For the first time in the history of the program, the administration prioritized projects that support organizations impacted by drought or extreme weather events
CHICOPEE – Working to combat food insecurity, the Healey-Driscoll Administration today announced over $26.3 million in grants to strengthen Massachusetts’ food supply system and mitigate future food supply and distribution disruption issues. During an event today at the Fruit Fair Supermarket in Chicopee, Governor Healey, Lieutenant Governor Driscoll, Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Secretary Rebecca Tepper, and Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) Commissioner Ashley Randle joined state and local officials to announce the funding of 165 projects through the Food Security Infrastructure Grant (FSIG) Program.
The program was created to combat urgent food insecurity resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. The recent flooding in Western and Central Massachusetts is expected to have a further impact on food security in Massachusetts, as many impacted farms play an important role in combating hunger. Healey-Driscoll Administration officials have been assessing damage at farms and discussing recovery and mitigation efforts over the past week. The FSIG program is designed to ensure farmers and other local food producers are better connected to a strong and resilient food system. For the first time in the history of this program, the administration prioritized projects that support organizations impacted by drought or extreme weather events.
“In speaking to farmers over the past week, it’s clear that they need support now more than ever after being hit hard by extreme weather events from flooding to drought to late frost,” said Governor Maura Healey. “Our farmers are the backbone of Massachusetts’ food infrastructure, and it’s critical that we continue to make short and long-term investments through grants like these to help strengthen resiliency and enhance mitigation efforts.”
“Our food system is highly localized. It is important to build a food network that nourishes our communities and sustains businesses and workers,” said Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll. “With the recent flooding, more Massachusetts communities are experiencing food insecurity, making it even more imperative that we ensure food producers are given the resources they need to meet increased demand while also providing healthy food to residents.”
The FSIG program was created to provide grants for capital infrastructure investments that increase access to locally produced food for families and individuals throughout the state who may be facing food insecurity, live in gateway cities or food deserts, or otherwise face unequal access to food. The program seeks to ensure that farmers, fishers, and other local food producers are better connected to a strong, resilient food system to help mitigate future supply chain issues.
“In the past few months, Massachusetts has seen both droughts and extreme rainfall, record-setting temperatures, and poor air quality,” said EEA Secretary Rebecca Tepper. “The climate crisis is here, and the FSIG program could not be more important. It’s clear that our farmers, fishers, and other organizations in our food system need help building resiliency to these impacts.”
“Now more than ever, we need a robust local food system that can withstand the ever-increasing weather challenges our farmers will continue to face,” said MDAR Commissioner Ashley Randle. “With these FSIG awards, Massachusetts is poised to increase our ability to grow more food and just as importantly, provide that food to as many as possible across the Commonwealth.”
The awardees for this round of grants include:
- P. Fish Company, Inc. (Worcester, MA): $36,585
- About Fresh (Boston, MA): $132,360
- Action for Boston Community Development, Inc (Boston, MA): $154,773
- Acton-Boxborough School District (Acton, MA): $134,873
- Adams Farm (Athol, MA): $84,365
- Agric Organics LLC (Wilbraham, MA): $148,325
- Airport Fish House Inc. (Edgartown, MA): $370,901
