News

Bree-Z Knoll Farm got its start in 1968 when Warren and Sandy Facey bought two cows for their three children as part of a 4-H project. Today the Leyden farm milks 120 cows on 650 acres, and is operated by their son, Randy, and his wife Angie. Bree-Z Knoll uses rotational grazing in the spring, […]

Valley Malt was founded in 2010 when Andrea Stanley started to talk with local farmers about the grains they were growing and began to select varieties of barley to malt for local brewers. In early 2012 they upgraded their equipment to a system capable of malting four tons of grain per week. For the past […]

Massachusetts lawmakers are beginning to debate how to best invest billions of dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). They need to hear from YOU about the importance of supporting a resilient local food system. Last year, the Food Security Infrastructure Grant (FSIG) program received more than $200 million in requests for funding from […]

Municipal agricultural commissions have a new role to play, thanks to an amendment to the law that gives local boards of health their authority, which was enacted earlier this year. Local boards of health must now submit any new regulation that impacts agriculture to the agricultural commission, should it exist, for review before it can […]

Funds from the most recent federal coronavirus relief package, the American Rescue Plan (ARP), will soon be available to municipalities. The program’s preliminary guidance cites food insecurity as one of the reasons these resources are being distributed, and states that funds may be spent “To respond to the public health emergency or its negative economic […]

Last week’s budget draft from the Senate Committee on Ways and Means reflects how effective all of your advocacy has been! The proposal included funding at the requested levels for priorities like the Healthy Incentives Program, Buy Local Organizations, MEFAP, the MA Food Trust, and others. Four amendments have been introduced that would further strengthen […]

Last week’s budget proposal from the House Committee on Ways and Means budget draft reflects how effective all of your advocacy has been! The proposal included funding at the requested levels for priorities like the Healthy Incentives Program, Buy Local Organizations, MEFAP, the MA Food Trust, and others. Three amendments have been introduced that would […]

Do you want to: Understand how to read legislation? Learn advocacy tips to help bills get passed? Help build advocacy efforts around key bills? Then join the Collaborative for our upcoming series of Advocacy 102 sessions on key local food system bills under consideration in the Massachusetts Legislature. The Zoom-based workshops begin on April 22 […]

Massachusetts’ local food system has been vital to the response to COVID-19.When the national and global food supply chains failed, local farmers,fishermen, processors, and distributors stepped up to help fill the gaps. When the crisis increased demand for the emergency food system, food banks, pantries, schools, and other community-based organizations developed and implemented innovative ways […]

The Massachusetts Food System Collaborative (www.mafoodsystem.org), which has led the Campaign for HIP Funding (www.hipma.org) for four years, opposes Governor Baker’s plan to dramatically cut support for healthy families and sustainable farms by reducing funding for the Healthy Incentives Program (HIP) as proposed in yesterday’s release of H1. HIP is a vital program for nearly […]