Please take a moment to look at the bills I have filed this session pertaining to the agriculture sector and food security in the Commonwealth.
You can also view all bills I’ve co-sponsored this session here.
Filed bills
An Act encouraging the donation of food to persons in need
Food insecurity levels across the Commonwealth remain high, with one in three households reporting experiencing food insecurity. At the same time, food waste accounts for more than one fifth of Massachusetts’ trash. Many farmers want to donate their excess crops, but donating excess crops requires storage, time, and labor, all of which cost money. My bill facilitates the donation of food from farms, grocery stores, and restaurants by extending liability protection in existing law to allow for direct food donations, and creates a tax credit of up to $25,000 for the donation of food to non-profit organizations.
An Act relative to an agricultural healthy incentives program
The Healthy Incentives Program (HIP) provides Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) users with extra benefits each month when they buy healthy, local fruits and vegetables from participating farm vendors. HIP provides critical nutrition and food access for food insecure residents, essential revenue for farmers, and jobs and increased economic development activity in communities across the state. Despite its importance, HIP is not enshrined in statute and can experience abrupt funding cuts. My bill establishes a permanent, year-round Healthy Incentives Program in statute, ensuring stability for residents and farmers alike.
An Act relative to membership updates for the Massachusetts Food Policy Council
The Massachusetts Food Policy Council was established in 2010 to promote the production, accessibility, and consumption of Massachusetts-grown foods. The statewide Council, which includes legislators, executive agency representatives, and industry appointees, meets publicly at least four times each year and focuses on initiatives to increase local food access, protect resources, and support the economic viability of local food systems. My bill adds representatives from the Division of Marine Fisheries and the UMass Agricultural Extension to the Council and allows members of the Council’s advisory committee to receive compensation for their time, ensuring that the Council has representation from all food system stakeholders and that non-government members of the advisory committee are compensated equitably for their valuable time and participation.
An Act fostering agricultural resilience in Massachusetts (the FARM bill)
Despite their essential role in the Commonwealth’s food system and economy, many farmers struggle to make a profit and keep their farms and businesses afloat. Between 2017 and 2022, Massachusetts lost farmland at twice the national rate, losing approximately 27,000 acres, and American Farmland Trust estimates that Massachusetts could lose an additional 89,000 acres of its remaining farmland by 2040 without significant new investments and policy changes. My bill makes a number of reforms to support farms and farmers and preserve valuable farmland, including directing the state to maximize the amount of local food that is distributed through state food assistance programs, creating a grant to support training for new farmers, allowing farmers to use state grants for used farm equipment, facilitating agritourism, and other initiatives to strengthen the state’s food systems and help farmers remain competitive and viable.
The state Constitution recognizes the importance of agriculture by allowing farmland to be taxed based on its value as agricultural or horticultural land, rather than as commercial or residential land. However, farms must be at least five acres to qualify under this provision. My constitutional amendment allows smaller-sized farm parcels to qualify. This change would benefit urban farmers who often pay exorbitant property taxes for small parcels of land, new farmers who cannot find or afford large parcels of farmland, and existing farmers who want to expand production to smaller and/or noncontiguous parcels.
Resolve promoting equity in agriculture
The state has an obligation to provide all Massachusetts residents with an equal opportunity to farm and to succeed in farming. We know Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color are significantly underrepresented among Commonwealth farmers, but we do not have the data, understanding, or plans needed to increase diversity and expand access to the agriculture sector. My bill establishes a Commission on Agricultural Equity to develop recommendations for investments, policies, and practices that promote racial equity in agriculture in the Commonwealth.