{"id":1314,"date":"2013-06-07T20:19:15","date_gmt":"2013-06-07T20:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tidesmartradio.com\/?p=1314"},"modified":"2013-06-10T20:55:58","modified_gmt":"2013-06-10T20:55:58","slug":"andrew-marshall-and-jim-ahearne-mofga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tidesmartradio.com\/andrew-marshall-and-jim-ahearne-mofga\/","title":{"rendered":"Show 63: Educational Programs Director at MOFGA Andrew Marshall and Common Ground Fair Director at MOFGA Jim Ahearne"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Show Information<\/h5>\n

Show:<\/strong> 63
\nAir date:<\/strong> Saturday,\u00a0May 25
\nGuests:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Andrew Marshall & Jim Ahearn from MOFGA
\nHost:<\/strong> Steve Woods (Stevoe)
\nStudio Contributor<\/strong> Debi Davis
\nExecutive Producer:<\/strong> Mark Gould (Sharky)
\nAssistant Producer:<\/strong> Shannon Maguire<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Andrew Marshall joined MOFGA as educational programs director in 2003.\u00a0 Marshall starts Farm Training Workshops for apprentices and others in 2005. \u00a0Marshall lives on a farm in Montville, Maine, where he and his family produce organic vegetables, livestock, and forest products.<\/p>\n

Jim Ahearne grew up in New York.\u00a0 Prior to joining MOFGA, Ahearne promoted concerts with Don Law, a legendary Boston promoter, and locally in Portland.\u00a0 Ahearne also travelled China with the American Event Management Institute\u2014World Clown Festival.\u00a0 Since 2008, Ahearne has been the Common Ground Country Fair Director.\u00a0 Ahearne lives in Freeport with his wife and two daughters.<\/p>\n

\"MOFGA-1\"

Educational Programs Director at MOFGA Andrew Marshall (left) and Common Ground Country Fair Director Jim Ahearne (right)\u00a0\u00a0joined TideSmart Talk with Stevoe host Steve Woods to discuss all things Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association related.<\/p><\/div>\n

Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA)
\n<\/span><\/b>Formed in 1971, the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association <\/a>is our country\u2019s oldest and largest state organic organization.\u00a0 The organization \u201cpromotes the production of safe, high quality food in a manner that does not harm the environment and that preserves or improves soil fertility, soil structure, and farm sustainability.\u201d<\/p>\n

MOFGA held its first Common Ground Country Fair <\/a>at the Litchfield Fairgrounds in 1977, with roughly 10,000 people in attendance. \u00a0By 1981, the Fair had outgrown Litchfield, and MOFGA began renting the Windsor Fairgrounds, where the crowds eventually grew to more than 50,000 visitors.<\/p>\n

In 1996, MOFGA found its permanent home in Unity, on more than 200 acres of fields and forest.\u00a0 Now every September (on the third weekend after Labor Day), the Fair draws over 60,000 people, making it the country\u2019s largest organic food event.<\/p>\n

MOFGA now has more than 6,000 members, a staff of 21 employees, an organic certification subsidiary that certifies 350 of Maine’s farms and 15% of the state’s dairies.\u00a0 MOFGA offers year-round education programs, offering dozens of conferences, presentations and workshops throughout Maine.\u00a0 There are also countless opportunities for more than 2,000 active volunteers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TideSmart Talk with Stevoe host Steve Woods was joined by MOFGA directors Andrew Marshall and Jim Ahearne. Stevoe and Marshall discussed the many programs he directs, like “Beginner Farmer Training”, as well as the passing of the bill on GMO that is going forward to the Senate. Stevoe and Ahearne talked about their shared backgrounds in music promotion, as well as Ahearne’s main focus with MOFGA, The Common Ground Fair. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tidesmartradio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tidesmartradio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tidesmartradio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidesmartradio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidesmartradio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tidesmartradio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1314\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tidesmartradio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidesmartradio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tidesmartradio.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}