Table 10-3. Market Value (thousands of dollars) of Farm Products 

 Produced in the Coastal Counties of Maine in 1974a, 



County 



Region 



Market value 

 (thousands of dollars) 



Cumberland 



Sagadahoc 



Lincoln 



Knox 



Waldo 



Hancock 



Washington 



Total 



1 

 2 

 3 

 3 

 4 

 5 

 6 



16,080 

 3354 

 4128 

 8700 



30,248 

 2 644 

 5895 



7 1 , 04 9 



^Bureau of Census 1977, 



Plants and Animals 



The diversity of plant and animal life on agricultural lands is low because of 

 the dominance of crops and livestock. Although all three basic trophic 

 levels (producers, consumers, and decomposers) are present on agricultural 

 lands, each is represented by only a few species, which results in short food 

 chains and simple food webs. 



Native plant species that compete with crops for nutrients, water, and light, 

 for the most part are destroyed by cultivation and herbicides. Pastures and 

 orchards have a higher density and diversity of native plants than cultivated 

 cropland. Oldfields have a wide variety of plants. In agricultural areas 

 native species are most abundant in small patches along fences and roadsides, 

 in corners of fields, and in low wet areas. Some important native plant 

 species are spirea, dogwood, alder, crabapple, goldenrod, asters, and white 

 pine. 



The biomass of living vegetation on agricultural land also is small, because 

 the plants are harvested at short intervals, usually every year, and plant 

 biomass is not allowed to accumulate in woody tissue from one year to the 

 next. No data are available on total biomass of plants on agricultural land 

 in Maine. For the sake of comparison, however, the 1974 above-ground 

 production of hay (207,480 acres; 84,000 ha) in Maine was 0.8 ton/acre (1.9 



10-4 



