Contributed by Adam Kotin, FSNE Policy Analyst
Welcome to the FSNE Policy Update, our not-at-all comprehensive peek at current food system policy happenings from New England to the federal level. If there’s a policy effort you’d like us to include in the next update, please drop us a note and let us know all about it!
There’s a lot to keep up on in the food systems policy world right about now, with state legislatures in full swing and Congress considering numerous bills that seek to address racial equity, agroecology, and climate. Perhaps we will ride the momentum of the moment to a year of transformative policy change?
Maine appears on track to join Massachusetts and Vermont in creating a statewide healthy soils program. As drafted, LD 437 would promote beneficial farming practices “based on indigenous knowledge, current understanding, and emerging soil science” by developing a ‘one-stop shop’ for information, assistance, and incentives. Connecticut also has a soil health bill on the docket this year. These efforts come amid an encouraging flood of bills across the country, although there is still more need to center public health and equity in healthy soils policies.
In Massachusetts, the current budget draft has some encouraging funding numbers for key programs, including the Healthy Incentives Program, which improves SNAP households’ access to healthy, locally grown food. But the enormously popular Food Security Infrastructure Grant Program, which has helped keep the local food system resilient during the pandemic, could use a boost to get the program renewed.
The pandemic has also highlighted the value of school meals in addressing childhood hunger, as USDA temporarily eliminated the requirement for students to pay for their meals. Now that USDA’s policy is ending, advocates are pushing to make it permanent. Of note: Maine has a bill that would provide continued universal free school meals via state funding, which is gaining traction. A Connecticut bill seeks to lessen the burden of school lunch debt by prohibiting disciplinary action and allowing outside parties to pay off students’ unpaid charges for them.
The Vermont Legislature is considering H.273, ‘An act relating to promoting racial and social equity in land access and property ownership’, which would take some small but important steps toward addressing historic discrimination against the BIPOC community. Read the bill text for a powerful account of this history in Vermont, including how it has resulted in tremendous disparities in farmland access and ownership in the state.
At the federal level, the Justice for Black Farmers Act (S.300; Sens. Booker, Warren, and Gillibrand) and Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act (S. 278; Sens. Warnock, Booker, Leahy, and others) are both still sitting in the Senate. If ultimately passed, these bills would follow up the stimulus bill’s debt relief for farmers of color in a hopeful sign for bolder policy efforts to come. Meanwhile, Sen. Pingree of Maine has reintroduced her Agriculture Resilience Act, an impressively comprehensive effort to transform federal farm policy in pursuit of net-zero emissions from agriculture by 2040.
For family farms that have been hit hard by the pandemic and face another difficult year ahead, the threat of going under is perhaps more real than ever. To reverse trends towards corporate consolidation in our food production, we need family farm businesses to stay afloat, and additional federal assistance can provide a lifeline. The Relief for Small Farmers Act will soon be reintroduced by Sen. Gillibrand, and NFFC and RAFI-USA are soliciting organizations’ support in a sign-on letter to Congress here. Meanwhile, AFT and the Agricultural Viability Alliance are leading an effort to appropriate $300 million in relief funds towards Business Technical Assistance, and are asking for organizational sign-ons and letters to your Congressional representatives.
h/t to our network partners and allies: NESAWG, MA Food System Collaborative, MOFGA, NFFC, AFT, CFSA, MFT, NAMA, and ME Food Policy Workgroup.
