Northeast Food for Schools Story: Walden Local Meat

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, on both the school and vendor sides, showing the impact this funding has had on communities across Massachusetts. 

Walden Local Meat

Chris Murphy, the Vice President of Marketing & Sales at Walden Local, spoke with us about the company’s experience forming new partnerships with schools made possible by Northeast Food for Schools funding, sharing their passion for local grass fed beef and pastured meats with their partner schools, and educating others about the program.

Walden Local Meat sells local, grass-fed beef and other pasture-raised meat products. They are focused on nourishing communities and reinvigorating the local agricultural economy and partner with over 75 local farmers and fishers that work outside of the industrial meat complex. While in the past they have focused on providing “better-for-you-meat” to tens of thousands of individuals and families on a membership basis, they have expanded to the school market with the help of funding from Northeast Food for Schools (a USDA funded local foods purchasing program). Walden had not previously considered expanding into school sales, expecting that the difference between their price point and commodity meat prices for their products would be too expensive for the school market. However, a Massachusetts school district who opted into the Northeast Food for Schools program, reached out to them to express interest in purchasing their products. 

This first school connection opened their eyes to the opportunity to partner with schools who have an interest in local food procurement. Since forging this first school connection they have since taken up the mantle of educating more schools about the potential to partner together with financial help from the NFS program. So far they have developed relationships with over 30 schools in Massachusetts including the Triton School District, Stoughton Public Schools, Gill Montague Regional Schools, Needham Public Schools, and Andover Schools. Though there have been some hurdles to overcome in order to serve their new customer base, it has been well worth the effort. Walden Local is excited to expand their reach and impact more individuals through school meals. To date, they have sold 20,000 lbs of 100% grass fed and pasture raised ground beef to MA K-12 schools. This includes over 70,000 burgers!

Going forward, Walden Local is excited to continue partnering with schools in Massachusetts. They hope the NFS partnership or other local food incentives continue to support schools in purchasing high quality, local, and sustainable products. The company would also like to encourage their current partners to consider other products beyond burger patties and ground beef, including chicken and sausages. 

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Northeast Food for Schools (NFS) is a new, one time USDA funded program providing funds for schools to spend on locally sourced foods. The goal of the program is to strengthen the food system for schools by helping to build a fair, competitive, and resilient local food chain, and expand local and regional markets with an emphasis on purchasing from small and historically underserved producers and processors.NFS funds can be used to purchase a wide variety of products including produce, dairy, seafood, meat, and even grains. All foods must be unprocessed or minimally processed and grown/raised/caught within 400 miles. If you want to see this type of program continue beyond this year in Massachusetts – please write your legislators today.