- All Farmers, Inc. (Springfield, MA): $119,166
- Among Friends Meals Program (Newburyport, MA): $41,307
- Antonellis Farm LLC (Deerfield, MA): $500,000
- Aquacultural Research Corporation (Dennis, MA): $479,360
- Berkshire Bounty (Great Barrington, MA): $67,371.89
- Beverly Bootstraps Community Services, Inc. (Beverly, MA): $236,305
- Blue Moon Oyster (Edgartown, MA): $40,300
- Boston Area Gleaners (Acton, MA): $484,120
- Boston Green Academy Foundation (Brighton, MA): $268,764
- Boston Missionary Baptist Community Center Inc. (Roxbury, MA): $74,724
- Bree-Z-Knoll Farm, LLC (Leyden, MA): $108,750
- Cape Ann Fresh Catch (Gloucester, MA): $186,215
- Captain Dominic & Bros (Gloucester, MA): $76,504
- CAVU Farms (Cheshire, MA): $223,170
- Chase Hill Farm (Warwick, MA): $191,600
- Chatham Harvesters Cooperative, Inc. (Chatham, MA): $148,099
- Chestnut Farms (Gilbertville, MA): $465,634City of Salem / Salem Public Schools (Salem, MA): $489,571
- Clearing Brook LLC (Millis,MA): $100,794
- Clover Hill Farm, LLP (Gilbertville, MA): $30,110
- Coastal Foodshed Inc (New Bedford, MA): $51,903
- Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation (Dorchester, MA): $75,000
- Cold Bottom Oyster (Plymouth, MA): $4,728
- Community Harvest Project (North Grafton, MA): $165,698
- Community Servings, Inc (Jamaica Plain, MA): $473,234
- Community Workshops Inc., AKA Community Work Services (Boston, MA): $267,198
- Coolidge Hill Farm (New Salem, MA): $55,649
- CoonamessettFarm, Inc. (East Falmouth, MA): $15,000
- CopicutFarms LLC (N Dartmouth, MA): $120,000
- Cotyledon Farm(Leister, MA): $139,909
- Crimson & Clover Farm (Florence, MA):$86,655
- Cross Stone Farm (Lancaster, MA): $499,800
- Cultivating Solutions LLC dba Winter Moon Roots (Hadley, MA):$89,052
- Cura & Borges Fishing Corp. – F/V Sao Paulo (New Bedford, MA):$43,000
- Davidian’s Farm Market LLC. (Northborough, MA): $500,000
- Dick’s Market Garden, Inc. (Lunenburg, MA): $63,439
- Digger Foods (Sharon, MA): $115,779
- Divoll’s Farm (Royalston, MA): $37,648
- Eat Fire Farm LLC (Nantucket, MA): $14,079
- Effloresce Culture & Design, LLC. (Mattapan, MA): $175,500
- Elliot Farm LLC
- (Lakeville, MA): $116,752
- Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School District (Hathorne, MA): $73,450
- Explorer II Corporation (Gloucester, MA): $79,575
- F/V No Regrets, LLC (Chatham, MA): $34,315
- F/V Small Stuff
- (Chatham, MA): $89,980
- F/V Voyager (Plymouth, MA): $8,309
- FairfieldsDairy Farm LLC (Williamstown, MA): $217,300
- Fern Hill Farm (Buckland, MA): $68,751
- Fisherman’s Wharf Gloucester (Gloucester, MA): $392,025
- Flying Carrot Farm (Dartmouth, MA): $60,276
- Food For Free (Cambridge, MA): $133,185
- Foppema’sFarm LLC (Northbridge, MA): $142,964
- Free Living Farm (Petersham, MA): $55,670
- Freedom Food Farm (Raynham, MA): $242,740
- Friends of Holly Hill Farm (Cohasset, MA): $31,976
- Fruit Fair Supermarket (Chicopee, MA): $500,000
- FV Gaurdian(Lakeville, MA): $125,464
- FV Miss Trish (Gloucester, MA): $100,000
- Gaining Ground(Concord, MA): $82,917
- Global Village Farms, Inc. (Grafton, MA): $24,879
- Gould Maple Farm Inc. (Shelburne, MA): $225,423
- Ground Up LLC(Hadley, MA): $385,834
- Hannan Healthy Foods Farm LLC (Cambridge, MA): $74,756
- Hart Farm (Conway, MA): $29,269
- Hilltown Community Development Corporation (Chesterfield, MA): $105,494
- Holiday Brook Farm (Dalton, MA): $31,914.90
- Humble Hands Farm (East Taunton, MA): $39,930
- Iron Ox Farm (Boxford, MA): $18,000
- J Turner Seafoods Inc (Gloucester, MA):$122,008
- John Nagle Co. / Fish House (Boston, MA): $479,503
- Just Roots, Inc.(Greenfield, MA): $146,645
- Kingfisher (Dennis, MA): $54,811
- Kyler Seafood (New Bedford, MA): $350,000
- Laurenitis Farm(Sunderland, MA): $39,235
- Leicester Public Schools (Leicester, MA):$102,500
- Littleton Community Farm (Littleton, MA): $17,921
- Local Tortillas LLC, dba Mi Tierra Tortillas (Hadley, MA): $209,780
- LombricoLLC (West Whately, MA): $19,456
- M&P Fishing Corporation – F/V Fisherman (New Bedford, MA): $16,800
- Many Forks Farm (Clarksburg, MA): $12,921
- Many Hands Organic Farm (Barre, MA): $20,850
