BETHEL, Maine - If by Saturday's end Maine's organic farmers weren't convinced they were on the right track, Sunday's speakers at the 18th annual Farmer-to-Farmer Conference sealed the deal.

Maine consumers for the first time are demanding organic products at a rate that outpaces production.

Two hundred farmers who specialize in everything from vegetables to flowers to miniature cows attended the three-day seminar sponsored by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association. Over the weekend, they heard about alternative energy, weed control, grants, and specialty topics such as goats and flowers.

Most were already optimistic about their future in organic farming, but hearing that the demand for locally grown organic food is outstripping Maine growers' production really put the frosting on the cake.

"Organic has arrived," asserted John Pino of Mooar Hill Farm in Mount Vernon.

Repeated scares involving contaminated food grown at out-of-state megafarms, including spinach, bagged salad, hamburgers and others, have pushed Maine consumers to take a closer look at local organic food, and they now are demanding it in record numbers.

"Amigo" Bob Cantisano, an organic crop adviser and farmer in California, said in his keynote address Sunday that organic producers were headed for success.

"You have a chance because people have taste buds," Cantisano said. "They remember Grandma's tomatoes. The true hope for agriculture is in this room: the organic farmer, the small-scale farmer, the farmer who markets directly to the consumer. You are the best thing going. I go to conventional agriculture meetings, and it's like a funeral home there - all doom and gloom."

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