Massachusetts working on improving access to fresh food

Rather than allow a 416-page state plan released in December 2015 to rot on a shelf, a Greenfield-based collaborative has been working to have it seed a bold future for farming and food accessibility in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Food System Collaborative is working to promote, monitor and facilitate implementation of the plan, one that was written for and accepted by a state’s Food Policy Council, says collaborative Director Winton Pitcoff. After getting organized, the collaborative, which was itself one of the recommendations of the plan, has focused its first year on two projects, as well as moving along legislative initiatives and policy objectives recommended in the report. First, there’s trying to balance the potential conflict between farming and the autonomous town public health boards, which have authority over a vast array of issues, some of which can involve farming practices and may result in restrictive policies and regulations made in the absence of expertise. Those regulations, which can be adopted even without a public hearing, may vary from town to town, making it hard for farmers, who look for consistency, said Pitcoff.