Issue #53 | May 2024







Supporting collective action
toward an equitable, sustainable, resilient, and connected local
food system in Massachusetts.
Advocate
Things you can do right now to
support systemic policy change.
Help make the state budget better!

It’s state budget season! The Senate budget debate will begin very soon - see the below article for details. Right now is a great time to reach out to your Senators with requests for local budget needs.
Collaborate
Highlights of the
Collaborative's work.
House Budget passes, Senate to take up in May

After the House Committee on Ways and Means released its FY25 budget draft, and the full House of Representatives debated the content, the House passed its proposed budget at the end of April. The debate ultimately failed to yield any new support for food system priorities, but did continue forward some important investments. 

The House budget once again includes $25 million for the Food Security Infrastructure Grant (FSIG) program, matching Governor Healey’s proposal. A permanent FSIG program demonstrates a strong commitment to sustaining local food system enterprises; the FSIG program has been oversubscribed in previous rounds of funding, and this funding will help more local food system enterprises to flourish. The House budget again included funding for universal free school meals, increasing the proposed funding to $190 million as more students eat at school. 

However, funding for HIP fell short with level funding at $15 million compared to the $25 million requested by the Campaign for HIP Funding, which the Campaign estimates will allow the program to continue operating year-round and serve more SNAP households using the program. The House also failed to pass a budget that would continue to fund food literacy and the local food policy council grant program, as well as approving other earmarks. Additionally, the House failed to approve the request for funding increases for the Buy Locals and the Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance Program (MEFAP), and failed to renew state-funded SNAP.

The budget process now moves to the Senate chamber, where the Senate Committee on Ways and Means is expected to release its budget draft on May 7, 2024; amendments will be filed and debate will take place in the following weeks. Watch the Collaborative’s email and social media calls to action for opportunities to advocate for important food system programs during the debate process. Food system requests are a small part of the budget; if the Senate were to approve all of the Collaborative’s and our statewide partners' budgetary requests, state funding dedicated to the food system would equal roughly 0.6% of the total $57 billion in the FY25 budget. 
Network Updates

The Local Food Policy Council Network met in April for a skill share focused on conducting Community Food Assessments (CFA). A panel of food policy council leaders shared their experience with CFA’s in their community including representatives from Salem Food for All, Everett Community Growers/Everett Food Policy Council, Malden Food Policy Council, and Southcoast Food Policy Council. These community leaders shared why they decided to conduct a CFA, the necessary resources needed, their data collection methods, and how they were able to use the data to inform continued food system work. The Collaborative has developed this resource guide on Community Food Assessments. The Food Policy Councils will join the Urban Agriculture coalition in May to discuss municipal urban agriculture ordinances. 
The Urban Agriculture Coalition also met in April for a roundtable discussion on community gardens and growing spaces. Attendees heard from several organizations about their community growing spaces including how and by who they are stewarded, their approach to design and food production, and more. Stakeholders who shared included Boston Food Forest Coalition, Just Roots, Regional Environmental Council, OASIS on Ballou Ave Urban Farm, Round Table Community Gardens, and Pittsfield Community Gardens. The next coalition meeting will be held on May 23 focused on municipal urban agriculture ordinances. Register for the Zoom meeting here. 

The Campaign for Food Literacy has been engaged in recent advocacy efforts including attending Agriculture Day at the state house to urge legislators to support food literacy in the FY25 budget. The coalition will continue our advocacy with a virtual Lobby Day meeting on May 16, 2024. The coalition will come together in support of food system education by hearing about exciting food literacy activities and calling our Senators to ensure food literacy funding is supported in the upcoming budget.

The Agricultural Equity Network held an inaugural meeting with the Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Agriculture (MDAR), Ashley Randle. The meeting kicked off regular meetings between the Network and MDAR. Members of the Network learned about MDAR’s approaches to equity and the role the Network plays in those approaches, and then spoke about the USDA’s acknowledgement regarding past inequitable policies. This meeting was a chance to share information and open conversation between BIPOC farmers, food system stakeholders and MDAR leadership and staff.

This meeting represents the core equity tenet of relationship building. The Collaborative thanks Commissioner Randle, Rebecca Davidson, and Olivia Palmer for attending the meeting enthusiastically, authentically, and prepared to listen; and to Network members for sharing honestly and contributing thoughtfully to the discussion. The Ag Equity Network looks forward to future engagement and collaboration with MDAR.
Celebrate
Inspiring work being done by some
of our friends in Massachusetts.
Food literacy curriculum developed for Martha's Vineyard

Island Grown Schools works “with all seven public schools on the island and with nine preschools, and [reaches] more than 2,300 students from 2-18 years old.” Island Grown Schools has created a curriculum for use by the Martha's Vineyard School district, and is available for free on their website to search and use. The curriculum, which is implemented in all the schools and grade levels across the school district, is one of the many examples in the state of organizations working to increase access to food literacy throughout Massachusetts.
Discover
Thoughtful insights about
food system issues.
New USDA school procurement rules includes local for the first time
On July 1, 2024, new USDA rules will go into effect that regulate school meals. These rules covers school lunch nutrition requirements, flexibility around how menus at school are planned, as well as standards around how school lunch operates. One new change for school lunch is that the final rule allows “locally grown,” “locally raised,” or “locally caught” in specifications for procurement (page 17 of this summary). According to National Farm to School Network, under "current rules, local food can be preferred in bid scoring criteria but bids cannot specify a food must be local. This change simplifies the geographic preference process for child nutrition programs, making it easier to purchase local foods."
Participate

The Massachusetts Food System Collaborative envisions a local food system where everyone has access to healthy food, to land to grow food, to good jobs, and to the systems where policy decisions are made. Read more about our vision and our work.