After serving as a member of the Massachusetts Food System Caucus for several years, Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr this week was named a co-chair of the 157-member group that focuses on advancing food and agricultural policy.
Tarr said his new role will be about continuing the FSC’s efforts to support and grow the local food system in the Commonwealth. Founded in 2019, the caucus is a bicameral, bipartisan group.
Tarr’s other co-chairs include fellow senators Joanne “Jo” Comeford (D-Northampton) and Assistant Senate Majority Leader Sal DiDomenico. House co-chairs are Massachusetts Representatives Mindy Domb (3rd Hampshire), Kate Donahue (19th Worcester), Hannah Kane (11th Worcester), Paul Schmid (8th Bristol), and Andres Vargas (3rd Essex).
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Tarr was appointed by the senate president to chair the senate's Committee on Supply Chain Issues, which is charged with increasing the availability of locally sourced food.
In that role, among others, they worked to facilitate the Massachusetts Seafood Collaborative, which challenged processors to deliver new seafood products to consumers in Massachusetts and to expand access to meat and poultry processing facilities for local Massachusetts farmers.
“Over the last several years we have been successful in creating more opportunities for our farms and the commercial fishing industry to survive, innovate, and grow. I am confident that we can continue to build on those successes, and that the Food Systems Caucus will play a leadership role in those efforts,” said Tarr. “Sustainable access to locally grown, harvested, and produced food is important for our health, our economy, and our quality of life.”
Tarr has been awarded the Massachusetts Agriculture Day Award, the Division of Marine Fisheries Belding Award, the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers Association, and the Legislative Leadership Award.
The FSC focuses on three priority areas: food access and food insecurity, farmland, and economic development. It also has a goal of advancing policy, practices, and collaboration to address food waste and hunger, farming and agriculture, and economic development.
"I am thrilled to have Senator Tarr join the Food System Caucus as a Senate Co-Chair," said Sen. Comerford and FSC co-chair. "As the Caucus pushes to advance its priority legislation, Senator Tarr's expertise in food security, fisheries, and agriculture policy and his leadership in the Senate will be a valuable asset to our work."
One key initiative of the FSC co-chairs is identifying and working with key stakeholders and organizations to address our food system's challenges.
By increasing access to fresh and affordable produce, nurturing economic development through agricultural innovation, and growing Massachusetts’ farmland, this group of legislators hopes to be an ally. This is important, considering food system policy touches every geographic region and demographic of Massachusetts.
“I want to congratulate my colleague and good friend, Senator Bruce Tarr, on his well-deserved appointment to the Food System Caucus,” said fellow co-chair, Sen. Sal DiDomenico.
“I know that Senator Tarr is a big believer in the work that we are doing to improve food systems throughout the Commonwealth, and he has worked throughout his career to fight food insecurity and its causes. I look forward to working alongside him in this new role,” DiDomenico concluded.
