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Issue #29 | April 2022
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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Attend a Budget Briefing for Advocates
Join the Collaborative and other food system stakeholders for a briefing on our FY2023 budget recommendations and information on opportunities for advocacy at 2:00pm on April 11. Register here.
Represent Agriculture at a Climate Change Hearing
Let state policymakers know that agriculture should be considered in climate change policy. Attend one of two hearings on April 14 to provide input to the Global Warming Solutions Act Implementation Advisory Committee. Details here.
Are You a Farmer Who has Noticed the Impacts of Climate Change?
To help make the case for support for farmers struggling with the impacts of climate change we are collecting stories from farmers who have seen first hand how extreme temperatures, droughts, floods, and other weather-related issues impact farm sustainability. Contact Jeff Cole at jeff@mafoodsystem.org. if you would like to be included.
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Highlights of the
Collaborative's work.
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Database of supports for farmers facing climate change
Massachusetts farmers feel the impact of climate change acutely, with excessive rain, extended droughts, temperature extremes, and other impacts all placing significant pressure on growers’ ability to plan, produce, and remain sustainable. It also impacts the food security of all Massachusetts residents.
With that in mind, the Collaborative has developed this resource, a searchable data set of many federal, state and private programs and information that support, or may support, farmers as they explore and implement solutions to climate change and enhanced food security. You can explore the information using a number of filters including: type of climate risk, program name, type of program, and agency/business implementing programs. This effort is being supported by The Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture. This resulting data is a work in progress and can be downloaded for use.
Please send input and additional information to Jeff Cole, MFSC’s Ag Network Coordinator.
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The MA Urban Ag Network plans for 2022
The Massachusetts urban agriculture network has been holding regular skill shares in 2022, including recent sessions on evaluating programs and grant writing. The next skill share will be on farmers’ markets and mobile markets for urban agriculture organizations and urban farmers, on April 12th from 11:30am - 1pm. This skill share will feature Grace Sliwoski and Ashley Carter from the REC, Zoey Sloate from CISA, JR from the Holyoke Farmers' Market, and Dai Kim from Mill City Grows as panelists. Urban agriculture stakeholders can register here for the Zoom link.
Skill shares are being planned for the rest of 2022 on public policy and advocacy, program models, listening sessions, and seed ordering. Ideas for future skill shares or other sessions from network members are welcome. This is a member-driven network, and we need to hear from you to make sure this space is serving your needs and building stronger connections between urban ag stakeholders.
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Help ensure candidates discuss food system issues
Over the past six years, The Collaborative has educated elected officials, from city councilors to the Governor’s administration, about policy changes needed to make the local food system more sustainable, equitable, and resilient. We’ve done this through advocacy campaigns, introducing bills or budget items, facilitating the founding of the legislative Food System Caucus, and engaging candidates for public office during election years.
The Collaborative will be working with local organizations to educate candidates running for state representative and senator in the 2022 state elections. The Collaborative believes in building the capacity of community-based organizations to engage in advocacy, and will partner with them to engage candidates running for state representative and senator in competitive races to educate the candidates in discussions about food system issues, as a way of building power together.
The first training for community-based organizations to engage in the elections project will be held on April 13th at 12pm. If you are with a community-based organization that would like to help educate your future elected officials on food system issues, please register for the Zoom link here. The Collaborative is particularly interested in working with organizations in and adjacent to districts with competitive races - where there are more than one candidate running for an elected office. This project will not endorse any candidates for election.
The Collaborative will host another training in May for those who are not able to make the April session. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to Becca Miller to be notified about future trainings, and with any questions on this project.
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Ag Equity Network provides forum for BIPOC farmers
The Ag Equity Network has begun holding regular CAFÉ (Coalition for Agriculture & Food Equity) Chats, an opportunity for BIPOC farmers to discuss issues relevant to equity in agriculture and to build relationships among each other.
The first session took place on February 17 and included Hameed Bello of Agric Organics Farm in Wilbraham and Pat Spence of the Urban Farming Institute in Boston. The conversation was riveting and spanned many areas at the intersection of equity and agriculture, such as difficulties accessing loans due to bureaucratic processes, being shut out of the decision makers’ room when agricultural resources are being allocated, the impacts of climate change on the growing season, the challenges of land acquisition, and possible ways of addressing those difficulties. Overall, the conversation was powerful, and covered topics that we look forward to digging into further in future conversations in order to affect impactful policy, programming, and resources in regards to equity in agriculture.
We will be having our next CAFÉ session soon. Please email Norris Guscott for more information about the Ag Equity Network.
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New England Feeding New England - March Quarterly Update Meeting
More than 70 people joined the New England Feeding New England quarterly update meeting on March 8 to hear updates on this 10-year initiative with the goal that 30% of food consumed in New England is produced or harvested in New England by 2030. The Collaborative is a partner on the project. One of the researchers on the project, Nic Rockler, gave a preview of some of his work about the economic impact of the food system in New England. He found that there are 932,000 jobs in the New England food system and the value of this sector is $38 billion. In addition, the indirect impact of the food system is far greater – for every job in the food system, an additional .25 jobs are created.
In Massachusetts specifically, there are 458,000 jobs in the food system, accounting for 9.5% of the state employment. The key sectors include grocery, seafood, food service, and bakeries. Click here to watch the recording. Final numbers from this and other research being undertaken by the project will be published in September.
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Inspiring work being done by some
of our friends in Massachusetts.
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The Carrot Project
Carrot also pursues sector-wide change as the host of the Agricultural Viability Alliance, a coalition supporting equitable access to 1:1 farm and food business technical assistance in New England and the Hudson Valley.
The Carrot Project welcomed Myra Marcellin as its new Executive Director in February. The organization looks forward to advancing a resilient, equitable, and just food system in New England – a system where successful farms and agricultural businesses are increasing in number and racial diversity and are contributing to the region’s economic, environmental, and social well-being.
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Thoughtful insights about
food system issues.
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Analyzing Farm Inputs: The Cost to Farm Keeps Rising
National data is forecasting increased production costs for farmers this season. Due to Russia’s war in Ukraine and the expected loss of food produced in the region - close to 30% of the world’s wheat exports come from the two countries - other commodity-producing countries will need to supply more. As more wheat is planted, there will be an increased demand for fertilizer, seed, pesticides, and machinery. The cost of fertilizer and fuel has also increased dramatically in recent months as both are typically exported by Russia. The pandemic continues to disrupt the supply chain, so many farmers have to wait months or years for machinery that is more expensive. As we know from the 2017 USDA Census of Agriculture, for every dollar Massachusetts farmers spend on production, they earn just 96 cents. That gap has likely widened since then, reinforcing the need for greater support for agriculture and adjustments to markets so that farmers are better able to command a fair price for their products.
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Upcoming Food System Events
Know of another great source of events or jobs? Let us know!
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Job Posting Sites
Job Listserv
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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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