Issue #36 | Nov 2022







Supporting collective action
toward an equitable, sustainable, resilient, and connected local
food system in Massachusetts.


Advocate
Things you can do right now to
support systemic policy change.
VOTE!
November 8 is election day. The new governor and legislature will shape the state’s food policy in coming years. See below for some resources to help learn about their positions.

Provide feedback on the FSIG program
Legislators want to hear from you about how the FSIG program has succeeded and how it could be better. Complete their survey here.

Get involved in a food system mapping project
MDAR is seeking input from food system stakeholders and interested organizations on a potential statewide food system mapping grant project. Details about how to provide input are here.
Collaborate
Highlights of the
Collaborative's work.
Sign on to the Campaign for Food Literacy

All K - 12 students should have the opportunity to learn about agriculture, nutrition, food justice, and culinary skills. These lessons help students understand their connections to - and the importance of - the food system and how their choices around food impact their health and the economic and environmental sustainability of their communities. The Collaborative is facilitating the Campaign for Food Literacy, advocating for state investments and policy changes to make this happen.

We know from our research that there are engaging and rigorous food literacy lessons taking place across the state, but also that there are many challenges to implementing this in every school. Food literacy is not included in most state frameworks or tested on the MCAS, many teachers feel unprepared to teach about the food system, and it can be difficult to find high-quality, curriculum-aligned lessons. More funding is needed to support food system education

If your organization supports expanding food system literacy, we invite you to sign on to support the campaign here. You can see some of the organizations that have already signed on listed here. If you are an individual who would like to be kept up-to-date about ways to engage in the campaign, please sign up here.
Thanks for making the Forum a success

More than 200 people attended the 2022 MA Food System Forum on Oct 12 in Sturbridge. Attendees met and reconnected with each other over breakfast and lunch, attended lively workshops on topics ranging from food insecurity policy, environmental issues related to the food system, food system education, and equity in agriculture.

Thank you to the attendees, speakers, and sponsors for making this Forum a successful learning and networking opportunity. For summaries of the workshops, please see our website.
Vote for a strong food system!

The Collaborative sent a questionnaire and briefing document to all candidates running in contested races for state representative, senator, and governor. We received 40 responses from candidates. As we head into election week, view responses to the Collaborative’s questionnaire here and consider candidates’ positions on food system issues as you make your choices. We are considering ways to continue engaging with candidates for public office, and thank members of the pilot coalition for their efforts to reach out to candidates and host forums.

Two important ballot questions also have significant implications for the food system. The Collaborative supports question 1, the Fair Share Amendment, which would increase taxes on high-income earners and commit resources to transportation and public education, two issues deeply connected to food access and public health. We also support question 4, which would uphold The Work and Family Mobility Act, ensuring that families have access to drivers licenses so they can legally drive to work and needed services.
Celebrate
Inspiring work being done by some
of our friends in Massachusetts.
Holyoke Farmers Market 

J.R. Rivera started volunteering at the Holyoke Farmers Market at the start of the pandemic to bring more Latinx community members to the market, and has now been the market manager for two years. Utilizing his fluency in Spanish and his "boots on the ground" work, he has a comprehensive approach to addressing the complex issues residents face, running a shuttle bus program that helps residents get to the market, door knocking to spread community awareness about the market and SNAP and HIP, and working with a local food distributor to bring plantains and mangoes, which are not local but are important fruits to Holyoke’s large Puerto Rican population, to the market in the future. J.R. has perfected a quick “rap” in Spanish about the importance of HIP, and that explains the program and how to use it. 

J.R. also organizes as a leader in a tenants union, and holds meetings in the community garden in the summer. The community garden includes tools to enable anyone who may need food to harvest it while walking by, and art that beautifies the neighborhood. He has worked to build a relationship between the market and Nuestras Raices, an organization that helps immigrant farmers in Holyoke start and expand their businesses. While knocking on doors, J.R. met one of the Nuestras Raices farmers and is working to bring him to the market as a vendor.  
Discover
Thoughtful insights about
food system issues.
Native groups seek to repair lands damaged by colonization

The Wampanoag Common Lands seeks to restore a 32-acre former Catholic summer camp on the banks of the Muddy Pond in Kingston to something closer to what it might have looked like before European colonization transformed it. Old summer camp buildings have been torn down and pavement has been scraped away. In their place, staff and volunteers this summer planted dozens of native species significant to Wampanoag culture, such as white oak trees, blueberry bushes, witch hazel, goldenrod and hay-scented ferns. They are also building bat houses and considering reintroducing threatened and rare native animal species, such as northern red-bellied turtles. The organization is also exploring other uses, such as traditional Wampanoag lodges for hosting guests or other community functions

Ramona Peters, a Mashpee Wampanoag who founded The Native Land Conservancy, the local Native group that received the donated land this year, said the effort is all the more meaningful because the land is some five miles from where Pilgrims arriving on the Mayflower established the English colony of Plymouth, near the remnants of a Wampanoag community wiped out by European disease. “This is basically where the first impact of colonization of this country happened,” she said. “It’s very significant that it’s been returned to us.”
Participate

The Massachusetts Food System Collaborative envisions a local food system where everyone has access to healthy food, to land to grow food, to good jobs, and to the systems where policy decisions are made. Read more about our vision and our work.