Policy News

Learn more about the federal, state and local policies that impact our region, and how you can get involved.

Jun 15, 2023

This year, NESAWG brought a delegation of 22 to the Annual NEASDA (Northeastern Association of State Departments of Agriculture) Regional Meeting!

Jan 01, 2023

NESAWG undertook this project in the fall of 2022 to begin to assess Northeast positioning going into the 2023 Farm Bill year. We asked network respondents about the quality and quantity of their congressional relationships, their priorities for the Farm Bill, and their needs for regional coordination. Here are the results.

Jan 01, 2022

NESAWG undertook this project in the fall of 2022 to begin to assess Northeast positioning going into the 2023 Farm Bill year. We asked network respondents about the quality and quantity of their congressional relationships, their priorities for the Farm Bill, and their needs for regional coordination. Here are the results.

Mar 03, 2021

Federal working lands conservation programs help make farms more viable, financially and environmentally. The Conservation Stewardship Program (CSP) and Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) offer farmers critical financial resources for conservation projects that fight climate change, mitigate pollution, enhance habitat. However, compared to other regions of the country these programs are underutilized in the Northeast, especially by farmers of color.

Mar 03, 2021

The New Entry Sustainable Farming Project (New Entry) in Beverly, MA is a program of the Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition, Science and Policy. Through courses, workshops, and hands-on trainings, access to land at their 15-acre incubator farm (USDA Certified Organic), and connections to markets through the New Entry Food Hub, New Entry offers a pathway for beginning, immigrant, and refugee farmers to get on the land and start their own operations. With support from Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE), New Entry is conducting three training projects in collaboration with partners across the Northeast to support their farmers’ needs.

Mar 03, 2021

American Farmland Trust launched their Farms Under Threat initiative in 2016 to document the extent, diversity, location, and quality of agricultural land in the continental United States, as well as the threats to farmland from expanding commercial, industrial, and residential development. In 2020, they published new data about state level threats and policy responses.

Mar 03, 2021

Throughout the Northeast, organizations we spoke to with Farm to Families Food Box contracts (the component of CFAP that funded food boxes from farmers and distributors to local emergency food programs) expressed their excitement in being able to provide food to families in their communities while providing a market for local farmers. However, many reported losing their contracts in the third and fourth round of contract renewals-- a trend mirrored by the loss of contracts serving smaller farms nationwide--or declined to reapply because the requirements were too onerous. Small scale producers have expressed a desire to bring the program back to its roots: connecting local farmers with new markets while supporting food insecure families with quality food.

Mar 01, 2021

When the pandemic hit, the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board (VHCB) shifted the long-term business and succession planning services normally provided through its Vermont Farm & Forest Viability Program to emergency business assistance and rapid response coaching, a mobilization they first modeled after Hurricane Irene in 2011. A key part of VHCB’s work since late March has been helping businesses pivot to new sales channels and to apply for COVID relief, including PPP, EIDL, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), and state relief programs.

Mar 01, 2021

The Rodney Reservoir Community Garden is the largest community garden in Wilmington, Delaware, with more than 6,100 square feet of growing space. After an urban agriculture mini-grant from the New Castle Conservation District allowed the garden to repair its infrastructure, the garden was able to help meet its community’s hunger needs by participating in the Harvest 2020 campaign, an effort organized by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to encourage individuals to grow their own food and donate a portion to combat increasing hunger and food security.