eating local | InCity Times

Building a Sustainable Worcester: The Fresh Food Movement in Central Massachusetts

TODAY! Wednesday, March 9

5:30 PM

2 Hours

The Local Farm Movement is alive and growing in Worcester County thanks to the perseverance of our farmers and the growing demand for locally produced food and other products.

The farmers of Worcester County sell more products directly to consumers than almost any other region in the country.

Central Mass Grown is now leading the effort to promote our region’s rich farming heritage and the 1500 farms that call this region home.

Join us for this Access Hanover Lyceum presentation, to learn more about the future of farming in the region and the potential it holds for building a greener, healthier and more sustainable community.

In addition, understand the Agricultural economy’s viability in providing good jobs, business opportunities, changing food policy, land conservation, healthier food choices and making Worcester County a more desirable place to live, work and visit.

Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, Matthew Beaton will begin the program with opening remarks.

Al Rose, owner of Red Apple Farm in Phillipston, will be the evening’s keynote speaker.

A panel discussion, moderated by Senator Anne Gobi will include panelists:

Ken Toong, Executive Director of UMass Auxiliary Enter-prises

Kate Stillman, owner of Stillman Quality Meats

Maria Moreira, Executive Director of World Farmers Inc.

John Lawrence, owner of Peppers Fine Catering

Steve Fischer, Executive Director of Regional Environmental Council of Central Massachusetts will give an update on the Worcester Regional Food Hub project.

The presentation will be followed by a networking reception and Sustainability Exhibit highlighting college and university food sustainability projects, area growers and farmers, local restaurants and businesses, and health and nutrition institutions.

The theatre encourages all sectors of the community to attend!

Whether you’re in business, academia, the public or non-proﬁt sectors, building a more sustainable region beneﬁts us all!

All Access Hanover Lyceum events are free to members of The Hanover Theatre and its partners. Tickets for the general public are just $10.

Dear Friends,

In this season of giving thanks, we have much to be thankful for at Mass. Farm to School. This season is also a time of transition, as farmers mark the end of the harvest season and look ahead to next year. Here at Mass. Farm to School we are also experiencing a time of transition.

After several months of strategic planning, this November we transitioned out of our host organization, Project Bread – The Walk for Hunger, and to a new host organization at Farm to Institution New England (FINE), with fiscal sponsor Third Sector New England. We are very excited to work with FINE staff and partners to strengthen farm to school programs in Massachusetts and to connect with broader farm to institution efforts across New England.

While you, our partners and supporters, will likely notice few changes in our programs or staff, we thought it was meaningful to announce this transition and, very importantly, to give thanks for the skilled and generous sponsorship that Project Bread has offered since 2013. Over the past two years, Project Bread helped us strengthen our organizational capacity and enabled us to develop strong programmatic partnerships with their wonderful initiatives, including the Chefs In Schools program and the Child Nutrition Outreach Program.

We look forward to continuing these partnerships in the years to come. We also want to thank all of you who took part in the planning process which helped us arrive at this transition. We look forward to your continued involvement and the contributions of many other partners as we work to build out a robust Massachusetts Farm to School Network.

We are very thankful that we are now well positioned to make great strides in achieving our organizational goals — to see a thriving local food system in Massachusetts in which all have access to healthy, locally grown food, and local foods procurement and food and agriculture education are ingrained in the fabric of our schools.

We would like to once again thank Project Bread and to thank each of you for your dedication to growing the farm to school movement in Massachusetts.

Sincerely,

Simca Horwitz & Lisa Damon

Mass. Farm to School Program Directors