Local Food for a Healthier New England!
A COOPERATIVE APPROACH
Your Partner in Building a Local Resilient Maine Food System!
We increase access to local foods through innovative partnership development and project design, supportive funding, value-added processing, consulting, and matching buyers with Maine farmers and fishers.
MF&SC provides value to our membership by developing a Maine-based supply chain that serves Mainers from Farm to Institution and creates a model for others to go by.
After the last few years putting it all together, here's what we have accomplished as of January 2024...
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Secure 90,000 pounds of produce purchases from Maine farms in 2022-25
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Produce 600 cases of Maine Marinara purchased by Maine schools in 2024
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Support market development of farm seconds and upcycled products through the USDA 2nd Harvest Partnership
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Foster a 25% increase in farm to school purchases through a USDA Implementation grant
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Produce 6,000 pounds of healthy, hearty upcycled greens distributed through Maine’s emergency food system
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Secure $2.5M in grants awarded since 2022 to support local food purchases and processing
CALLING FARMERS
The Maine Farm and Sea Cooperative works to maximize the amount of local foods used in institutional foodservice operations across the state and throughout New England with a focus on social, economic, environmental, and healthy dietary outcomes.
Our membership features farmers, producers, institutions, the workers employed by the cooperative and every day individuals who just want to support this work.
We use local foods whenever financially and logistically possible to benefit the customer, with healthy, locally caught, grown or processed foods.
We benefit the Maine agriculture and seafood economy by purchasing at a volume and price that works for both sides of the transaction. We work to build a resilient food economy less dependent on global supply chains and more dependent on our communities through the cooperative structure.
To learn more about Maine cooperative structures, please visit Maine Legislative Statues, Title XII, Chapter 85: Cooperatives and Co-Oplaw.org.
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Thank You to Our Partners
The work we accomplish would not be possible without the generous support of the USDA, The Elmina B. Sewall Foundation, The Maine Community Foundation, The Cooperative Development Institute, and many other. Please visit our Partners page for more information.