11/3/2022 Jeffrey D. Wagner WESTPORT — Participating teachers called it the best professional development they have ever had. School leaders envision a future in which all produce at the school is grown locally. Westport earlier this fall was among a handful of districts statewide to participate in the 6th annual Massachusetts Farm to School Institute. According […]

Mass. Farm to School’s Harvest of the Month program is highlighted in the June/July 2021 issue of School Nutrition Magazine (a publication of the School Nutrition Association). The article, “Making the Most of Harvest of the Month,” by Dayle Hayes (@SchoolMealsThatRock), features Massachusetts Farm to School (and our friends at Island Grown Initiative (of Martha’s […]

Press Release Archive

March 22, 2024 // Shook, Ashley. Lt. Gov. attends farm to school conference in Northampton WWLP22 News Vide0.  October 30, 2023 // Kazakiewich, Todd. 5 schools in Boston receiving hydroponic towers to grow healthy food. WCVB Channel 5 Video.  November 29, 2022 // Kalb, Heath. Kale Blazer awarded to farm-to-school initiative in Greenfield schools. WWLP22 […]

9/23/2019 By Margaret Christie his year’s back-to-school season has come with lots of good news about the farm-to-school efforts underway in local K-12 and college dining services. Our schools are serving more local food in the cafeteria, growing food and teaching lessons in school gardens and connecting food and farms to learning goals in the […]

9/13/2019 In Cambridge, where many students speak a home language other than English, school lunches have grown to be a far more complex, yet exciting challenge for food services. At Cambridge Public Schools breakfast is free, and, for lunch, 43 percent of the student body qualified for free or reduced-price meals last year. Now, with help from the […]

10/5/2018 Haverhill Public Schools paraprofessional Nancy Burke has long had a green thumb, and now the local educator has a kale blazer to go with it. Burke, a former Massachusetts Teachers Association Support Professional of the Year, has been recognized for her efforts to keep city schools green. On Wednesday, the Massachusetts Farm to School […]

10/4/2018 HAVERHILL — The founder of a gardening program tailored to students with special needs at Haverhill High School has been named one of this year’s Kale Blazer award recipients by the nonprofit Massachusetts Farm to School organization. Nancy Burke, a special education paraprofessional at the high school, was one of three people in the state […]

WWLP Channel 22 covered our Farm to School Awareness Day, a celebration of Farm to School Month at the Massachusetts State House in October 2017. Supporters of Farm to School Meals Tout Program’s Success at State House October 26, 2017 BOSTON (WWLP) – More than 100 local farms are providing children across the state with […]

10/12/17 For 16 years, the role and importance of the nonprofit Western Mass. Food Processing Center on Wells Street in Greenfield has mushroomed. With its new 2,800-square-foot cold-storage project, which is nearly ready, the Franklin County Community Development Corp.’s facility is helping more and more area farmers reach more and more customers by converting their […]

10/6/2017 By Richie Davis As it works to complete its 2,800-square-foot cold storage project within the next four weeks, the Franklin County Community Development Corp. on Friday won a three-year, $446,210 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The money is intended to help the Community Development Corp.’s Western Massachusetts Food Processing Center ramp up […]

5/22/2017 By Chloe Reichel Fish belongs in schools. Jenny DeVivo, head chef at the West Tisbury School, certainly thinks so. In November she began Fish Fridays at the school, partnering with Red’s Best, a seafood wholesaler, to provide the school with locally caught, underutilized fish on a weekly basis. All year long students have been enjoying fresh fish lunches, […]