Our Policy Priorities

In the 2025-2026 legislative session we are focused on passage of “An act establishing a Massachusetts Farm to School Program” which would codify the MA FRESH farm to school grant program and create a local food incentive program for schools and early education programs.

Farm to School Grant Program

The Farm to School Grant Program was initially established with $1 million in COVID relief funds. Additional funding has been appropriated in the last two state budgets. We are engaging legislators and school leaders in awareness-building visits to schools and farms and cultivating a broad group of individuals and partners advocating for the program. With your support, we can establish a permanent Farm to School Grant Program in Massachusetts.

Local Food Incentive

A local food incentive would provide schools and early education programs funds to increase the use of locally grown and caught foods in school meals. The program would build on the success of a current federally funded incentive, Northeast Food for Schools. We’ve already seen how successful a local food incentive can be at driving investments in local farms and food businesses and expanding access to these healthy foods for all students.

Background on the Farm to School Grant Bill

The MA Food for MA Kids Coalition saw many successes in moving legislation forward to establish a Farm to School grant program in the 2023-2024 legislative session. We were able to secure funding to implement three rounds of the program, beginning with the 2022-2023 academic year. But this annual appropriation does not establish a permanent Farm to School Grant Program here in Massachusetts. 

2022-2023 Highlights:

  • State Representative Pignatelli and Senator Comerford filed H.558 and S.243 to establish a permanent Farm to School grant program within the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

  • In the spring of 2023, 16 K-12 schools and early education programs received nearly $500,000 in the inaugural round of FRESH grants. For a complete list of grant recipients and more information about their projects, read more.

  • In October of 2023, DESE released the call for applications for the second round of FRESH grants. View the application here.

2021 History

  • State Representative Pignatelli and Senator Lesser filed H.686 and S.349, respectively, in March 2021 to establish a farm to school grant program within the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

  • Massachusetts Farm to School (MFTS) hosted a well attended policy briefing on October 19th, 2021 with a diverse panel of supporters for the bill

  •  In December 2021, Senator Lesser, along with the support of the Legislature, was successful in getting $1,000,000 in funding included in the COVID appropriations bill to fund the first year of this program with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.

  • On January 4th, 2022, the Massachusetts Joint Education Committee held a public hearing for the bill where 12 individuals testified in favor of the bill– including educators, students, school nutrition staff and community members. 

  • Unfortunately, the bill did not pass out of the Joint Education Committee before the February 2nd deadline.