Wednesday, November 1, 2017
Advancing Food Policy
I was happy to
host the Massachusetts Food Policy Council’s meeting today at the Massachusetts
State House. The meeting today focused on some of the goals established under
the Massachusetts Local Food Action plan.
The MA Local Food Action Plan was accepted by the MA Food Policy Council
on December 10, 2015 and designed to increase production, sales and consumption
of Massachusetts-grown food. Today’s meeting focused on the goals of establishing
support programs that facilitate access to healthy foods for underserved
communities. A current focus is to
provide support to leverage the Department of Transitional Assistance’s
USDA/FINI grant award, known as the Healthy Incentives Program, which will
increase use of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) at farmers
markets, farm stands, mobile markets, and for community supported agriculture
(CSA) programs, providing fresh, healthy food for low-income families, and
increasing sales for Massachusetts farmers.
Additional examples include the MA Food Trust and the MA Food Ventures
Program.
The Food Policy
Council is a 17 member council and was
established on November 7, 2010 under section 6C of Chapter 20 and the purpose
of the council is to develop recommendations to advance the following food
system goals for the commonwealth through: (A) increased production, sales and
consumption of Massachusetts-grown foods; (B) the development and promotion of
programs that deliver healthy Massachusetts-grown foods to Massachusetts
residents, (C) the protection of the land and water resources required for
sustained local food production; and (D) the training, retention and
recruitment of farmers and providing for the continued economic viability of
local food production, processing and distribution in the commonwealth.
For additional
information on the Massachusetts Food Policy Council please visit its website
which is located here: http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/agr/boards-commissions/food-policy-council.html. Below are photos from today’s meeting
