The Tom Settlemire Vegetable & Fruit Processing Center
We are so pleased to announce the naming of the Tom Settlemire Vegetable & Fruit Processing Center! We are so fortunate to have Tom Settlemire serving on our Board of Directors and are thrilled to be able to honor his long service to our communities and food systems in this manner.
A specialist in cell biology and biochemistry, Tom hails originally from a family farm in Ohio, so his roots in agriculture go all the way back. After settling in Maine, Tom served as a professor of Biology and Biochemistry at Bowdoin College, working specifically in Immunology, Microbiology, Biochemical Endocrinology, and the Science of Nutrition. He also served as the Chair of the Biochemistry department for the college, and is now the Chair Emeritus. He was one of the first Bowdoin faculty in the region to conduct extensive studies on water quality in the Androscoggin River with his students.
Tom was also a longtime member of the board of the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust, serving as its president for many years, and was a guiding force behind acquiring what is now Crystal Spring Farm as part of the land trust. Crystal Spring Farm is a 321-acre working farm that also protects groundwater in a significant aquifer and waters flowing into Maquoit Bay. He, along with two others, started the downtown farmers' market in Brunswick and is founder of the farmers' market at Crystal Spring Farm.
Tom is also a notable expert on the genetics and breeding of the Katahdin Hair Sheep, working to improve meat and wool production.
We’re so honored to do this work with someone who has spent both his long career, as well as his retirement, working hard to protect and honor our natural resources, creating a long-lasting impact on our agricultural systems, and advocating for a sustainable food landscape in Maine!
You can support this project by giving a gift to Fork Food Lab! We still need to raise $400,000 to fill the gap between what we've received in grant funding and the total cost of this project.
You can give a one-time gift, and we also offer an option to sign up as a Forever Foodie with a monthly donation of any amount, which helps to create sustainable and reliable revenue moving forward.