This school year, 243 school districts around the state are utilizing over $3 million in USDA funds to buy local foods that are fresh or minimally processed for their school menus. This funding, which encourages districts to source from BIPOC and women-owned farms and businesses, is making waves in the local food economy. While USDA […]

School Nutrition Staff: Complete the 2023 Farm to School Census    Conducted every four years, the USDA Farm to School Census is one of the best tools we have to show policymakers, producers, communities, and families what kind of impact farm to school is making on the school nutrition landscape to inform future resources.   In 2019, […]

Do you want to see more local food in school meals across Massachusetts? Now is the time to act! A legislative hearing will take place on November 13th for a bill to establish a local food incentive program for Massachusetts K-12 schools and early education programs. The bill, H.3993, “An Act supporting farm and school partnerships […]

On Monday, October 16th, we had an amazing visit to MA FRESH grant recipient Shaloh House last week where we saw the incredibly integrated farm to school program thriving at the school. Check out these photos from the event and don’t hesitate to reach out with help on your FRESH grant application (proposals due November […]

This year, Mass. Farm to School is working in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to facilitate the Northeast Food for Schools (NFS) program, and will be sharing stories from program participants. We will be highlighting stories from both the school and vendor sides, and will discuss the impact this funding […]

 Brittany Chloe Tope-Ojo, Mass. Farm to School’s Communications Assistant, sat down with Nancy Thibault of the Rainbow Child Development Center in Worcester to gain insight into how the MA FRESH grant played out at their early learning center. Overview Rainbow Child Development Center services 250 highly at-risk children daily from 6 weeks up to 13 […]

  Grant Recipient: South Shore YMCA   South Shore YMCA Preschool students, clad in raincoats of every color, marched through the rain and puddles to their outdoor classroom on Monday. They had their scheduled garden lesson with Farmer Kate, and were curious about, but quickly ignored the over two dozen Farm to School champions gathered […]

2022-2023 Massachusetts Farm to School Institute Team Update  The Institute is a year-long professional learning opportunity for a select number of school/district teams from across Massachusetts. Institute teams gather at a Fall retreat to develop a Farm to School action plan for the year and to  network with other participating schools and districts. Teams are […]

  Grant Recipient: Somerville Public Schools   On Tuesday, May 23rd a group of 10th graders from Somerville High School’s Culinary Arts program took a field trip to Groundwork Somerville’s South Street Farm. South Street Farm is the City of Somerville’s only urban farm, and they manage to pack in a lot of produce in […]

Please join us in welcoming our new Advisory Board Members! Sam Icklan Sam Icklan is the Director of Community Nutrition Services at Project Bread, leading on programming that provides professional development training and culinary support to school food service professionals to increase the quality of school meals. Sam has over 20 years of food service […]

Read below for some key lessons and highlights from the Mass. Farm to School Institute’s School & District Teams. Learn how they are putting farm to school into action. We look forward to sharing the work from our new group of 2022-2023 teams! 2018-2019 Team Report 2019-2020 Team Report 2021-2022 Team Report

 On August 30th, we had a great time meeting with school nutrition staff from Greenfield Public Schools at Just Roots Farm in Greenfield, MA! The event started with a walking tour of the farm led by Brooke Bullock (Just Root’s Community Engagement Coordinator). We saw the beautiful community gardens, available to anyone who wants a […]