Portland is trying to sell itself as a hub of food production.

But there’s a glitch: There are no federal inspectors in Maine authorized to inspect food for export or import.

That’s one of the issues Caroline Paras, an economic and community planner at the Greater Portland Council of Governments, will bring up Thursday and Friday in Washington, D.C., at a summit hosted by the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Economic Development Administration.

Paras is at the summit because Portland is one of 12 communities designated a “manufacturing community” as part of the federal government’s Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership initiative.

The designation won’t bring any federal dollars to Portland. Rather, it is expected to help build Portland’s brand as a hub of food production. It also gives local organizations an advantage when they apply for grants from 11 federal agencies for a share of the $1.3 billion in federal economic development money doled out annually, said Jay Williams, who heads the Economic Development Administration.

In addition, Portland will be assigned a federal liaison to help local businesses and organizations interact with federal agencies and apply for grants, he said.

The federal government for years has funded local economic development projects that were often unrealistic, Williams said. The Obama administration is moving away from that, he said, and supporting communities that are focused on developing sectors in which they have a competitive advantage.

“It’s really about revolutionizing the way the federal government is leveraging economic development funding,” he said. “It’s not just wishful thinking, which is what too often happened in the past.”

Paras has pulled together a food hub coalition that includes colleges and universities, state agencies, organizations like Coastal Enterprises Inc., and companies such as Jordan’s Farm and Axiom Technologies. The Greater Portland Council of Governments submitted a 30-page application earlier this year to receive the designation.

The group identified Portland as a hub for food production – which includes agriculture and fisheries – because the city ranks 12th in the nation in food production and 36th in specialty food in the percentage of jobs in those sectors compared to the total work force.

While the pay in food production is 20 to 30 percent lower than other manufacturing sectors, Paras said the sector is growing in Maine because it attracts people who are independent.

“With food, you have the opportunity to own your business and live your vision,” she said. “It’s a lifestyle business. Unlike other sectors, you have the opportunity to have the whole supply chain in your control.”

She said transportation infrastructure, like the Port of Portland, is critical to the sector’s growth.

On Monday, she met with officials at the Maine Port Authority, which is looking to partner with a private company to build a cold storage warehouse at the International Marine Terminal. The warehouse would be used for fish and agricultural products.

At the meeting, she learned that federal inspectors are brought to Portland from out of state to inspect food being exported through the port, at the expense of the exporter.

She said the port can play a critical role in helping food companies grow by exporting food and also importing fish for local processing. That’s why there needs to be federal inspector here in Maine, she said.

“Cold storage and inspection capacity – those are the two things needed for a world-class port,” she said. “This is an absolute priority we are interested in helping with.”

 

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