine the property was bought in 1983. His home, he said, was built in the 1740s.
"I grew up a farm boy up Maine. I am the oldest of 14 kids... I always wanted to come back out to a farm," Sirois said.
Around the time of the pandemic, running a farm became expensive. Sirois left the dairy operation and is preparing to sell pigs he's been raising for the last several months.
He said it's not only dairy but impacts from climate change have changed agriculture in the region.
"Years ago, northern New England used to raise a lot more food than it does now, and because of expenses, because people want to do other things," Sirois said. "Energy costs have been the worst thing... all this grain in the last two years has all doubled and it's still going up."
He said in a few weeks the snow will be completely melted and green grass will have overtaken his pasture, allowing his young beef cattle to graze on raw, rooted plants.
But as expenses continue and climate forces him and other farmers to shuffle harvest times, the federal government is mulling over its once-every-five-year farm bill.
The farm bill, which renews and adds new federal protections and investments into farms around the nation, could be bringing a climate twist.
This comes from an addition by Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, who covers Sirois' district.
Representative Pingree said farmers are facing harsh costs and need assistance.
"It can be expensive to own a farm and it can be expensive to have a farm... most of these practices farmers are already doing," Pingree said.
The climate twist comes in the form of the Agriculture Resilience Act, a bill that Pingree claims would give farmers the tools to have net-zero greenhouse emissions by 2040.
A lot of this comes from offsetting the emissions produced by feeding and growing food, such as reducing food waste.
Other factors include improving soil health, having livestock feed off rooted plants instead of grain and corn, and protecting existing farmland.
"I think we are well poised to continue the growth we had," Pingree said when asked about the future of Maine farming amid climate change.
Pingree said the ARA bill she's proposing Tuesday came after a hundred meetings with farmers and agricultural groups.
"I have mixed feelings about farming in Maine," Sirois said. "Unless people decided to grow more of their food here instead of buying it wherever, it isn't going to work."