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 […]

We were thrilled to kick off Farm to School Month one day early with a wonderful visit to Czajkowski Farm in Hadley to showcase the strong partnership between the farm and the Boston Public Schools. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Congressman Jim McGovern, State Senator Jo Comerford, State Representative Daniel Carey, Boston Public Schools’ Director of […]

We are excited to share the Massachusetts based recipients of the FY 24 Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant Program Awardees (USDA). The Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant program (USDA) awards competitive Farm to School grants that support planning, developing, and implementing farm to school programs. USDA’s Farm to School grants are an important […]

On Cape Cod, Nauset Regional School District and Cape Cod Regional Technical High School recently featured locally raised chicken from Hillside Poultry Farm (Truro, MA) on the menu. This development was the product of significant planning between the school food service director, Susan Murray, and farmer Andrew Locke who also works in the nearby Truro […]

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 […]

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 […]