NH Food System Statewide Gathering

Leaders in local food access held a discussion about how their programs can be sustained in the face of an uncertain federal and state funding environment and increased need from Granite Staters. The session was moderated by Tiffany Brewster of NH Hunger Solutions and included Brendan Cornwell and Elsy Cipriani of the NH Food Bank, Xochi Salazar of NOFA-NH, and Erin Germain of the NH Department of Health and Human Services’ WIC program, who provided succinct overviews of four local food access programs they lead, Granite State Market Match, NH Feeding NH, NOFA-NH’s Farm Share Program, and the WIC Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program

Recommendations and briefs this session addresses:

• Expand Granite State Market Match and strengthen local food access infrastructure (Nutrition Access & Security)
• Expand and integrate local food nutrition incentive programs (Direct-to-Consumer & Consumer Education)

Resources from the session:

• NOFA-NH's Food Access Resources

Moderated by Sarah Wrightsman of New Hampshire Housing, Theresa Walker of the Durham Agricultural Commission, Noah Hodgetts of the NH Office of Planning & Development, and James Vayo of the Southern Regional Planning Commission, outlined various strategies that can be used to create more housing and preserve land for farming and food production, including agriculture and food production friendly zoning, cluster subdivisions, and accessory dwelling units. Attendees left the breakout session with clear, actionable information they could bring to their communities and the housing and land use professionals in the session planned on continuing to build connections post-Gathering through a cross-sector working group.

Recommendations and briefs this session addresses:

• Support communities to find solutions at the intersection of agriculture and housing (Labor & Workforce)
• Convene housing and agricultural advocates on land use issues (Land Use Planning)
• Collaborate with local governments to support zoning changes to allow affordable housing on farm properties (Supporting Future & Beginning Farmers)
• Decrease barriers to hiring on-farm help: Collaborate with local governments to support zoning changes to allow affordable housing on farm properties, including for employees, to address both housing and labor needs, while introducing a potential revenue stream during shoulder seasons. (Fruits & Vegetables)

Resources from this session:

• Local Regulation of Agriculture Toolkit
• Town of Durham Master Plan Agricultural Resources Chapter
• Agriculture Incentive Zoning
• NH Housing Toolbox: Cluster Housing
• NH Housing Toolbox: ADUs
• Innovative Land Use Planning Techniques: Conservation Subdivisions
• How Do We Talk About Housing?
• USDA Rural Development: On-Farm Housing Loans
• Oregon Farm ADU Law
• Guide: ADUs to Support Farm Transitions
• King County, What is Farmworker Housing

Jeff Beard and Nicole Levesque, of the NH Department of Education’s Office of Career Development, and David Bressler,  of the Wilbur H. Palmer Career and Technical Education Center at Alvirne High School, brought breakout session attendees into the world of Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs and Extended Learning Opportunities (ELOs) and explored how everyone can create more pathways for New Hampshire’s students to find success in an agricultural or food system career. Of many outcomes, it was identified CTE programs are looking for more professionals to come in and speak about their careers with students.

Challenges and briefs this session addresses:

• New Hampshire’s slaughter and processing skilled labor force is in jeopardy; facilities face labor shortages, while Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs have been cut from schools, leading to graduates with no experience or relevant skills in the industry. (Meat & Eggs)
• High school CTE programs have dropped agriculture programs in favor of computer and technology programs. (Food System Literacy, Early Childhood to School-Age Children)

Resources from this session:

• New Hampshire's New Hampshire Statewide Work-Based Learning Network 
• CTE Programs in New Hampshire | Department of Education
• Work-Based Learning | Department of Education

Composting was a hot topic for attendees in a session that focused on learning from the Composting Association of Vermont’s toolkit to help farmers and food businesses create more opportunities for on-farm composting. Breakout session leaders Paige Wilson, of the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES), and Natasha Duarte and Cat Buxton, of the Composting Association of Vermont (CAV), were so excited by the energy in the breakout session that they hope to schedule a follow up work session with those interested in implementing the toolkit in their own communities and businesses.

