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Issue #56 | August 2024
Supporting collective action
toward an equitable, sustainable, resilient, and connected local
food system in Massachusetts.
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Things you can do right now to
support systemic policy change.
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Build your relationship with your local legislators!
Invite your local representatives to your farm stand, farmers' market, local food policy council meeting, or school garden so they can see your work in action. Please reach out to Rebecca Miller with any questions or requests for support.
Share your thoughts on the direction of the Food Literacy Campaign!
Join us for a virtual campaign brainstorm meeting on August 15, from 3 - 4 pm. Register for the zoom link here.
Image of a National Farmers' Market Week celebration in Truro on August 5.
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Highlights of the
Collaborative's work.
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Legislative Updates
Fiscal Year 2025 budget
The legislature’s formal session for 2023 - 2024 wrapped up at the end of July, and while there are some growing calls to return for informal session this fall, things will be quieter on Beacon Hill until the new legislature is seated in January.
The fiscal year 2025 budget was finally passed in July and included a few of our priorities, thanks to our collective advocacy. Food literacy was again funded at $1 million; $750,000 of which will support the FRESH grant program and $250,000 of which will support local district-level wellness policymaking. An earmark of $120,000 for UMass Extension was also included in the final budget. A new $14 million Disaster Relief and Resiliency Fund was also established, thanks to the hard work of Representative Natalie Blais and Senator Jo Comerford, in response to the frosts and severe flooding the state experienced last year. Although this new fund is not specifically dedicated to agriculture, we hope that the state’s established support for farmers will continue, and efforts to actively build a climate resilient food system will grow.
Some of our other priorities were notably not funded at the amounts advocated for, including the Healthy Incentives Program, which was funded at $15 million. This will not be enough to last the full fiscal year and does not include the language the line item has had in recent years that states the program should operate year-round. The Collaborative has communicated our concern to legislative leadership, as the program spent more than $18 million in fiscal year 2024, and will prepare with our Campaign for HIP Funding coalition members to ask for supplemental funding at a later point this year.
Finally, the Governor cut funding for a few food system programs and organizations. This includes a veto of the $250,000 local food policy councils grant program, reduced funding for the Food Security Infrastructure Grant program from $15 to $10 million, reduced funding from $300,000 to $200,000 for the administration of the Mass Food Trust program, and reduced funding from $800,000 to $700,000 for the Buy Locals. The House acted quickly to overturn these budget vetoes - thank you Representative Paul Schmid and Hannah Kane for speaking on the House floor about the importance of these programs. You can watch the representatives speak in the video of the session on July 30 at 1:13:00 and 1:28:00, respectively. Unfortunately, the Senate did not take up the budget overrides during the final hours of formal session, so these cuts stand. These cuts, totaling almost $5.5 million, will impact the reach of some of our closest local food system partners.
Image of a garden at Salem High School on a recent farm to school tour.
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Economic development bond
Another casualty of the end of formal session was the economic development bond, which did not pass. The Senate’s version of the bond included; the agricultural equity commission, granting MDAR the authority to buy, protect, and sell farmland, reforms to agritourism permits and the definition of agritourism, and consistency in what's considered horticultural land for taxation purposes. A new grant program was also proposed in the Senate that would’ve supported food system climate resiliency and workforce development. You can watch Senator Comerford’s remarks here, starting at 10:10 in part 4/4, about the importance of these food system policy pieces during the Senate debate in early July. These pieces could still be passed if the legislature takes action this fall.
Without these policies and funding, Massachusetts will continue to have a local food system that cannot protect enough farmland as rapidly as we are losing it to varied pressures, support its farmers to make a sustainable living, and ensure all its residents can feed themselves. Massachusetts residents cannot wait another two years for these policies. We hope to see the legislature take action in the coming months.
Now is the time to be thinking about bills you’d like to see for next session. Along with refiling some of our priorities that did not pass this session, like the HIP enabling bill, PFAS, and food donation tax credit, the Collaborative will be working on legislation related to farmland access and other issues. What do you most want to see the legislature address to help strengthen the local food system? Come to the Forum or send us an email to start a discussion.
Image of a screenshot of the Senate session on July 11.
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Candidates Weigh in on Issues Facing the Local Food System
The Collaborative sent a survey and a briefing paper to all candidates running for state representative or senator in competitive (i.e., more than one candidate) races. We have received 16 responses so far, and will continue outreach and education efforts.
In response to a question on how they would further racial equity in the local food system, candidates responded with the following thoughts:
- As a woman of color, I am invested in providing opportunities for my community to have equitable access to the food system. If elected, I'll work to ensure that key food leaders of color have the ability to connect with me and my office to have their forces heard and to share ways in which I can support both local and statewide legislation that would help our communities. In addition, I would work closely with colleagues within the MA Black and Latino Caucus to identify policies that we are a voting bloc could advocate for that would benefit our communities of color.
- The Ag Equity Network has done some really great work here and I would happily follow their lead and continue to support their work in any way possible. I'm also wondering if MA has any youth farming programs (we had Future Farmers of America back in Nebraska) that have some focus on attracting youth of color? These programs could be very helpful in attracting youth to the incredibly fulfilling work of growing food for our communities and providing them with the education necessary to do so.
- I am a co-sponsor of H.87 - An Act promoting equity in agriculture, which would create a commission comprised of BIPOC farmers and leaders which would make recommendations regarding racially equitable investments and practices, examine resource and program accessibility of current programs, and recommend changes to increase equity in existing laws and regulations.
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Providing targeted funding/loans and technical assistance to support minority-owned farms, food organizations in the food system. Establish mentorship programs and networking opportunities that connect stakeholders of color with experienced industry leaders. Ensuring any organizations/boards/task forces/etc. in the food space have representative voices. Require data tracking regarding farming demographics.
If candidates in your area are not on this list, consider reaching out to them to encourage them to share their thoughts on the local food system!
The Collaborative does not endorse candidates, but encourages all voters to learn about where candidates stand on food system issues.
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Network Update
The Local Food Policy Councils network met in July and each Council shared their mission and vision statements. Together, we discussed the similarities and differences we saw between the missions. We discussed the ways that the councils had common goals and what resonated with us from other mission statements. Finally, we reflected on how our mission can inform our goals and strategies.
Are you interested in establishing a local food policy council in your area? Check out our Local Food Policy Council Network page to learn more about food policy councils across the state, access resources, and view information about getting involved with the network.
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Inspiring work being done by some
of our friends in Massachusetts.
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Discrimination Financial Assistance Program makes awards
The federal Discrimination Financial Assistance Program awarded funding to farmers, ranchers and forest landowners who experienced discrimination in United States Department of Agriculture farm lending programs prior to January 2021. Of the 43,000 awards, there were 36 total made to Massachusetts farmers. Of those awards, 21 were made to current producers and 15 who had planned to become farmers, ranchers or foresters. The program's website has further information.
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Thoughtful insights about
food system issues.
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USDA launches new healthy retail support program
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that they are launching a new program aimed to increase access to healthy foods in communities underserved by grocery stores. Funds in the new Food Access and Retail Expansion Fund, or FARE fund, can be used for business and technical support, as well as for supporting pre- development planning, land and equipment purchasing, construction, among other uses. The FARE fund will help projects that accept benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and increase or preserve the availability of fresh healthy food in underserved areas. A Request for Applications will be released sometime this month.
This fund builds on the work of the Massachusetts Food Trust, which has improved access to healthy food retail for more than 692,000 residents and supported more than 1,150 jobs (89% of which were hired from within the local communities) since its launch in 2018.
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Upcoming Food System Events
Know of another great source of events or jobs? Let us know!
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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.
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