"It’s been a decade since farmers began to learn that contamination from PFAS unknowingly spread across their property could devastate their lives and livelihoods, but Maine is showing it’s possible to keep farms going despite the problems caused by the “forever chemicals.”
Preventing a death knell from PFAS requires a safety net for the business and the farm family, said Bill Pluecker, an organic vegetable farmer in Warren, Maine, and independent state representative. “Farmers can’t be left holding the bag at the end of the day.”
Maine began to tackle the problems of PFAS on farms after 2016, when farmers couldn’t sell their food due to contamination attributed to fertilizer made from sewage sludge, or biosolids. Now Maine is the only state that’s gone through the widespread panic of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, being found on farms and come out on the other side, said Sara Kelemen, a soil specialist at the American Farmland Trust.
Farmers and agricultural groups are now looking to the federal government and other states for help."
Pat Rizzuto reports for Bloomberg Environment March 30, 2026.
