New England Feeding New England Newsletter
Cultivating a Reliable Food Supply
A project of the
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In 2019, the New England State Food System Planners Partnership launched the New England Feeding New England: Cultivating A Reliable Food Supply Project, a 10-year initiative to prepare the region for system shocks such as climate-related weather events and public health emergencies. Our aim is to increase regional food production for regional consumption. We can improve the reliability of our regional food system by strengthening supply chains and our goal is for 30% of food consumed in New England to be produced or harvested in New England by 2030.
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The research and writing for the New England Feeding New England report has concluded and the report is now in the layout design and final edits phase. This report will include research on consumer eating patterns, the economic impact of the food sector, what could be grown in New England to support more regional eating, and how that food gets to market. The anticipated release is late January.
USDA Regional Food Business Centers grant opportunity
The USDA is offering a new grant program to help strengthen regional food systems. The grant program will support regional food centers that will act as a food hub to connect local producers, wholesalers, and distributors. They will also provide technical assistance and capacity building to further strengthen important, but often overlooked, elements of the food system. The partners that participate in the NEFNE project are excited to work with grant applicants to strengthen the New England food system.
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This year, the six partners supporting the New England Feeding New England project have brought many important community, planning, legislative, and other groups into this discussion about how to make a more sustainable, resilient regional food system. They have been part of conversations about anti-hunger, public health, climate change, business development, emergency planning, and regenerative agriculture and how all those topics intersect with the regional food system. Here are some of the activities that took place, and relationships that were developed, which will help to move the region toward 30% regional food consumption by 2030.
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The Connecticut Food System Alliance is working with the Hartford Advisory Commission on Food Policy and food system partners in Eastern Connecticut to advocate for regional purchasing and advocating for infrastructure development such as the Hartford Regional Market. Other key partners include the Connecticut Food Policy Council, the State Department of Agriculture, and the Governor’s Council on Climate Change.
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Maine Food Strategy participated in monthly meetings of a Maine Food Policy Work Group attended by representatives from more than 15 groups working on food systems issues as well as the monthly Maine Food Convergence / Maine Farm to Institution Processing Work Group, a collaborative developing information and projects that support expanding business infrastructure for processing Maine foods. Maine Food Strategy took part in the June 2022 ME Hunger Partners Meeting coordinated by Maine Emergency Management staff. Maine Food Strategy continues to work with the Maine Network of Community Food Councils, FocusMaine, Maine Hunger Partners and faculty at UMaine and University of Southern Maine.
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The Massachusetts Food System Collaborative has engaged the legislature’s Food System Caucus, the state’s Food Policy Council, and targeted officials and stakeholders about NEFNE’s work. The Collaborative’s work on climate resilience for farmers informed the state’s Clean Energy and Climate Plan, helping to ensure that agriculture’s role in mitigating climate change is reflected, as well as raising awareness about the need to support the industry as it adapts. The Collaborative was also part of the team that developed the state’s Farmland Action Plan, which proposes policy changes and investments to protect farmland and increase access to it for those who want to farm. The Collaborative also did extensive outreach to candidates for governor and the legislature, encouraging them to consider food issues systemically and to prioritize policy and investments that support the local food system.
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The New Hampshire Food Alliance provided a NEFNE project update during the Farm to Institution New England 2023 Summit Steering Committee meeting and met with NH Ag Commissioner Shawn Jasper. To ensure that the state is working toward a more regional food system, the Alliance is working with the NH Food Alliance Network of Partners, NH Food Hub Network, University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension, NH Department of Agriculture, Markets and Food, and the UNH Agriculture Experiment Station.
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Rhode Island Food Policy Council and RI Director of Food Strategy presented to the Interagency Food and Nutrition Policy Advisory Council; the Climate and Food Systems Work Group of the Food Policy Council; and the state Hunger Elimination Task Force. The RIFPC provided a memorandum outlining key objectives for integrating food systems into climate change mitigation policy and presented at a workshop on food systems and climate change with the Director of Food Strategy to the Act on Climate Advisory Board.
Rhode Island FPC met with and presented to multiple state agencies, including those who are part of the state Interagency Food and Nutrition Policy Advisory Council and the Department of Administration Division of Planning Technical Committee. Key data points were shared, and input provided on a number of state plans including transportation and land use. RIFPC is currently supporting the Director of Food Strategy in planning for a ‘2.0’ food strategy planning process.
The Council also continues to work with the Technical Committee of the State Planning Council and the Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council (EC4).
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Over the past year, the Vermont Farm to Plate Food Security Strategy Team has engaged over 180 Vermont residents in decision making and input on the forthcoming Food Security Plan through interviews, meetings, and other interactions. In November and December 2022, Team members are undertaking stakeholder outreach across the state with a toolkit developed by a consultant we have retained. The Plan will be completed in December of 2023 and will focus on immediate steps and strategies to improve food security for Vermont’s most impacted residents. It will also include detailed policy and climate resiliency strategies which we hope the Governor and Legislature will implement.
VT Farm to Plate staff worked with Vermont Climate Council members to get aligned agricultural and food system development priority strategies incorporated into the state’s new Climate Action Plan released in December 2021, and with the Governor’s Commission on the Future of Agriculture to incorporate a number recommendations from the Farm to Plate Strategic Plan into their report to the Governor in November 2022.
VT Farm to Plate staff continues to work with the Farm to Plate Network members, VT Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets, State Emergency Operations Center, VT Foodbank, House and Senate Agriculture Committees of VT State Legislature to advance the goals of this project.
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Why We Can’t Let Kroger Buy Albertsons |
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Albertsons, which owns Shaw’s and Star Market among many others, is proposing to merge with Kroger. This would have dramatic negative impacts on the nation’s food system, including raising prices for consumers, decreasing wages for employers, and putting small food retailers and producers out of business.
“Americans don’t need another mega-grocer. Kroger and Albertsons together would control nearly 20% of grocery sales in the U.S. That’s on par with Walmart, whose power in food retailing has done widespread damage to communities, farmers, food workers and local grocers. A merger of these two supermarket chains would result in two mega-retailers — Walmart and Kroger/Albertsons — controlling more than 70% of the grocery market in over 160 cities, an unprecedented and extremely dangerous level of concentration.
It would also give Kroger and Albertsons even more muscle to strong-arm suppliers, extracting deals for themselves while forcing up costs for competing independent grocers. If it’s allowed to go through, this deal would almost certainly put more rural towns and Black and Latino neighborhoods in cities at risk of becoming ‘food deserts’ as more local grocers are driven out of business.” — Stacy Mitchell, Institute for Local Self-Reliance
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