Scarborough, Maine-based Hannaford Supermarkets has committed $500,000 to the Northeast Farmers Fund, an initiative of the nonprofit Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture & the Environment that helps farmers adopt regenerative practices.
The fund provides financial and technical support to help farmers produce and market regenerative agricultural products and is expected to enroll more than 385 regional farmers by 2028. Hannaford’s funding will support direct grants to growers in Maine, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont for practices and infrastructure meant to strengthen local farms and build resilience to climate impacts.
Those practices include growing cover crops, switching to reduced-till or no-till operations and implementing crop rotation plans to manage soil nutrients. According to Wolfe’s Neck Center, regenerative agriculture builds on Indigenous knowledge passed down over generations to restore ecosystems, communities and economies.
“Hannaford has deep roots in local agriculture, getting its start providing fresh, quality food from a farm in Maine more than a century ago,” said Norm Daigle, VP of category management at Hannaford Supermarkets. “This investment in the Wolfe’s Neck Center Northeast Farmers Fund reflects our ongoing commitment to supporting local farmers and producers because we know locally grown food is good for our customers, our communities and the planet.”
“We are incredibly proud to help hardworking Northeast farmers manage their farms in ways that are good for the environment, the community, and the land,” said Dave Herring, executive director of Wolfe’s Neck Center. “That’s an investment in the longevity and resilience of our farms and food system that is often hard for farmers to make individually, but it is something that we can do collectively when we have forward-looking partners like Hannaford. And it’s something we must do.”
Randall Orchards, a Maine apple grower that supplies Hannaford, is among more than a dozen farms receiving grants in this stage of the fund. The orchard plans to buy equipment to turn composted apple pomace into mulch.
“At Randall Orchards, we’re always looking for practical ways to care for the land in order to grow the highest quality fruit our communities have enjoyed for generations,” said Scott Miller, orchard manager at Randall Orchards. “This support from Hannaford and Wolfe’s Neck will help us turn unused apple pomace into mulch that improves soil health, reduces waste and strengthens the long-term sustainability of our orchard, ultimately helping bring more fresh apples to store shelves.”
Hannaford partners with more than 1,000 local producers, including 125 farms across the Northeast, and carries more than 8,000 local products.
Hannaford operates 188 stores in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont, most with full-service pharmacies, and employs almost 30,000 associates. The company dates to 1883 and is based in Scarborough. It is one of five grocery brands owned by Ahold Delhaize USA, along with Food Lion, Giant Food, The Giant Company and Stop & Shop. In 2025, Hannaford donated almost 29 million pounds of food to hunger relief organizations and supported about 145 community partners.
Wolfe’s Neck Center is a farm-based research and education nonprofit on more than 600 conserved acres on the Maine coast, in Wabanaki homelands.