September 2023 | Issue 13 | |
Join Us for a NEFNE '30% by 2030' Report Webinar! | |
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What would it take for 30% of the food consumed in New England to be regionally produced by 2030?
Join us for a Webinar on September 26th, 1-2:30pm!
The New England Food System Planners Partnership will address this question during our webinar - New England Feeding New England: A Regional Approach to Food System Resilience - based on the four-volume report of foundational food system data released in June 2023.
The report lays out an unprecedented compilation of the most current New England food systems data and frames the data intentionally to inspire conversation and action to reach the report's proposed goal of New England producing and consuming 30% of its food by 2030. In alignment with the New England Food Vision put forth by Food Solutions New England, the NEFNE project represents a nearer term roadmap for achieving increased regional resiliency.
Lead project managers, partners and report researchers will join us to dig into the data. They will provide a short summary of the volumes and offer a Q&A with the goal of helping you and your organization utilize the report in strategic planning, fundraising, advocacy and other work as we continue to build vibrant food systems in New England.
Register Here!
If you have questions or comments about registering, please reach out to leah@vsjf.org
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featuring Brian Donahue, Dietary Patterns Team Leader for Volume 1: Estimating Resilient Eating Patterns | |
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Brian Donahue is Professor Emeritus of American Environmental Studies at Brandeis University. He holds a BA, MA, and PhD from the Brandeis program in the History of American Civilization.
Brian was the Dietary Patterns Team Leader that developed Volume 1: Estimating Resilient Eating Patterns. Brian and his family o-own and manage Bascom Hollow Farm in Gill, Massachusetts.
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Vermont F2P Lunch & Learn
Join us for an overview from Brian Donahue about what the Dietary Patterns Team learned followed by a discussion of the implications for the future of Vermont's food system.
Friday, September 29th, 2023 (12-1:15pm)
*Please note - you must be a VT F2P Member to access the Zoom and attend.
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NH Food Alliance Network Café Series
Join us for an overview from Brian Donahue about what the Dietary Patterns Team learned followed by a discussion of the implications for the future of New Hampshire's food system.
Friday, October 6th, 2023 (12-1pm)
*Registration is open to the public
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What can each New England state do to increase food security and access while building resilience for the whole region?
Drawing on the '30% by 2030' report, we contextualized important characteristics of each state's food systems for consideration to answer these key questions:
What strengths does each state's food system possess and what opportunities can be pursued? What weaknesses persist and what threats loom?
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Hover over each image to view each State Brief | |
State Briefs for Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Maine coming soon! | |
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NEFNE recently signed on to support the New England Food Hub & Processors Network, housed at the NH Food Alliance. The network "aims to build a New England food system where local products can be harvested, packed, processed, ordered, transported and delivered to New England hospitals, K-12 schools, restaurants, universities, grocers and consumers." Their members prioritize supporting local producers who grow, raise and catch food in ways that are economically sustainable for our region. Together, they are working towards equitable access to fresh, nourishing food for all, prioritizing those who have historically been marginalized, and partnering with producers who provide their workers fair wages. They share a similar vision for building a regional foodshed and see the value in collaboration over competition.
Through this alignment, we can continue to work towards the New England Feeding New England goal of '30% by 2030!'
Meet the Network Coordinators
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Katelyn Porter, Value Chain Coordinator, NH Food Alliance | |
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Leah Rovner, Project Director,
New England Feeding New England
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Betsy Skoda, Regional Program Manager, Health Care Without Harm
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What is a food system?
A "food system" simply refers to all the people, resources, and processes--foo production, processing, packaging, distributing, selling, preparing, and disposing--that move food from farm and ocean to our plates.
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Using a variety of data sources, we can measure food production trends, economic trends, health trends, environmental trends, and equity trends. Taken together, these trends can help us understand if our food system is moving in a resilient direction and where we need intervene through policy, investment, education, technical assistance and other levers. Each component of the food system, and each state in New England has an important role to play.
