- Submit verbal or written testimony,
- Share personal stories + experience,
- Engage your Representatives,
- Attend a listening session or hearing 





The GFA Food + Ag Policy Working Group advocates for the redistribution of resources, opportunity and power into communities, most notably, communities of color that throughout history and today are overwhelmingly impacted by the industrial food system.

Through story, data, education and community engagement, the GFA-Working Group organizes around the policies that uphold and demonstrate what a ‘transformed’ food system might and could be. Our primary policies support food and land access for everyone.  

We work to mobilize the Greenwich community in the following ways:








For more information on how to get involved email us
at gfa@thefoodshednetwork.org







FOOD and AGRICULTURE 
POLICY + ADVOCACY





Advancing Greenwich’s food security initiatives by strengthening
& leveraging relationships, knowledge and networks





WHO WE ARE
&
STATEWIDE COALITIONS





The GFA Policy Working Group is comprised of passionate advocates who believe in the power of policy to advance systemic change. We bring diverse experience to our work, and collectively participate in several statewide coalitions: CT Zero Waste Coalition, School Meals For All Coalition and CT Farm To School Collaborative Policy Action Team.


FEDERAL
NUTRITION
PROGRAMS 

CT FOOD + AG POLICY 

We prioritizes policy that address access to food and land:

  • Farm To School
  • Food Security 
  • Food Rescue and Redistribution 
  • Agriculture 


The Connecticut legislative session wrapped up in early June.

Below find a recap!


Rachel Khanna,
former State Representative 149th District








Jan DeAngelo,
Greenwich Pollinator Pathway






Ali Ghiorse,
The Foodshed Network





Geoffrey Anderson,
Greenwich Jewish Family Services





Karen Saggese,
Food Rescue US-Fairfield County



Raised Bill 7013 An Act Concerning Enhancements To The Local Food For Schools Incentive Program And The CT Grown For CT Kids Grant Program. Read the bill.

ABOUT THIS BILL

Improves our state local food incentive program (LFSIP) and supports the continued growth and funding for farm to school (CT Grown for CT Kids).  Provides language and technical assistance along with the funding. 

Governor Lamont's $55 billion two-year budget proposal cuts $1 million annually from the CT Grown for CT Kids Program, which would effectively end the program. Since 2021, more than 130 grantees across the state received almost $4 million to buy produce from local farmers and serve Connecticut schoolchildren with locally grown food. The proposed cuts come at the same time as freezes in federal funding impact Connecticut farmers. 



CT Local Food for Schools Incentive Program 

- Funding for FY 26 and FY 27 was included in the final state budget at 1.5 and 3.43 million dollars, respectively.

- The language in the budget bill to implement the program includes most of the changes we advocated for in HB 7013, including:

1.) Changing the administering agency from the CT Department of Agriculture to the CT State Department of Education but maintaining the partnership between the agencies.
2.) Making early childcare providers eligible for incentive funds.
3.) Allowing for at least 20% of total funds to be used for supplemental services including technical assistance, consultants, outreach, training or evaluation.

CT Grown for CT Kids Grants Program 

- We are still awaiting confirmation but we are hopeful funding will be restored at 1 million/year. 

H.B 7013 passed unanimously in the House!! We thank Representative Arzeno, Representative Meskers and Representative Courpas for supporting this important bill.


Fact sheet.

Social media graphic.

H.B 7013 Breakdown. 

FARM TO SCHOOL

CONNECTICUT
FOOD +AG POLICY

Campaign Pillars

Legislator Questions

Did you know?

WHY BREAKFAST IS SO IMPORTANT

  • With the anticipated policy changes to the USDA’s nutrition budget, our school districts will be left without access to healthy school meals
  • Districts/ schools will lose Community Eligibility Provision status
  • 100% of families will be required to fill out app. (admin impossibility)
  • Cuts to SNAP and Medicaid will not only increase food insecurity but also make fewer children automatically eligible for school meals
  • What we need to feed all Connecticut kids breakfast: FY 26 and FY 27 - $13 million PLUS estimated $4 million to make CEP districts whole
  • Consider this: amounts to just half of 1% of the annual budget of over $26 Billion. Every dollar spent on school meals produces a $9 value in return, which is reinvested into our local economies!

School Meals + FTS
Communications Toolkit.




ABOUT THIS BILL

The Governor's budget included school breakfast for the next two years.

  • Year 1: Reduced-Price eligible students are able to eat breakfast and lunch at no cost.
  • Year 2: School Breakfast will be free for all students attending schools serving breakfast.



UNIVERSAL BREAKFAST

End Hunger CT's Impact Statement: 

As of July 1, 2025, the state of Connecticut will no longer provide free school meals to students who qualify for reduced-price meals. This change, along with the General Assembly’s decision not to expand the School Breakfast Program, will have a devastating impact on over 58,000 students across the state—many of whom depend on school meals as a primary source of nutrition.

This decision represents a setback in our collective efforts to ensure equity, reduce childhood hunger, and support working families. Currently, families with two parents working full-time minimum-wage jobs will no longer qualify for free school meals despite struggling to meet their most basic needs. 

