Grant Program Regional Food Systems

To develop year-round custom product manufacturing services for the institutional market as a means for establishing an economically-viable supply chain for farmers in New England.

To educate critical farm to school decisionmakers about the need for stronger policies and programs to increase local foods procurement by Massachusetts schools.

To work with American Farmland Trust and Conservation Law Foundation to engage and educate policymakers and support stakeholder efforts to advance public policy actions around farmland access and farm transfer in New England.

To provide technical assistance and educational resources to farmers and farmland owners in order to improve farmland access, transfer, and tenure for beginning and established farmers in New England.

To implement the Milk with Dignity Program in Ben & Jerry’s supply chain.

To  develop a feasibility study of the interest of new American farm workers to organize farm labor pools to address the increasing shortage of available skilled agricultural labor in New England.

To support new American farmers in Maine and the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts and Connecticut to generate greater economic security for themselves, healthy food for local communities, and models for cooperative farm business development for the region’s farmers.

To advance policies supporting sustainable agriculture and food systems in the Northeast, and support food systems practitioners in being more effective policy advocates.

To grow and diversify its produce sales to institutions and to promote greater procurement of regionally-produced foods by colleges, regional supply chain facilitators, and corporate purchasers.

To participate in creating a sustainable New England food system that supports community health and the region’s farming economy, by increasing the amount of local food being purchased by health care facilities.