- Martha’s Vineyard Spearpoint Oysters LLC (Edgartown, MA): $28,943
- Mass Audubon (Lincoln, MA): $318,140
- MayvalFarm (Westhampton, MA): $81,761
- Medway Community Farm, Inc (Medway, MA): $54,536
- Medway Village Food Pantry (Medway, MA):$83,652
- MELC LLC (New Bedford, MA):$204,053
- Merrimack Valley Food Bank (MA-Middlesex County-Lowell MA): $170,202
- Midnight Our (South Chatham, MA): $69,359
- Morning Dew Farm (Worthington, MA):$280,271
- Mystic Valley Young Men’s Christian Association/Mystic Valley YMCA (Malden, MA): $25,840
- Nantucket Resource Partnership(Nantucket, MA): $250,000
- Nashoba Valley Technical High School (Westford, MA): $43,890
- Needham Community Farm (Needham, MA): $57,435
- Neighbors In Need, Inc (Lawrence, MA): $110,962
- New Bedford Public Schools Food and Nutrition Services(New Bedford, MA): $449,330
- Northampton Survival Center (Northampton, MA): $72,363
- Nourishing the North Shore (Newburyport. MA): $74,624
- Oake Knoll Farms LLC (Foxboro, MA): $500,000
- Off the Shelf Farm (New Marlborough, MA): $497,519
- Old Colony YMCA (Brockton, MA): $301,216
- Open Table, Inc. (Concord, MA): $168,529
- OsamequinFarm Inc (Seekonk, MA): $49,349
- Our Neighbors’ Table (Amesbury. MA): $181,021
- Overlook Food Awareness Resource of Massachusetts, Inc. (Overlook FARM) (Rutland MA): $12,510
- Park Hill Orchard (Easthampton, MA): $500,000
- Pleasant Valley Gardens (Methuen, MA): $66,000
- Quabbin Harvest Food Co-op (Orange, MA): $64,852
- Rebecca Taylor (Wellfleet, MA):$84,482
- Red Shirt Farm (Lanesborough, MA): $344,049
- Red’s Best (Boston, MA): $421,759
- Reed Farm (Greenfield, MA): $285,777
- River Valley Farm (Leverett, MA): $50,193
- Riverland Farm (Sunderland, MA): $57,027
- Rock Harbor Shellfish Co. (Orleans, MA): $104,795
- Root NS(Salem. MA): $374,250
- Round the Bend Farm Inc. (South Dartmouth, MA): $84,208
- Scout Fisheries Inc (Sagamore, MA): $69,029
- Shady Corner Farm LLC (Sherborn, MA): $13,611
- Shepherd Farm Inc (Townsend, MA): $93,371
- Small Farm, Inc(Maynard, MA): $426,050
- Somerville Public Schools (Somerville, MA): $34,252
- South Shore Community Action Council, Inc. (Plymouth, MA): $29,618
- Steppingstone, Inc. (Greater Fall River, MA): $70,232
- Stillman Quality Meats, LLC (Hardwick, MA): $500,000
- Stillman’s Greenhouses & Farmstand Inc(New Braintree, MA): $15,500
- Survival Centers Inc., dba. Amherst Survival Center (North Amherst, MA): $133,222
- Sustainable CAPE – Center for Agricultural Preservation & Education (Truro, MA):$9,753
- Sweet Brook Beef Company (Williamstown, MA): $25,000
- Taft Farms (Great Barrington, MA): $75,714
- Tangerini’sSpring Street Farm, Inc (Millis, MA): $198,049
- The Boston Smoked Fish Company, LLC (Boston, MA): $359,083
- The Farm School (Athol, MA): $383,724
- The Greater Boston Food Bank, Inc. (Boston, MA): $499,518
- The Livestock Institute of Southern New England, Inc. (Westport, MA): $85,782
- The Lynn Community Farm (Lincoln, MA): $2,204
- The Neighborhood Farm, LLC (Westport, MA): $122,078
- The Open Door / Cape Ann Food Pantry, Inc. (Gloucester, MA): $333,729
- The Salem Pantry, Inc. (Salem, MA): $17,037
- Three Sisters Garden Project, Inc. (Ipswich, MA): $14,850
- Tichon Seafood Corporation (New Bedford, MA): $500,000
- Town of Bedford, MA Food Bank(Bedford, MA): $36,353
- Town of Concord (Concord, MA): $42,760
- Town of Wellfleet Health and Conservation (Wellfleet, MA): $20,335
- Tribal Foodways LLC (MarstonsMills, MA): $192,500
- Trustees of Tufts College (Boston, MA):$214,934.20
- UMass Chan Medical School (Shrewsbury, MA): $418,678
- University of Massachusetts Lowell (Lowell, MA): $44,614
- Walpole Community Food Pantry, Inc. (Walpole, MA): $209,519
- Walt’s Farm (Westport, MA): $46,043
- Wellfleet Shellfish Company, Inc. (Eastham, MA): $52,294.45
- WestMass ElderCare, Inc. (WMEC) (Holyoke, MA): $492,925
- Weymouth Food Pantry (Weymouth, MA): $36,560
- Whistling Meadow Farm LLC (South Deerfield, MA): $170,743
- Whittier Farms Inc. (Sutton, MA): $17,440
- Wildberry Acres Farm (Brookfield, MA):$60,632
- Winters Farm (Rehoboth, MA):$91,870
- Worcester Regional Food Hub (Worcester, MA):$204,467