AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - Maine’s governor says she is nominating the president of the Maine Farmland Trust to serve as the new leader of the state’s department that oversees agriculture.
Democratic Gov. Janet Mills says Amanda Beal is fit to be the next commissioner of the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. Beal has served as president of the farmland trust since 2016. Mills said in that position Beal has focused on sustainability and keeping generational farmland in production.
Beal says she would partner with farmers to steward public lands and “lead in marketing and supporting our commodities.” She also pledged to responsibly manage the state’s forests. She grew up on a dairy farm in Litchfield.
Beal would be the first woman to head the department. She would take over for Walter Whitcomb.
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