Recommendations and briefs this session addresses:

• Replicate the Composting Association of Vermont’s program on farms (Wasted Food)

Resources from this session:

• Composting Association of Vermont (CAV)
• CAV's On-Farm Composting Toolkit
• Grow More, Waste Less
• Northeast Resource Recovery Association (NRRA) Composting Map 
• NH Department of Environmental Services “Food” blog on the Managing My Waste page  
• Center for EcoTechnology (CET) Waste Food Assistance in New Hampshire
• Vermont Food Cycle Coalition
• "Composting for Good" via Adirondack North Country Association
• The 131 School of Composting
• UVM Master Composter Program
• Upper Valley Super Compost Project
• Previous webinars about the CAV on-farm composting project:
  • VORS 2023: On-Farm Community-Oriented Food Scrap & Agricultural Organic Residuals Management
  • VORS 2021: Connecting Farms to Communities to Close the Nutrient Loop
• "Solid Waste Management" via the Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission

Inspired by ongoing work and conversations within the NH Ag Financiers group, Seth Wilner, of UNH Extension, and Kali Lucey, of Land for Good, hosted a session that increased collaborative work amongst farm business technical assistance providers so they can provide more succinct support to farm and food businesses across this state.

Recommendations and briefs this session addresses:

• Create collaborative partnerships between existing farm business technical service providers (Farm Business Technical Assistance)

Resources from this session:

• Hannah Grimes Farm Business Lab
• UNH New Farmer School
• SCORE - Small Business Support
• The Carrot Project Business Planning Services
• Farm Credit East - Business Consulting

MORNING BREAKOUT SESSION: 11AM-12:15PM

Katelyn Porter, the Value Chain Coordinator for the NH Food Alliance, who led on creating a new and comprehensive NH Wholesale Producer Directory, hosted a session with restaurant owners, food service chefs, and producers to provide feedback on the directory and its usefulness in creating more local sourcing connections across the state. Session attendees praised the directory and offered suggestions on how it can be amended to offer more educational and practical resources for wholesale buyers of all kinds.

Recommendations and briefs this session addresses:

• Create a catalog of wholesale-ready farms, producers, and products (Grocery Stores & Food Cooperatives)
• Create and fund work facilitating wholesale buyer and food producer/hub relationships (Institutional Markets)
• Create a wholesale farm-to-restaurant website and communication system (Restaurants)

Resources from this session:

• NH Wholesale Producer Directory

Jada Lindblom and Gail Mcwilliam Jellie, of UNH Extension, and Hannah Bendroth and Meghan Kelley, of Coppal House Farm, hosted a session to create connections between operators in the agritourism sector and consolidate best practices to offer better experiences for visitors and smoother systems for operators.

Recommendations and briefs this session addresses:

• Encourage knowledge sharing amongst agritourism operators (Agritourism)
• Increase support for business planning and evaluation of agritourism activities (Agritourism)

Resources from this session:

• Visit NH Agritourism
• "Agritourism" via the NH Department of Agriculture, Markets, and Food
• UNH Extension's Agritourism Webinar Series and Materials
• UNH Extension's Tourism and Agritourism Resources
• Agritourism Resources List from the NH Food & Agriculture Strategic Plan
• Coppal House Farm

In a highly anticipated session, Assistant Commissioner Josh Marshall and Director of Agricultural Development, Rebecca Ross, of the NH Department of Agriculture, Markets, and Food, tapped into the experience and knowledge of their breakout session attendees to inform the department’s project of creating a NH Grown brand for New Hampshire’s agricultural and food products. The breakout session cleared a path for the values, use, and the visual nature of the brand and will be a firm stepping stone for the department to move the project forward and create a succinct identity for New Hampshire’s agricultural products.

Recommendations and briefs this session addresses:

• Establish a coordinated statewide local food promotion program (Direct-to-Consumer & Consumer Education)
• Highlight “NH Grown and Crafted” beverage producers to drive tourism (Craft Beverages)
• Launch and fund a consumer marketing initiative for local seafood (Seafood)

In support of recommendations made across almost every Strategic Plan brief, Director of the NH Agricultural Experiment Station, Anton Bekkerman, was joined by Jason Scruton, Farm Manager for the UNH Organic Dairy Research Farm, and Rebecca Sideman, chair of and professor in the Department of Agriculture, Nutrition, and Food Systems part of the College of Life Science and Agriculture at UNH, to share about research being done at the university level and how it can be weaved into the real-time work of food system professionals and businesses across the state.

Recommendations this session addresses:

• All Research-focused recommendations. View them here.

Resources from this session:

• Read latest research news from the NH AES
• Sign up for the NH AES newsletter