Participation
Details

Calculating Your Pledge

Each school district participating in the NFS Challenge will pledge to spend the dollar value of federal funding projected for the 2025-2026 school year on Massachusetts and regional foods. Please note: only schools that participate in the National School Lunch Program and School Breakfast Program are eligible at this time.

Please use this NFS Challenge Local Investment Chart to identify your School Food Authority’s (SFA) pledge value. 

The pledge value provided in the Chart is a goal – all efforts to work toward this goal will be impactful and celebrated, regardless of whether an SFA is able to meet their pledge by the end of 2026. Moreover, we happily encourage SFAs to pursue a local food system investment above and beyond the pledge value outlined.

Tracking Purchases

Chicopee Public Schools

Participating schools will receive access to a food purchase tracking platform called FoodTrails, on a first-come, first-serve basis. This platform was procured and is currently being funded by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on behalf of schools to track local food purchases as part of the NFS Challenge. Massachusetts Farm to School will offer support with FoodTrails as well as provide local procurement and communications assistance. 

Participating schools will report their food purchases through the FoodTrails platform by uploading velocity reports received from their suppliers and distributors. This secure, web-based platform is easy to use, and ample training and customer service will be provided to participating schools. 

The FoodTrails platform will analyze velocity reports and provide schools with their dollar value spend on Massachusetts, regional, domestic and non-domestic foods to help track progress toward the school’s NFS Challenge pledge commitment as well as the Commonwealth’s collective progress toward its $6 million local food system investment goal.

Eligible Food

For the NFS Challenge , qualifying purchases include unprocessed or minimally processed fruits and vegetables, dairy products (including fluid milk), grains, meat, and seafood that is grown, raised or harvested in New England or New York.  Eligible Massachusetts foods will be counted in the Challenge at their purchase value - regional foods grown, raised or harvested in New York, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Maine will be counted at $0.33 for every $1.00 spent. Foods purchased through USDA food programs including DoD or USDA Commodity are not counted for the purpose of this NFS Challenge.

Waltham Public Schools