Massachusetts Profile

The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources has been matching up schools and farmers as they try to make that “locally grown connection”! Primarily funded by Mass. DAR, the Mass. Farm to School Project, through its manager, Kelly Erwin, has assisted more than 70 public school districts, as well as 13 universities and colleges and at least 6 private schools, find ways to buy and prepare locally grown foods on a regular basis. Sustainable sales routes for local farmers have been developed as we learn more about how to make this work. It’s inspiring that school systems as large as Worcester and as small as Maynard have begun to serve fresh local foods in their cafeterias. Good communication at the beginning of the process, including between school food service directors and their front line staff, is crucial.

Here are some of the ways that local foods are being purchased by schools in Massachusetts:

a town-owned orchard agreed to supply a school system with apples;
a school food service employee is sent to buy regularly from a specific farm;
a farmer delivers to each school in a district;
a farmer delivers to a few centrally located schools in a district;
a distributor identifies all local foods that are available and delivers them labeled;
a distributor is asked to purchase products from a particular farm on behalf of a school district.

Although price has rarely been an issue, school delivery needs and farmer ordering/scheduling parameters have to be worked out in advance. Most farmers with a regular delivery route cannot make a separate stop for an order which is worth less than $100. Small farms working with small schools can be an exception. Most schools have to revise their menu planning and creatively figure out how to use locally grown foods while they’re in season.