Massachusetts Farm to School is pleased to share a series of FREE professional development events for classroom/garden educators, school nutrition staff, and advocates throughout the year. These events will be hosted by Mass. Farm to School and partner organizations, and feature speakers from a variety of farm to school backgrounds. All events are virtual unless otherwise […]

Date: March 19, 2025 Time: 2:00-3:00pm Presenters: Michaela Short, Food Service Director, Salem Public Schools Melanie Wilk, Food Service Director, Chicopee Public Schools Learn about popular local food items to add to your summer menus that you can source locally. Understanding Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) sites are a factor for the types of menus […]

Date: February 5, 2025 Time: 2:00-3:00pm Presenters: Barrett Grazioso, Food Service Director, Belchertown Public Schools Ellen Nylen, Brookline Public Schools Facilitator: Abby Getman Skillicorn, Massachusetts Farm to School Learn from two seasoned professionals how to start building your menu to include more local offerings by understanding your meal costs. Panelists will share their strategies for […]

This event has taken place. Please scroll down to watch a recording.  Presenters: Brianna Ippolito, Acton-Boxborough Public Schools Brianna Jackson, Farm to School Coordinator, Chicopee Public Schools Bryan Jersky, Farm to School Coordinator, Northampton Public Schools Facilitator: Abby Getman Skillicorn, Massachusetts Farm to School Have you always wanted to start taste testing but not sure […]

Date: March 12, 2025 Time: 4:00PM – 5:00PM Presenter: Rayeanne Gentry, Special Education Educator, Greater Lowell Technical High School Description: From student grown crops served in cafeteria meals, lessons on food systems, a curriculum on seasonal gardening in the school gardens and greenhouse, and an active greenhouse program and student run plant sale, the Transition […]

The 2022-23 Massachusetts Farm to School Institute included teams from Northampton, Salem, Westport Public Schools, and Worcester Head Start. Here are some reflections from the different Institute teams about their experiences and the many initiatives they were able to implement this year! Northampton – Freshampton Northampton Public Schools, was excited to continue growing their to […]

This September, we held our annual Massachusetts Farm to School Institute Fall Retreat at Wright-Locke Farm in Winchester, bringing together six school teams from across the state who are participating in a year-long professional development opportunity. This year’s participants included teams from Frontier Regional School District, Chicopee Public Schools, Nauset Regional School District, Salem Public […]

Program Snapshot For the first time, we have excellent data about how schools are choosing to feature local food on their menus, and we are thrilled to share our first high level overview of the Northeast Food for Schools program’s impact on Massachusetts. We also know that impactful programs are much more than just numbers, and […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 30, 2024 CONTACT: Simca Horwitz Co-Director Massachusetts Farm to School 413-253-3844 Congressman McGovern and additional legislators, school staff, and advocates gather to celebrate Acton-Boxborough’s Expanding Farm to School Program ACTON, October 30, 2024 On October 28th, U.S. Representative Jim McGovern and staff from the office of U.S. Representative Lori Trahan visited […]

The USDA Farm to School Census (view data), which collected farm to school programming and procurement data from the 2022-2023 school year, was released in mid-October 2024 and shows that participation in farm to school activities has grown nationally by 14% since the previous Farm to School Census (2019).  The USDA Farm to School Census […]

Help Build Our Advisory Committee Massachusetts Farm to School (MFTS) is currently seeking new members to join our Advisory Committee. We are looking for people who are excited by our mission to strengthen local farms and fisheries and promote healthy communities by increasing local food purchasing and education at schools. MFTS operates under the 501c3 […]

Help Get Students Involved in Advocacy Work & Civic Engagement this October! Are you an educator? Do you work with students in or out of a school setting? Help them advocate for Farm to School in their communities by encouraging them to fill out a Farm to School Student Advocacy Form! Students of any age range […]

The Seeds: Building Your Farm to School Team, is an introductory program designed for schools that would like to build an integrated and thriving farm to school program. This program will help you identify individuals across your school-wide community to support local foods sourcing and education efforts. Participants will finish the year well positioned to […]

Vote on your favorite local lunch tray of the year! Join Massachusetts Farm to School and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Office for Food and Nutrition Programs (FNP) in celebrating School Year 2023-2024’s monthly Terrific Tray Winners! School nutrition programs across the Commonwealth have submitted photographs of trays featuring delicious local foods sourced from […]

Encourage your legislator to attend the October 12th Virtual Farm to School Policy Briefing. Use the text below to send them an invitation. Need your legislator’s contact information? Visit: https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator Template Text: Dear _____, I hope you will join me in attending a policy briefing on the farm to school grant program on Thursday, October […]

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 […]

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

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 […]

December 2024 Ralph C. Mahar Regional School District (Orange, MA) is bringing a local, fall twist to a cafeteria classic. Food Service Director Katrina Bressani & her team prepared Koginut squash (cross b/w kabocha and butternut) from Wards Berry Farm (Sharon, MA) and baked it with marinara, mozzarella, basil, and parmesan. Their Squash Parmesan was […]

  When Annie Myers founded Myers Produce, she envisioned a mission-driven company focused on delivering fresh, local produce to their customers. In an interview on October 2, 2024, Annie shared how this mission has expanded to include schools, thanks in large part to the Northeast Food for Schools Program, which allowed her company to begin […]

In an effort to understand the broad impacts of the Northeast Food for Schools (NFS) program* throughout the Commonwealth, we at Massachusetts Farm to School are sitting down with local food hubs, farms, and participating school food programs. This story is drawn from an interview with Kelsey Sanders, Food Service Director at Webster Public Schools, […]

 In an effort to understand the broad impacts of the Northeast Food for Schools (NFS) Grant program in the state, we at Massachusetts Farm to School are sitting down with representatives from local food hubs, farms, and participating schools. In this interview, we hear from Loni Austin, rancher and owner of Austin Ridge Acres, a […]

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 […]

Updated November 25, 2024 MA FRESH CORP Information Session Video Slide Presentation (Google Slides | PDF) 

This webinar took place on February 6, 2023. Please watch a recording below.  Presenters: Safiyat Hamiss, Owner, Tasty Harvest & Juliana Soltys, School Garden Coordinator,  Groundworks Somerville Are you interested in establishing a school garden program at your school or in your classroom but you do not have any outdoor space? This workshop will focus […]

[This event occurred on January 18, 2023, please scroll down to watch a recording.]  Presenter: Amy Donovan, Program Director, Franklin County Solid Waste Management Composting is a dynamic teaching tool you can use to introduce and explain concepts as far reaching as the life cycle, the importance of death and decomposition, soil, recycling, resource management, […]

Presenter Karen Spiller, KAS Consulting & the Thomas W. Haas Professor in Sustainable Food Systems at University of New Hampshire For the past seven years, Food Solutions New England has hosted the 21-Day Racial Equity Habit Building Challenge that has inspired thousands to learn, reflect and act in service of creating a culture of belonging and […]

Presenter Anna Cynar, Innovation Academy Charter School, Classroom Educator Learn from Anna Cynar, Educator and Co-Coordinator of Innovation Academy’s Sustainable Food Systems course, an interdisciplinary, full-year lab science class for 11th and 12th graders. You’ll learn about how the class is structured, explore class projects, and take a virtual tour of the cooking labs and […]