Maine agriculture is on a roll. While the number of farms in the United States is declining, the number of Maine farms is growing. The last U.S. Department of Agriculture census counted 8,136 Maine farms in 2007. That's a gain of over 2,000 farms in the last 10 years. Farmers markets are increasingly popular and more and more people are signing up to buy directly from farmers through CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture).

But all is not rosy. Low milk prices are hurting dairy farmers. High prices for fuel and fertilizer are squeezing all farmers. Making a living as a farmer has never been easy, and it's not getting any easier.

Recently, the Maine Farm Bureau, the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association and the Maine Department of Agriculture teamed up to help organic dairy farmers who had been dropped by a milk company that had been buying their milk. The result of this cooperation is Maine's Own Organic Milk Company, or "MooMilk" which will be on grocery shelves across Maine by the time you read this.

Unfortunately, cooperation hasn't always been the model. For almost 15 years, Maine farmers have been locked in a struggle over whether genetic engineering should have a place in Maine agriculture. Supporters say this new technology will improve yields, cut pesticide use and boost farm income.

Opponents say the technology is untested, harmful to consumers and will contaminate organic farms. This battle has pitted farmer against farmer and hurt Maine farming overall.

The Maine Farm Bureau has members on both sides of this argument, which puts us in a unique position to try and foster understanding between both camps.

At the Maine Agricultural Trades Show in January, with support from the Maine Department of Agriculture, the Maine Pomological Society and the Maine Vegetable and Small Fruit Growers Association, Maine Farm Bureau sponsored a program titled "Convergence = Sustainability: Beyond the Organic - Conventional Rift." The purpose of the program was to bring together both sides and start a conversation. In the words of Dr. Jonathan Foley from the University of Minnesota, who spoke at the conference, "We need to forget about the two camps. We need a new paradigm, something that takes the best of both worlds.

Unfortunately, a story in the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel (Jan. 13, "Advocates of organic farming question workshop") missed the point of the conference and instead covered the story along the old fault lines expressed by the two camps.

There was a follow-up story on Jan. 14 about the conference and the presentation by Foley, which did mention that collaboration between organic and conventional farming is necessary to creating sustainable agriculture.

Farmers in Maine are fed up with the controversy and are quietly talking among themselves, looking for ways to move beyond the divide. Collaboration is replacing confrontation, for the benefit of all Maine farmers.

The conference ended with a panel discussion of four people who make their living as farmers. Represented were an organic grower, a conventional grower, a grower who uses both systems and a permaculturist. All four agreed that Maine farmers must work together, for the benefit of all.

As apple farmer Steve Meyerhans put it, "The critical thing for Maine agriculture is that all farmers work together and not beat each other down."

Meyerhans is in a good place to know -- he practices both organic and conventional apple farming methods on The Apple Farm in Fairfield.

Over the coming months, the Maine Farm Bureau and others will continue the conversation that began at the Maine Agriculture Trades Show in an effort to find common ground, ground upon which we can all build a vibrant farming community for Maine.

Jon Olson is executive secretary of the Maine Farm Bureau.