NOFA/Mass Programs
Agroforestry at NOFA/Mass (MDAR)
Beginning Farmer Program
NOFA/Mass is committed to supporting the next generation of farmers in Massachusetts.
Whether you are preparing for your first season working on a farm, or looking to access technical farming skills and farm business resources, there are programs and guides available to you here.
Bulk Order Program
Do you buy cover crop seed, fertilizers, mineral amendments, compost, potting soil, potato and allium seed? Would you like to save money on those items? If so, the bulk order might be perfect for you. Prior to the spring growing season, NOFA/Mass organizes a bulk order with popular suppliers, for distribution at sites around MA/CT/RI. Take advantage of significant savings through group purchasing power and collective shipping, while helping NOFA support organic practices throughout the region. The order is open to both members and non-members & no order is too small or minimum order required! Items available: fertilizers, mineral amendments, pest control, feed-grade supplements, useful tools for the farm/garden, compost, potting soil, cover crop seed, potato and allium seed.
Climate-Smart Farming & Marketing Program (Pasa Partnership)
The Climate-Smart Farming & Marketing program offers financial and technical support for farmers who want to implement climate-smart practices such as agroforestry, cover cropping, prescribed grazing, and reduced tillage. Farmer participants will help measure the environmental benefits of these practices, and we’ll help them educate customers to grow informed consumer demand.
Food Access
We believe that organic growing can take place everywhere and assist all populations in accessing healthy food. Our Food Access program strives to assist communities of color struggling with structural racism; health disparities, few or poorly functioning supermarkets, and poverty. Together we work to grow healthy food through organic growing education, support for community gardens and partnering with local organizations to use urban gardening to increase food access.
Massachusetts Pollinator Network
Pollinator protection communities from the seacoast to the Berkshires are collaborating with NOFA/Mass to build a state-wide hub for native pollinator protection.
The Massachusetts Pollinator Network will build upon the momentum of the Western Mass Pollinator Network, Bee Friendly Williamstown, Mystic Charles Pollinator Pathways, Wing and a Prayer Pollinator Nursery, Greening Greenfield’s Planting for Pollinators!, and others working toward a unifying statewide vision of protecting native pollinators – and insect biodiversity more generally. This network will also be integrated with with the work of the Community Pesticides Reduction (CPR) Network (a project of NOFA/Mass and Community Action Works) and the NOFA/Mass Policy Department.
NOFA Conservation Innovation Grant (NRCS) Project
Organic Certification
Baystate Organic Certifiers is a USDA National Organic Program accredited certifying agent that certifies farm operations in the Northeast & Mid-Atlantic United States, and processing operations in the Continental United States.
Organic Land Care
Twelve years ago, a group of landscape professionals, scientists, educators and concerned citizens formed the NOFA Organic Land Care Committee to extend the vision and principles of organic agriculture to the care of landscapes. The Committee drafted the first organic land care standards in the United States and offered the first organic land care accreditation course. Today, NOFA’s Standards for Land Care: Practices for Design and Maintenance of Ecological Landscapes is revised annually by NOFA’s Organic Land Care Committee, and forms the basis of the curriculum for NOFA’s 5-day Course in Organic Land Care.
Policy & Advocacy
NOFA/Mass advocates for sustainable agricultural policies that strengthen the resilience of our local communities. While primarily an educational organization, our policy team works on issues as diverse as organic standards, food system transparency, and regulations that support sustainable farms.
Raw Milk Network
Soil Carbon Restoration
Learn what farming methods will return carbon to the soil — and keep it there — for healthier crops, more resilient farms, and less extreme weather. We have developed accessible and well-crafted resources that make plain the potential of this hopeful approach in addressing climate change, including a video, white paper, resource list, action steps, and more.
Soil & Grower Technical Assistance Program
NOFA/Mass is a majority farmer-run organization and our staff and board have a wide range of experience and skills in soil health and fertility, organic production and certification, and best practices around potentially contaminated soils. We offer affordable technical assistance including soil lab analysis and inputs recommendations, soil health assessment, organic certification, and custom technical support.
Soil Compaction Project (MDAR)
Transition to Organic Partnership (TOPP)
TOPP is an investment of up to $100 million in cooperative agreements with non-profit organizations, sponsored by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service. It will continue over the next five years, through October 2027.
NOFA/Mass is proud to be a core partner in the Transition to Organic Partnership Program, helping to connect farmers who are looking to certify organic with mentors, create community building activities, provide technical assistance resources, support the organic work force through training and education, help producers overcome technical, cultural, and financial shifts during and after organic certification, and help promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the organic sector.
Western Massachusetts Regenerative Food System
The Western Massachusetts Regenerative Food System (WMRFS) is a newly established collaborative network of organizations, institutions, and individuals working together toward economic, environmental, and social justice through the regenerative production, distribution, and equitable access to good food. Housed within the Northeast Organic Farming Association, Massachusetts Chapter (NOFA/Mass), the WMRFS seeks to increase the well-being of all residents by establishing food and farming systems that ensure access to good food while building healthy soils and creating economic opportunities through practices that are ecologically sound and socially just. The WMRFS is part of a regional 30×30 vision to reach 30% regeneratively produced and equitably accessed food by 2030*.