New England Feeding New England Newsletter
Cultivating a Reliable Food Supply
A project of the New England State Food System Planners Partnership
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Project Summary
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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Thank you to everyone who attended the quarterly update meeting in November 2021. Scott Sawyer shared estimates of the number of jobs and establishments that exist in the food system in each of the six states and aggregated as a 6-state region. The research shows that across New England, over 897,000 people worked in the food system in 2020, down from a pre-pandemic high of 1.05 million (or 9.4% of all private sector jobs in 2019). Post-pandemic, most of the these jobs are expected to return since the largest number of job losses were in the restaurant industry, which was hit hardest by COVID shut-downs. The research also reveals that there were over 121,000 establishments in the food system as of the end of 2020.
Follow the links to review the slides and recording from the quarterly meeting. If you'd like to stay up to date with the project and receive invitations to upcoming quarterly meetings, please register for the newsletter here.
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Save the date!
NEFNE Quarterly Update Meeting
Focus on the Economic Impact of the Food System in New England
March 8th 1:15 - 2:30pm
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As part of this 2-year regional food system planning initiative, we have assembled a 14-member Research Team who are deep into their work across 5 research areas. This is a year-long, multi-layered research project to better understand the New England food supply chain, consumer and retail behavior and project what quantity and type of food production (by market channel, by state, and by food category) might be possible by 2030 across the region. Once completed, their foundational research can be used to inform strategy development, investment and policy recommendations that support increasing consumption of food produced in the region to 30% by 2030.
We expect to publish the results of the research sometime in September, 2022. It is important to note that this will not be a strategic plan or roadmap for the region, but rather the foundational research that can then inform strategic initiatives in individual states as well as at the regional level by a growing and diverse community of stakeholders.
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New England State Food System Planners Partnership Updates
The partners that make up the NEFNE project have been leading activities and outreach to support the goals of 30% regional foods by 2030. Many organizations are working to ensure that ARPA funds will strengthen the regional food system.
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Rhode Island Food Policy Council |
The RI Food Policy Council worked closely with Policy Committee members and scores of others across its statewide network to develop a $25.9 million RI Food Systems Priorities proposal for Federal American Rescue Plan Act expenditure. The proposal includes five priority areas, each of which lays out clear recommended investments and expected outcomes. Priority areas include: Improving Food Security, Supporting Small Agriculture and Seafood Businesses, Increasing Seafood Processing Capacity, Increasing Access to Farmland, and Growing the Farm to School Market. RIFPC submitted the proposal to the legislature and was subsequently invited to present it to the Senate Finance Committee. The Council also held a virtual legislative roundtable to introduce the proposal more fully to about a dozen legislators. The proposal remains under consideration.
RIFPC staff supported state agencies in maximizing the impact of ARPA funding for food systems priorities by advising on the content of state agency proposals for the use of ARPA funds submitted to the Governor, specifically those submitted by RI DEM and the RI Commerce Corporation. The Council is an active partner with the state in efforts to leverage additional Federal funding for food systems activities, including through the USDA Local Food Purchasing Agreement program.
The Council kept its 25 members and broader network of over 1000 Rhode Islanders informed about this work through social media, an e-newsletter, and access to materials designed to empower them to reach out to their elected officials in order to educate them about RIFPC's recommended priorities for investing ARPA funds to build a stronger local food system.
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Massachusetts Food System Collaborative |
The Massachusetts Food System Collaborative worked closely with the legislature’s Food System Caucus to ensure that local food system needs were considered when determining how to best spend federal funds committed through the American Rescue Plan Act. Those efforts were reflected in the final bill, which included: $45 million for food security needs, inclusion of farmers and food system workers in premium pay measures, resources for vocational schools, funds for soil health programs and agricultural fairs, and inclusion of agriculture and working lands in conservation spending items. Conversations have begun about how to ensure that food security is again considered when the legislature takes up the discussion about how to spend the remaining half of the state’s ARPA funds.
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Connecticut Food System Alliance
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At the Connecticut Food System Alliance annual summit (October and November 2021), network members engaged one another on topics including the impact of climate change on the food system; the development of food action plans; and developing and strengthening the network. For the food action plan segment, we invited fellow NEFNE partners from the Massachusetts Local Food System Collaborative and Maine Food Strategy to speak about their process for developing a state food action plan. CT network members are excited about the opportunity for a state food action plan that builds off the experience of other New England states while incorporating the collective work of NEFNE into our state level plan. The NEFNE research will yield valuable insight into Connecticut’s role in the regional food system as one of the more densely populated states in the partnership. In the coming months, the CFSA will share updates about the NEFNE work and connect relevant in-state partners to their counterparts elsewhere in New England.
