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Farm to School
The three core elements of farm to school are procurement, education and school gardens. K-12 schools across New England are implementing these activities by serving locally produced foods in their cafeterias, teaching kids about nutrition and healthy eating, and growing school gardens.
Farm to Early Childhood
FINE is facilitating a recent (2021 - 2024) USDA-funded initiative to improve access to local foods for New England children and grow strong and equitable Farm to Early Childhood programs in New England. Stakeholders from these six states have joined together to conduct an Ecosystem Assessment of opportunities, barriers, and inequities; and which will provide professional development training and implementation mini-grants for ECE practitioners in the six-state region.
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Farm to Campus
Colleges and universities across New England are serving local and regional food in their dining halls, growing their own food in campus gardens and farms, offering food systems and agriculture degree programs, hosting mini farmers markets, and advocating for real food.
Campus Farmer Summit 2026 - UMass Amherst | November 13-14, 2026
The Campus Farmer Network is pleased to announce the third Campus Farmer Summit! Entitled the New England Campus Farmer Summit in 2018 and 2020, we have shortened the name of the Summit to reflect growing interest throughout the country and in Canada! We are excited to offer this opportunity for all campus farmers and their partners working in K-12 and Higher Ed Institutions to gather in person. This year’s summit will take place on Saturday, November 14, 2026, at UMASS Amherst in Amherst, MA. Leading up to the Summit, campus farm tours and opportunities to network will be offered at UMASS Student Farm and Fairfield Farm at The Hotchkiss School on November 12 & 13, 2026.
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Farm to Health Care
Hospitals, nursing homes, retirement communities and other health care facilities across New England are serving local and regionally grown food, hosting farmers markets, prescribing their patients farm-fresh food, growing on-site gardens and promoting healthy eating.
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Carceral Food System
Prisons and Jails in New England serve more than 70,000 meals every day. Incarcerated individuals represent some of the most vulnerable community members, and are disproportionately Black, Indigenous, low-income, and people of color. Building a resilient food system means that all people have the right to food that is nutritious, substantial, culturally appropriate, and never used as punishment. Reforming carceral food restores dignity within an inherently unjust system driven by deep racial and economic inequities. As we work towards a vision to end mass incarceration, we can lessen harm to incarcerated people by increasing their access to dignified and nourishing food.
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