Issue #54 | June 2024

Supporting collective action

toward an equitable, sustainable, resilient, and connected local

food system in Massachusetts.

Reach out to the budget conference committee

The FY25 budget proposals from the House and Senate include strong support for the local food system. Learn more below, and please email the committee!

Reach out to legislators to invite them to see the food system in action! 

Consider inviting your area legislators to your farm, farmers’ market, or other food system site this summer to demonstrate the impact the local food system has. Please reach out to Becca Miller if you need assistance at rebecca@mafoodsystem.org . HIP farmer vendors can use this newly redesigned HIP postcard template to collect stories from your customers.

NEASDA Annual Meeting

The annual NEASDA meeting was held from June 2-5, 2024 in Freeport, Maine. This year’s conference featured panels on PFAS in agriculture, farmland preservation, climate resilient agriculture, and workforce development.  

A day focused on climate resilient agriculture was held at Wolfe's Neck Center in Freeport, a 700- acre dairy, vegetable and training farm that is open to the public with approximately 30,000 visitors each year. Wolfe’s Neck Center was awarded $35 million in 2022 as part of the USDA Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities program, and provides technical assistance and incentive dollars to farmers that produce beef, dairy, wheat, rice and specialty crops to help them adopt climate resilient practices. Wolfe’s Neck also coordinates OpenTEAM, a data sharing platform that makes it easier for farmers to share information and provides information for new farms who want to adopt more ecologically sustainable practices. A panel focused on equity in climate smart agriculture featured Karna Ray, who leads Wolfe’s Neck Center’s work in the Hudson Valley, Christa Barfield, founder of FarmerJawn, and Dr. Dewayne Goldmon, Senior Advisor for racial equity to the Secretary of Agriculture, and discussed the roadblocks and opportunities to better support BIPOC farmers. 

A workforce development panel was held on June 5, featuring Hannah Carter from UMaine Cooperative Extension, Mateo Rull Garza from UMass MANNRS, Ellen Kahler from Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, and MDAR Commissioner Ashley Randle. Ellen Kahler identified full food system supply chain orientation as an opportunity in workforce training, and spoke about a workforce Commission in Vermont that brought together their Departments of Agriculture, Education, and Commerce. Commissioner Randle spoke about MDAR's Agricultural Youth Council, which is made up of rising high school seniors, and will meet for the first time later this month, among other developing work including a workforce development study and a pilot service corps. Mateo Rull Garza spoke about the importance of investing in existing initiatives and shared that, of a survey of 220 students, the number one strategy to promote agriculture identified was agency scholarships for students. 

Many of the issues facing the Northeast food system cross state borders; labor, a shortage of affordable housing, and climate change impacting agriculture and the larger food system. It was an important opportunity to learn about the work going on across the region and to share strategies to strengthen the local food system. 

NEASDA is made up of the Commissioners, Secretaries, and Directors of Agriculture from Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Image of Wolfe's Neck Center staff Tom Prohl next to the Center's chicken coop.

Senate budget complete

In late May, the Massachusetts Senate completed its budget debate, resulting in some budgetary wins for the local food system. These include $1,000,000 for food literacy, $250,000 for the local food policy council grant program, and $100,000 for the Cliff Effect Pilot Program. 

The Senate budget funds the MDAR administrative budget at a similar level to the House, but lowers the proposed amount for the Food Security Infrastructure Grant program to $10 million, from the Governor and House’s proposal of $25 million. 

The Senate also increased the amount proposed for the Healthy Incentives Program to $20 million, from the House’s $15 million and below the Governor’s full funding of $25 million. The Collaborative thanks the Senate for their leadership, and is also concerned that this amount will not be enough to ensure the program can continue to operate year-round without interruption, and serve more SNAP households that want to use this benefit. 

Both chambers have come together to establish a conference committee to reconcile the House and Senate budgets for approval and submission to the Governor. The state’s fiscal year ends on June 30, after which a new budget will hopefully be in place. 

See our updated budget table here, and our letter to the conference committee here.

Network Updates

The Urban Agriculture Network and Local Food Policy Councils Network met for a combined meeting in May to discuss urban agriculture ordinances. Community leaders from Worcester and Boston shared about their local ordinances including the reasons behind writing them, the process for advocating and getting the ordinances approved, and the implementation and impact since. The group learned how urban agriculture ordinances can not only expand what types of agricultural activities are allowed, but also help to protect already existing growing spaces and urban agriculture activities.

We will hold the next virtual quarterly meeting for the Food Waste Reduction Network on June 20 at 11 am. Anyone interested in food waste reduction is welcome to join. The meeting will be a space to share updates on food waste reduction policies and activities, and participate in networking with others doing similar work including food rescue, composting, waste management, school food waste, and more. Register for the virtual Zoom meeting here.

New data released from the New England Food System Planners Partnership

The New England Food System Planners Partnership is excited to release a new Data Dashboard to further share data from the report: A Regional Approach to Food System Resilience. The data is displayed in regional, state and county levels for most visualizations. One visualization shows how Massachusetts has lost farmland over the past seventy five years. This again demonstrates the many strategies identified in the state's Farmland Action Plan are needed to stop this trend.

Image of a screenshot from the new Data Dashboard showing acres of farmland by county in Massachusetts from 1945 - 2022.

Summer EBT launch

Massachusetts is launching a new Summer EBT program, thanks to $70 million of federal funding. Summer EBT will be administered by the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) in collaboration with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and local school districts. Eligible families will receive one payment of $120 per child between July and September, to provide funding for meals during the summer school break. Summer EBT will not earn HIP, but it compliments Massachusetts’ commitment to universal school meals and increases food security for children when they are out of school. More information, including outreach materials, can be found at Mass.gov/SummerEBT

Farm Bill updates

On May 24, the U.S. House Agriculture Committee passed an amended version of their Farm Bill proposal. Many national food and farming organizations have published analyses of the amended House proposal and the Senate's summary proposal. American Farmland Trust, National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, National Young Farmers Coalition, and the HEAL Food Alliance have all identified what policies that were included and some opportunities that were missed in the House bill. The Senate Agriculture Committee is expected to release its full proposal soon, and the two chambers will eventually debate and pass a bill. It remains unclear whether a Farm Bill will be passed this calendar year.