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Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund
Vermont Farm to Plate
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In Vermont, a total of $5.5 million in ARPA funding was provided to the Working Lands Enterprise Fund, administered by the VT Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets, to provide grant funding for a wide range of business expansion projects for FY22. To date, $2.1 million has been awarded to address meat slaughter and processing bottlenecks, supply chain resiliency, marketing plans and overall business development. The remaining $3 million will be granted out by the end of April. The Vermont Legislature is currently considering $2 million in additional state ARPA funds to this grant program because of strong demand and need, especially in the areas of meat and dairy processing and local food distribution via a growing network of food hubs.
In addition, to address food insecurity caused by shut-downs and layoffs during COVID, a unique and highly effective program was designed and implemented, known as Vermont Everyone Eats. Over the course of 17 months, 2 million meals were purchased from VT restaurants (at $10 per meal) and served to neighbors seeking a nourishing and uplifting meal. Those 2 million meals meant $20 million (made possible from state FEMA funds) in supplemental revenue for VT restaurants, $2 million paid to VT farmers and food producers who provided ingredients for these meals, and thousands of new relationships formed between farmers, restaurant workers, grassroots and community leaders, volunteers, meal participants, and lawmakers.
Finally, Vermont Farm to Plate has relaunched its Network after restructuring it to align with the state’s new food system strategic plan implementation efforts. As part of this effort, a Food Security Plan Team has gotten underway. Over the next 18 months, the team will conduct a robust stakeholder engagement process to develop a Food Security Plan for the state. To learn more, email Becka Warren.
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New Hampshire Food Alliance |
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The New Hampshire Food Alliance (NHFA) worked closely with its Network Leadership Team to develop an ARPA fund investment proposal that cited specific needs to strengthen the local food and healthy soil infrastructure in New Hampshire. The Network Leadership Team presented the proposal to the Commissioner of the NH Department of Agriculture, Markets and Food and it was received with support. NHFA will work alongside the Commissioner and its Network Leadership team to communicate the proposal to the governing bodies in Concord. As a potential recipient of the infrastructure requests outlined in the ARPA proposal, the NH Food Hub Network, housed within NHFA, worked with nearly 30 food hubs and other support organizations to strengthen connections in the network, with the goals of establishing group food safety practices and a network-wide MOU in 2022.
The Alliance hosted two webinars on federal and state level policy, providing its network with knowledge about forthcoming policies that could strengthen local and regional agriculture and food systems. In another convening, NHFA asked partners for strategic thinking on how to further develop the network's grassroots marketing initiative, NH Eats Local.
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In Maine, the state has allocated $30 million in ARPA funding to support food production and processing in the state. Grants available for Maine farmers and food processors account for $20 million and are targeted for investments that will help farmers and businesses expand production to meet growing demand for Maine-grown food.
Administered through the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry and Coastal Enterprises Inc., the new Agricultural Infrastructure Investment Program grants can be used to upgrade harvesting, processing, manufacturing or packaging and handling equipment. The program will consider requests of up to $250,000 for farm and on-farm processing projects and up to $500,00 for processing. Eligible projects also include technology to improve business capacity and resilience and technical assistance for a broad range of purposes.
Maine has also allocated $10 million in a Seafood Infrastructure Program administered through the Maine Department of Marine Resources. The new program will provide grants to seafood dealers and processors to upgrade buildings, equipment, and utilities and increase the supply of Maine-harvested seafood for Maine markets and export.Over the coming months, Maine Food Strategy will continue to share information on these and other funding opportunities for farms, fishermen and food producers.
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Food Solutions New England |
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The six-state Food Solutions New England network is concurrently updating the New England Food Vision with a focus on “30x30.” The update will encompass the findings of the NEFNE project while also lifting up network values of democracy, equity & sustainability in our regional vision for the decades ahead.
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Reading: Identifying Critical Thresholds for Resilient Regional Food Flows: A Case Study From the U.S. Upper Midwest |
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New England isn’t the only part of the U.S. examining its regional food system. “The upper Midwest harbors numerous local and regional food supply chains consisting of farms, processors, trucking companies, wholesalers and other firms that share a commitment to sustainability and local economic development,” according to this article published in October by Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. “A constellation of challenges hamper their emergence, however, even as larger scale food supply chains flounder or fail to effectively serve communities.”
Researchers found that the shift from regional food flows to a food system reliant on national and global food flows has resulted in a tension between diversity and efficiency. But intentionally planning regional food systems that “tackle food systems efficiency and diversity, address governance and ownership challenges, and build resilience to crises have an indirect and systemic effect on all aspects of food security…It is in the public interest to create an ecosystem where private sector entrepreneurs may respond to opportunities in their communities to concurrently optimize fuel use, food access and sustainable farming practices.”
As part of our NEFNE project research, Scott Sawyer will be assembling a food flows analysis for the 6 New England states to better understand food imports into and exports out of the region. This analysis will pull from the same food flows research referenced above and will cover a 10 year period (2007-2017). Stay tuned to further updates and quarterly webinars when this New England research will be presented.
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