Just a week before Thanksgiving, the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (DACF) demanded that a longtime Somerset County poultry farmer destroy over 300 turkeys for allegedly running afoul of labeling regulations, and required that the farmer “interact congenially” with state officials or pay a nearly $30,000 penalty, according to a settlement agreement obtained by the Maine Wire.
Scott Greaney, co-owner with his wife Tracy of Greaney’s Turkey Farm in Mercer, told the Maine Wire that despite his farm previously not having any issues with DACF in their 43 years of operation, state inspectors from DACF began making visits to his processing facility starting in late May of this year, issuing violations to the farm and claiming that they were out of compliance with certain licensing requirements.
Greaney said that earlier this week, DACF and the Maine Attorney General’s Office sent the farm a settlement agreement with a laundry list of demands, including the destruction of nearly 400 turkeys and chickens, and requiring that the farm “interact congenially” with DACF staff under threat of a $28,700 civil penalty.
According the nine-page settlement agreement, on Oct. 22, DACF officials detained and embargoed 314 turkeys and 60 chickens from the farm, citing labeling issues on the farm’s poultry products, including incomplete addresses, missing weight information, and improper use of “not for sale” stickers.
The agreement between Greaney’s Turkey Farm and DACF, along with the Office of the Attorney General, outlines stringent conditions the state is requiring the farm to meet in response to the alleged violations.
Central to the agreement is a $28,700 civil penalty, of which $25,830 will be suspended if Greaney’s complies with all terms of the agreement over the next five years.
Among those conditions are for Greaney’s to provide the state proof of education in poultry processing and sanitation, limiting operations to a single poultry exemption for five years, and that all of the birds detained on Oct. 22 — 314 turkeys and 60 chickens — must be “destroyed under the supervision of QAR [DACF Quality Assurance & Regulations] personnel.”
The agreement also appears to impose behavioral restrictions on Greaney’s, stating “Greaney’s must interact congenially and professionally with DACF staff and not engage in abusive verbal or nonverbal communications or other intimidation tactics so as not to obstruct DACF from completing their work.”
Under the agreement, any non-compliance, “as determined by DACF or [the Attorney General’s Office] in their sole discretion,” may result in enforcement action against Greaney’s by the state and the collection of the full $28,700 fine.
“While DACF and the OAG have no present intent to pursue enforcement…so long as Greaney’s is in compliance with the terms of this Agreement, by signing and executing this Agreement, Greaney’s knowingly, intentionally, permanently, and irrevocably waives any and all defenses Greaney’s has or may have with respect to the enforcement of this Agreement,” the settlement reads.
Greaney told the Maine Wire that he has hired legal representation to challenge the state’s actions, and has obtained a 30-day extension regarding the settlement agreement.
Greaney added that he is looking for potential avenues to donate the 314 turkeys, which he is still keeping frozen.
“We cannot comment on this pending enforcement matter,” said Chief Deputy Attorney General Christopher Taub of the Maine Attorney General’s Office on Friday.
The Maine Wire has also reached out to a DACF spokesperson and the manager of the department’s poultry inspection program, Jennifer Eberly, for comment on the matter.
Oh my gosh!! It’s okay for the govt agency to be abusive with their fistful of power though.
Are they trying to get more land for the illegal Chinese???
farmer, dont oblige to these tyrants!
Where are the animal rights activists!
This kind of stuff motivated tens of thousands of Amish to turn out to vote in Pennsylvania
As a newbie to cryptocurrency, i lost a lot of money trading on my own. I would like to express my gratitude to Expert Bernie Doran for their exceptional assistance in recovering my funds from a forex broker. Their expertise and professionalism in navigating the complex process were truly commendable. Through their guidance and relentless efforts, I was able to successfully retrieve my funds of $150,000, providing me with much-needed relief. I highly recommend him on Gmail ( Berniedoransignals (@) gmail (.) com) to anyone facing similar challenges, as their dedication and commitment to helping clients are truly impressive. Thank you, Bernie doran, for your invaluable support in resolving this matter. i also invested $2000 with his guidance and got a good ROI profit of $15,000 using his signals and strategies
They let the illegals who kill people with cars on 2-95 disappear into thin air .
They let the chinks grow poisoned pot everywhere without so much as a blink .
They let the Somalis in Lewiston shoot each other all over town without a nod .
They spend their time trying to screw the little Turkey farmer .
The Janet Mills administration is out of control .
They suck .