Keep an eye out for actions you can take and next steps.  

H.B. No. 6864 An Act Concerning The State Budget For the Biennium Ending June Thirtieth,
2027, And Making Appropriations Therefor. (Universal Breakfast) Read the bill.




food security

Raised Bill 6917 Act Concerning the Management of Solid Waste. Read the bill.

STATUS UPDATE

  • Received a Public Hearing on 2/19/25 
  • A Joint Favorable vote was received on 2/28 to move the bill out of the Environment Committee. 
  • It was filed with the Legislative Commissioner’s Office for drafting and processing on 3/3.
  • Currently in Appropriations.





ABOUT THIS BILL

  • Fund RecycleCT with $250,000
  • Appropriate $500,000 to DEEP for Commercial Organics enforcement
  • Require commercial organic waste generators to adopt a written food donation policy
  • Apply $1.50 solid waste assessment to additional waste streams
  • Authorize hiring of municipal and regional waste coordinators using miniature liquor bottle fees
  • Authorize a DEEP study of the need and viability of extended producer responsibility programs for consumer packaging



FOOD RESCUE
&redISTRIBUTION

AGRICULTURE

Heading

  • $10 million for a new farmland access grant program
  • A “mini Farm Bill” with grants for weather-related crop losses and more
  • Nearly $5 million for local food in schools over the next two years
  • An increase to the Community Investment Act, translating to $1.5 million more for agriculture annually




SB 1497 – “Mini Farm Bill”

  • Clarifies that hoop houses and high tunnels used for farming are exempt from state building codes (a big help with P&Z!)
  • Launches a new grant program to help farmers recover from weather-related crop losses
  • Creates a 20% refundable tax credit (starting in 2026) for farmers investing in equipment or buildings
  • Provides liability protection for agritourism activities
  • Funds mobile container farms to supply schools and food pantries
  • Raises the farm equipment property tax exemption to $250,000 (with optional local add-ons)
  • Funds grants for manure management improvements
  • Allows drones to be used by licensed applicators for planting and pesticide application
  • Requires fertilizers/soil amendments to be PFAS-free and registered

HB 5064, with funding from HB 7288

Directs the Department of Agriculture to create a $10M farmland access grant program (launching in 2027) to help towns and nonprofits make farmland more affordable

HB 7287 Provides line items for:

  • Farmers Market Nutrition Program (FMNP) – $247,938 in 2026 & 2027
  • Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP) – $518,418 in 2026 & 2027
  • Local Food for Local Schools – $1.5M in 2026 and $3.43M in 2027
  • Increases the Community Investment Act (CIA) fee, boosting funding to:
  • Ag Viability Grants – from $500,000 to $625,000
  • Farm Transition Grants – from $500,000 to $625,000
  • CT Grown – from $100,000 to $125,000
  • CT FarmLink – from $75,000 to $93,750
  • CT Food Policy Council – from $25,000 to $31,250
  • Farmland Preservation – gets the remaining unallocated CIA funds, expected to exceed $390,000/year
  • and many, many other things

SB 9

  • Among many other things, bans non-agricultural use of neonicotinoids to protect pollinators (ag uses are exempt)
  • Strengthens Transfer of Development Rights (TDR)—allowing landowners (like farmers) to sell their development rights in exchange for keeping land in farming, while encouraging smart growth in other areas

HB 5916

  • Requires that 2MW+ solar projects on farmland post a decommissioning bond to ensure land is restored after project use (other solar projects already have this rule)
   

S.B. 1497 'Mini Farm Bill'

FEDERAL POLICIES 

  • USDA’s Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access (LCMA) Program
  • USDA’s Local Agriculture Market Program (LAMP)
  • USDA’s Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP)
  • LFPA: Advocacy spreadsheet + LFPA Advocacy Toolkit
CT Mirror: Canceling food funding brings pain by Ali Ghiorse & Karen Saggese

CT Insider: A plea to our Senators to safeguard SNAP by Ali Ghiorse & Karen Saggese

We track cuts and cancellations to federal food and agricultural programs. 


  • Cuts to FoodCorps
  • Community Eligibility Provision (CEP): eligibility might increase from 25% to 60% - in CT this would impact 262 school districts and 128k students. In Greenwich, New Lebanon, currently a CEP school, would no longer qualify. All CEP schools, including New Lebanon, receive funding to supplement school lunch for all students.
  • Verification: district eligibility might increase from 3% to 100% verification. This will box out almost all schools, and impose a huge administrative burden on families and school administrators. Also it's important to note that qualification for free and reduced meals is automatically certified through programs such as SNAP and Medicaid.
  • SNAP and Medicaid: if impacted in any way it could cause a ripple effect complexity. 
  • Summer Meals: eliminating summer meals sites except those serving students enrolled in a summer program. This would limit access - currently there is open eligibility: no paperwork required. 
  • Changes to SNAP Eligibility: fewer families qualifying means fewer students automatically eligible for free meals.
  • Cuts to SNAP and Medicaid: expected to increase food insecurity across districts.