An Act To Expand Application of the Maine Agricultural Marketing and Bargaining Act of 1973 to Harvesters and Haulers of Forest Products
Maine Legislature, Session 129, LD 1459
Committee: Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry
Sponsors: JACKSON, MARTIN, BELLOWS, CARPENTER, DAVIS, DILL, DOW, COLLINGS, GIDEON, STEWART
Amends: 13 MRSA §1774, 13 MRSA §1953, 13 MRSA §1955, 13 MRSA §1957, 13 MRSA §1958-B

Legislative Document
No. 1459
S.P. 444
In Senate, April 2, 2019
An Act To Expand Application of the Maine Agricultural 
Marketing and Bargaining Act of 1973 to Harvesters and Haulers of 
Forest Products
Reference to the Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry suggested and 
ordered printed.
DAREK M. GRANT
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by President JACKSON of Aroostook.
Cosponsored by Representative MARTIN of Eagle Lake and
Senators: BELLOWS of Kennebec, CARPENTER of Aroostook, DAVIS of Piscataquis, DILL 
of Penobscot, DOW of Lincoln, Representatives: COLLINGS of Portland, Speaker GIDEON 
of Freeport, STEWART of Presque Isle.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  13 MRSA §1774, sub-§6-A, as enacted by PL 1971, c. 502, is amended 
to read:
6-A.  Independent agricultural contractor. "Independent agricultural contractor" 
means a person who grows under contract, or who harvests or hauls forest products under 
contract, as his the person's primary activity or as part of a general agricultural activity.
Sec. 2.  13 MRSA §1953, as enacted by PL 1973, c. 621, §1, is amended to read:
§1953.  Legislative findings and purpose
Because agricultural products are produced by numerous individual farmers and 
independent agricultural contractors, the marketing and bargaining position of individual 
farmers and independent agricultural contractors will be adversely affected unless they 
are free to join together voluntarily in cooperative organizations as authorized by law. 
Furthermore, membership by a farmer or independent agricultural contractor in a 
cooperative organization can only be meaningful, if a handler of agricultural products is 
required to bargain in good faith with an agricultural cooperative organization as the 
representative of the members of such organization who have had a previous course of 
dealing with such handler. The purpose of this Article is to provide standards for the 
qualification of agricultural cooperative organizations for bargaining purposes, to define 
the mutual obligation of handlers and agricultural cooperative organizations to bargain 
with respect to the production, sale and marketing of agricultural products and to provide 
for the enforcement of such obligation.
Sec. 3.  13 MRSA §1955, sub-§5, as enacted by PL 1973, c. 621, §1, is amended 
to read:
5.  Producer. "Producer" means a person engaged in the production of agricultural 
products, excluding forest products, as a farmer, planter, rancher, poultryman poultry 
farmer, dairyman dairy farmer, fruit, vegetable or nut grower, or independent agricultural 
contractor as specified in section 1774, subsections 6-A and 8-A. If a producer is also a 
handler, he shall be the producer is considered only a handler for the purposes of this Act.
Sec. 4.  13 MRSA §1957, sub-§3, ¶D, as amended by PL 1991, c. 116, is further 
amended to read:
D.  The association represents 51% of the 10 or more producers or produced at least 
1/2 of the volume of a particular agricultural product for a specific handler involved 
with those producers and that agricultural product during the previous 12 months, not 
including any volume produced by the handler, its subsidiaries, agents or employees 
or procured by the handler from sources other than producers; for the purposes of this 
article, members of farmer agricultural cooperatives are counted as individual farmer 
members; if the board has reasonable cause to question such representation, the board 
shall require a secret ballot election to certify the percentage of representation; and
Sec. 5.  13 MRSA §1958-B, sub-§5-A, ¶D, as enacted by PL 1989, c. 703, §3, is 
amended to read:
D.  The producer's costs of production including the cost that would be involved in 
paying farm labor a fair wage rate;
Sec. 6.  Legislative findings.  The Legislature finds that:
1.  The harvesting and hauling of forest products are performed by numerous loggers 
and forest products haulers who individually are not able to bargain effectively with 
forest landowners;
2.  The marketing and bargaining position of individual loggers and forest products 
haulers is adversely affected unless they are free to join together voluntarily in 
cooperative organizations;
3.  The inequity of power in determining compensation and the lack of opportunity to 
join together in bargaining over compensation can result in unfair contract rates for the 
services of loggers and forest products haulers; and
4.  It is in the public interest to:
A.  Promote, foster and encourage the intelligent and orderly marketing of forest 
products, as well as other agricultural products;
B.  Make the distribution of forest products, as well as other agricultural products, 
between producer and consumer as direct as can be efficiently done and eliminate 
speculation and waste;
C.  Stabilize the marketing of forest products, as well as other agricultural products;
D.  Expand application of the Maine Agricultural Marketing and Bargaining Act of 
1973 to include harvesters and haulers of forest products; and
E.  Ensure consistency with the federal Clayton Act, 15 United States Code, Section 
45(a)(1).
SUMMARY
Current law authorizes the membership of farmers in cooperative organizations and 
requires handlers of agricultural products to bargain in good faith with such organizations 
because agricultural products are produced by numerous individual farmers and the 
marketing and bargaining position of individual farmers will be adversely affected unless 
they are able to join together.  This bill recognizes that market forces that affect the 
marketing and bargaining position of individual farmers similarly affect the marketing 
and bargaining position of individual harvesters and haulers of forest products, and it 
expands application of the Maine Agricultural Marketing and Bargaining Act of 1973 to 
include harvesters and haulers of forest products.
Specifically, this bill amends the laws governing agricultural marketing and 
bargaining to:
1.  Expand the definition of "independent agricultural contractor" to include a person 
who harvests or hauls forest products under contract;
2.  Expand the legislative findings provision to include findings concerning 
independent agricultural contractors, which include harvesters and haulers of forest 
products; and
3.  Include in the definition of "producer" a person engaged in the production of 
forest products.
In addition, the bill sets forth the Legislature's finding that, with respect to loggers 
and forest products haulers, the inequity of power in determining compensation and the 
lack of opportunity to join together in bargaining over compensation can result in unfair 
contract rates for their services and that it is in the public interest to expand application of 
the Maine Agricultural Marketing and Bargaining Act of 1973 to include harvesters and 
haulers of forest products.