Maine has now joined Massachusetts and other NE states as anti small business and pro illegal immigration. This is so unfortunate that the people in Portland and some of southern Maine get to decide who stays in power here… only to destroy the state.
This is too much retaliatory power in the crooked hands of the State.
These coc k sucke r s ! Their going after small farmers … trying to put them out of business! We can’t have healthy food that’s not through the poison big ag “food” business . Omg , they might spread the “bird flu” !! F off you over paid unless beuracrats! Eat 💩
Steve B….. how can you get away with “chink” if the black helicopters descend on me for saying nigga? (As a teaching moment. ….. words only have “power” when we chose to give them power) call me a dirty red skin. I’m ok with that. I am Mi’kmaw. Sticks and stones….
I’ve purchased their turkeys for years and they are the best. y latest today 17.62 lb perfectly labeled. The bureaucracy needs to leave thes folks alone
Go Fund Me page to pay his fine?
Thank goodness the State would never “engage in abusive verbal or nonverbal communications or other intimidation tactics”. You mean the threat of a $30K fine is not intimidation? You mean a labelling problem that could be fixed with a new label or repackaging wouldn’t solve the problem.
WTF did these folks do to these turkeys that brought on this bullying tactic? Don’t tell me they accidentally labelled these as frozen per-turduckins? They weren’t harvested from some frozen tundra decades ago, right?
Whatever happened to the friendly collaborative government that JM promised us?
Wait! What? She never promised the rose garden thing? OMG. Stop targeting people like some animal in the sights of a hunter!
The proof is in tne fact that NYC had to give illegals Could not eat the food the city gave then in the hotels and had to provide then credit cards so the could street food
Just like Janet Mills did to Rick Savage, previous owner of Sunday River Brewpub, when he defied the idiotic “rules” made by her sister Dora Mills and the incompetent Nirah Shah regarding covid shutdowns and effectively killing his business because he refused to play the game, and fined the living crap out of him. She’s now doing it to this poor struggling poultry farmer.
Stopping farmers from doing what they do, closing farms, cutting trees and putting up solar earth heating panels, is all about the baal worship, depopulation and destruction. Oh i forgot killing babies, LD 1619, LD 227 mutilating teens, on our dollar. These people and their agencies are evil. These farmers need a go fund me page, and we all need to fight together against this tyranny!
in case you dont understand what this is about, its simple, give up your free speech or lose your buisness. any talk back means fines
Full Take over people elect more dems this will happen all the time.
Trying to put the small farmer out of business. Our gov’t truly sucks. These people need to go, either on their own or we force them out.
They’re picking on a turkey farmer because they are “unhappy” with the election turn out and they just can’t stand to have turkey for Thanksgiving… If they’re unhappy, then we should all be unhappy too… bunch of “Turkey Nazis”, no, no Turkey for you….
Come on Greaney, pay up. Czarina Mills got to pay for all HER illegal aliens somehow. Every extorted dime helps. ;(
This article describes an action by the State that may infringes upon the farmers constitutional rights, particularly in regard to due process, private property rights, and free speech. In my opinion, here is how that is happening:
These actions, if proven excessive or punitive, could reflect state overreach that tramples the constitutional protections of this farmer and other small business owners and should not be tolerated. I am sure Senator Russell Black is on it.
Don’t tell me. State worker heard Trump was looking to cut unproductive employees and inspectors thought attacking a poultry farmer during the height of their season would get their numbers up quick like. Sounds like the inspectors thought, this turkey farmer would be an easy push over. Guess they never heard the saying, “ don’t poke the bear. “ all over “ labeling”. Riiiiight. There is obviously a hidden agenda here and Greaneys are just their scape goats. Might have “ barked up the wrong tree. “
So many things wrong with this tale of petty bureaucracy run amok. Not the least of which is those birds could feed alot of hungry people. Crowd fund the fine amount — allowing the Greanys their public say — then sue the jackwagon, overpaid individuals and their agency for using the fine to deny the Greanys their1st Amendment rights. Cockroaches tend to scatter when a bright light is shined upon them. Aside from not even knowing what licenses they’re issuing and playing fast & loose with the truth, etc, I’d wager there are plenty more stories of absurdist DACF abuse to be told.
Haven’t heard any comments from Mr. Greaney’s local and state representation
Mills has corrupted every inch of this state’s government!
And where are the Republicans?
Why aren’t they fighting back?
Everyone knows Mills is a Toad!
Fuck off MDACF!