ALBION, Maine — Doug Hartkopf said he was hunkering down through the December storm and ensuing flood, but then heard a large crash outside—his dairy farm's barn had been destroyed by gusts of wind.
"After about a half hour, I heard this large gust of wind and it all happened in about five minutes," Hartkopf said.
He said he and some neighbors brought the cows to safety and the work to recover started the next day. He very quickly didn't know if his farm could be back in business.
"Time to call it quits, we figured this was a sign... we've been working here for 30 years, you know, and I think we reached our limits to as much as we wanted it to, and rebuilding it was going to be a serious endeavor," Hartkopf said.
Thankfully after some community support, one of Maine's remaining dairy farms is now considering staying open.
"We're going to give it a whirl and think about rebuilding if we can even do it," Hartkopf said.
This dairy farm's story is like many others around the state. Not only battered by the recent floods and wind but impacted by a significantly wet 2023.
U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack was in Portland Monday to talk about this issue, along with Representative Chellie Pingree.
It was a listening tour, outlining the funding and investments made by the Biden Administration so far, and taking notes about what issues Maine farms want to see in the future.
For people like Hartkopf, he wants to see more funding for buildings and infrastructure used in farms to better prepare for storms, along with Maine's climate future which is expected to continue to warm and experience intense episodes of rain and drought.