Regional Food Systems
Our food systems reflect some of the 21st century’s most pressing challenges, but also offer significant opportunities to address them.
America’s industrialized and massive-scale agricultural system contributes to climate change, water scarcity and pollution, food-borne illness, antibiotic resistance, loss of wildlife and habitat, obesity and other disease and food insecurity.
Creating new, regional and sustainable food systems can help address many of these cross-cutting concerns while ensuring the most vulnerable among us – children, the poor and people in hospitals – are getting the healthy food they need to thrive. We’re supporting such a regional food system in New England by:
- Channeling demand from our region’s largest food purchasers such as schools, colleges and universities, and hospitals to increase the economic success of sustainable agriculture;
- Focusing on supply chains to expand and streamline the supply and demand of regionally and sustainably produced food; and
- Strengthening food production and distribution systems so they can meet the growing demand.
Grantee Profile
The Wellspring Collaborative
The John Merck Fund provided critical funding to the Wellspring Collaborative to develop a hydroponic greenhouse called Wellspring Harvest that will provide year round local produce to institutions and commercial venues in Western Massachusetts.
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Impact Investing
Ayers Brook Goat Dairy
In 2012, The John Merck Fund joined philanthropic partners, The Castanea Foundation and the High Meadows Fund, to form Evergreen Partners, L3C, committing $300,000 to the partnership to help finance Vermont Creamery’s ...
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Impact Investing
Fair Food Fund
In 2012, The John Merck Fund Board made a $425,000 investment in the Fair Food Network’s Fair Food Fund-Northeast. The Fund was established to help fill the financing gap that many smaller-scale sustainable farmers ...
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Recent Regional Food Systems Grant Awards
| Date | Description | Program Area | Focus | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 03/2017 |
National Sustainable Agriculture CoalitionTo educate and engage grassroots farm and food groups and practitioners about federal agriculture policy. |
Regional Food Systems |
$50,000 | |
| 03/2017 |
The Carrot ProjectTo develop a sustainable business assistance network across New England and New York State that promotes agriculture and local food systems and encourages food-related entrepreneurship. |
Regional Food Systems |
$20,000 | |
| 03/2017 |
Fair Food NetworkTo: (1) accelerate the growth of food system businesses in the Northeast by providing them with direct business assistance; (2) leverage $500,000 in funding from the USDA to support needed business assistance in the region; and (3) help increase coordination and collaboration among regional business assistance organizations. |
Regional Food Systems |
$50,000 | |
| 03/2017 |
Vermont Sustainable Jobs FundTo enable greater coordination and collaboration among organizations across Vermont to achieve the 25 goals of Vermont’s Farm to Plate Strategic Plan by 2020. |
Regional Food Systems |
$115,000 | |
| 03/2017 |
Massachusetts Food System CollaborativeTo educate policymakers about, and build public support for, the Massachusetts Food System Plan’s goals and recommendations; make progress on specific plan recommendations; and grow the statewide network of engaged and connected food system stakeholders. |
Regional Food Systems |
$50,000 | |
| 03/2017 |
University of New Hampshire FoundationTo enable the UNH Sustainability Institute’s Food Solutions New England network to undertake activities that address key leverage areas for strengthening the New England food system as identified through an extensive systems mapping process.. |
Regional Food Systems |
$75,000 | |
| 03/2017 |
Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners AssociationTo ensure that Maine farmers and food producers are able to increase production, particularly in Aroostook County, as demand increases for healthy, sustainable and organic food throughout the region. |
Regional Food Systems |
$60,000 | |
| 12/2016 |
FoodCorpsTo increase local food procurement at public schools in Connecticut. |
Regional Food Systems |
$30,000 | |
| 12/2016 |
Land for GoodTo lead and support multi-stakeholder efforts to advance specific farmland policies at the municipal, state, regional, and federal levels in collaboration with American Farmland Trust and Conservation Law Foundation. |
Regional Food Systems |
$45,000 | |
| 12/2016 |
Land for GoodTo improve farmland access, transfer, and tenure for beginning and established farmers through direct technical assistance, effective education and resources, and regional collaboration. |
Regional Food Systems |
$30,000 |