The MA Food System Collaborative has released “Sustainability and Equity in the Massachusetts Food System: A Progress Report.” This report showcases organizations, businesses and networks working toward the goals in the MA Local Food Action Plan, which was completed at the end of 2015.
Each organization highlighted in the report is working toward a sustainable, equitable food system in creative and collaborative ways. A task force is enabling urban agriculture, while an island-based organization is running a program to turn food scraps into compost. Farms are improving their economic and environmental sustainability, and fishermen are working collectively to find a local market for underappreciated fish species. Groups are creating spaces for local butchering and local processing. Institutions are prioritizing purchasing local food, and businesses are connecting farmers to chefs. Advocates are promoting state policies to improve access to grocery stores and school breakfast, while farmers are participating in the Healthy Incentives Program to help more customers be able to purchase their produce. Many organizations are working to prepare children, adults, and people who are incarcerated to successfully fill jobs on farms or in restaurants, or even run their own food businesses.
Collectively, along with hundreds of other examples around the state, these efforts illustrate the breadth of the food system as well as the many ways issues like fair access to jobs, land, and food are being addressed.
The report is available here.
