MONTPELIER — A new $250,000 federal grant is aimed at putting more locally raised food into New England’s schools, colleges, and hospitals.
The Department of Agriculture grant, awarded this month to the northeast committee of the National Farm to School Network, will help pay for expanding processing of local food in Massachusetts, opening a new processing project in Maine and setting up a model distribution system.
Proponents say that if New England schools bought just 5 percent local foods, it could boost the region’s agriculture economy by $7.5 million.