(New England Feeding New England: A Regional Approach to Food System Resilience, Executive Summary, pages 4-5, Figure 1: New England's Food System)
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The seven backbone organizations that make up the New England Food System Planners Partnership offer a variety of services to farmers, fishermen, entrepreneurs, businesses, students, advocates, funders, policymakers, and other stakeholders across the region's food system.
Vermont Farm to Plate provides food system job openings on its website.
Rhode Island Food Policy Council offers a Data Dashboard on their website which provides a more comprehensive picture of the state's food system.
NH Food Alliance hosts an Annual Gathering that brings stakeholders together to strengthen the state's food system.
Maine Food Strategy helps lead the Maine Food Convergence Project, which raises awareness of inequities in the food system and facilitates stakeholder driven work groups such as the Food Processing Work group.
Connecticut Food System Alliance is developing the state's first Food Action Plan, drawing from state plans in ME and MA and aligned with the '30% by 2030' goal.
Massachusetts Food System Collaborative offers advocacy trainings and the opportunity to influence food and farming legislation.
Food Solutions New England leads a 21-Day Racial Equity Habit-Building Challenge every April to join in a shared journey of learning and charting a course of action to dismantle racism in our food system and world.
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Local Food Counts Project - Rhode Island
Rhode Island Commerce seeks a Contractor to Local Food Count Rhode Island! Apply here.
Part of the 10-year New England Feeding New England project is to conduct Local Food Counts in five of the New England states. We have assembled a team of lead analysts and research assistants in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and soon, Rhode Island and Maine.
Local Food Counts data from all six of the New England states will enable us to better understand what percent of our food supply is being grown, sold and consumed in the region.
*Vermont's Local Food Count data was collected in 2011, 2014, 2017, and 2020 and VT Farm to Plate developed the peer reviewed methodology and the process roadmap we are following.
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Thank you to the growing list of regional and state-level organizations who have invited us to speak about NEFNE! | |
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Upcoming Events
NEFNE Webinar, September 26, 2023
FocusMaine Food Series Forum, September 27, 2023
RI Food Dealers Association, September 27, 2023
Vermont Farm 2 Plate Network Webinar, September 29, 2023
NH Food Alliance Network Café Series, October 6, 2023
Massachusetts Food System Caucus, October 17, 2023
NH Food Alliance Strategy Retreat, October 24, 2023
Regional Conservation Partnership Network Gathering, November 9, 2023
University of Vermont Food System Summit, November 10, 2023
RI Hunger Elimination Task Force, November 14, 2023
Vermont Farm to Plate Network Gathering, November 16 & 17, 2023
Massachusetts Food System Forum, December 8th, 2023
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There are a lot of exciting food systems efforts in play across the region - from news coverage to research endeavors - here are a few we're excited about | |
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The USDA-AMS just released a Resilience Playbook – Local and Regional Food Systems Response to Covid
The 3rd Annual BIPOC Fest in Portsmouth, NH, on September 24th, 2023
A take on the Future of Food
CommonWealth Kitchen's Food Festival in South Boston, MA, on October 4th, 2023
Wildlands, Woodlands, Farmlands and Communities' Annual RCP Network Gathering in Amherst, MA, on November 9th, 2023
The Northeast Grainshed Alliance's 2nd Annual Symposium at Trillium Brewery in Canton, MA, on November 13th, 2023
Did you know that UMASS Amherst's award-winning food is also available to the public?
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The New England Food System Planners Partnership (NEFSPP) is a collaboration amongst six state-level food system organizations, six-state agricultural agency representatives and Food Solutions New England (FSNE), a regional network that unites the food system community. Together, we are mobilizing our networks to impact local and regional food supply chains, in turn, strengthening and growing New England's food system. The Partnership works together to disseminate information on trends, challenges and opportunities in alignment with FSNE's New England Food Vision, and with hundreds of groups and organizations involved in food systems development across the region. | | | | |
