Policy & Advocacy

January 2023

In the final hours of the informal session on January 3, 2023, the legislature passed a consolidated pesticide bill through both chambers (S.3181) which combined the provisions of two of our top priority pesticide bills: a measure to protect schoolchildren from pesticides (H.926) and a measure to modernize pesticide reporting (H.4931). The latter had been previously passed by the House in June 2022. This endorsement of these provisions during the informal session is a momentous victory for our movement and allows us to begin the 2023-24 formal session with fresh and significant momentum for pesticides reform.

September 2022

Several significant pesticide reform measures were approved (reported favorably) by the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture during the 2021-22 session, as well as measures regarding Food Justice and Equity in Agriculture.

Several proposals supported by the grassroots now have increased political momentum to build upon next session, including:

• Establishing a “pesticide control modernization and environmental protection task force” (H.4601)
• Limiting what pesticides can be applied to playgrounds (H.926)
• Digitizing annual pesticide reporting (H.4931)
• Banning consumer use of glyphosate-containing herbicides (H.929/S.575)
• Establishing a commission to address racial disparities in agricultural programs and create Community Land Trusts to create food security jobs (S.2880)
• Funding farming and food security jobs in frontline food insecure communities (S.564/H.973)

July 2022

The MA Food System Collaborative led a successful campaign to include several important provisions in the 2023 state budget. In addition to increased funding for HIP, a provision for investment in UMass Extension was a top budget priority for NOFA/Mass, which we are grateful to see included. UMass Extension, which provides essential education and technical assistance to farmers, received $620,000 to upgrade their soil testing equipment and to hire new educators focused on issues such as soil health, urban agriculture, pollinators, and addressing invasive pests while reducing the use of pesticides.

October 2021

As a direct result of increasing calls for pesticide reform, MDAR convened an official Conservationist Pesticide Advisory Council to advise the Pesticide Board on the development of statewide pesticide policies and regulations. Until recently, only the pesticide industry had an advisory council which advised the Board. Our calls for reform of pesticide rules through the regulatory process will be heard even louder moving forward.

April 2021

As part of the FY22 budget, legislators approved an appropriation for $50,000 to create a commission to “conduct a scientific review of the potential impacts of glyphosate and its most common alternative herbicides on the environment and public health.” It will also include a review of the potential impacts of glyphosate on endangered and threatened species. The Pesticide Subcommittee is directed to use the scientific review as part of an individual review of glyphosate and whether current uses should be altered.

March 2021

We successfully pressured the Mass. Pesticide Board Subcommittee to pass a motion to protect pollinators by restricting the use of neonicotinoid pesticides (“neonics”), effectively removing these pesticides from store shelves by July 2022. NOFA/Mass had been organizing with a coalition of beekeepers and environmentalists since 2015 to pass similar legislation and to hold state regulators accountable.

January 2021

Governor Baker signed into law the Massachusetts Healthy Soils Bill as part of an Economic Development bill. This legislation was originally co-authored by NOFA/Mass Policy Director and is supported by a coalition of healthy soils advocates organized by NOFA/Mass. The bill creates a Healthy Soils Program within the MA State Commission for Conservation of Soil, Water & Related Resources. NOFA/Mass is now working with legislative allies to allocate supplemental funding for the program.

In 2018 the Secretary of the Executive Office of Energy an Environmental Affairs, after having heard a presentation on soil carbon restoration by former NOFA/Mass Policy Director Jack Kittredge, proposed a $100,000 budget appropriation to fund the creation of a Massachusetts Healthy Soils Action Plan. The contract was awarded to Regenerative Design Group, which invited to the project team two NOFA/Mass staff members, Caro Roszell and Marty Dagoberto. The results of the 18 month stakeholder engagement process are expected to be published spring 2021 and will provide a state-approved roadmap for policy makers and land managers.

August 2020

We were successful in securing direct representation for organic agriculture on the “21st Century Mosquito Disease Management Task Force.” Working with a coalition of advocacy groups, we achieved significant redrafts of the Governor’s arbovirus management bill, limiting powers granted and providing for much greater transparency. We continue to advocate for an ecological approach to mosquito disease management.