Three Island organizations and businesses have been granted money from the state to address food security and resiliency.  

The Martha's Vineyard Shellfish Group, Island Grown Initiative and Net Result received money through the state’s Food Security Infrastructure Grant (FSIG), which was established in 2020 under the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources. This is the second time Island Grown has been awarded money from this grant, and the first for the Shellfish Group and Net Result.  

“One of the many goals of FSIG towards food security is really trying to grow, raise, harvest and distribute more of our own food regionally. The second is really increasing access and availability. The third is really building resilience across the supply chain,” Julianne Stelmaszyk, director of food security at the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, said.  

Island Grown received $588,000, the Shellfish Group was awarded $112,000 and Net Result received nearly $14,000.  

Though the federal funding landscape has drastically shifted under the current presidential administration, the ability to continue giving these grants out to over a hundred organizations in the state is essential to food resiliency, according to Ms. Stelmaszyk. 

“What’s so exciting for Massachusetts, is that we have this fund that seems to continue to get support from senior leadership within the government and the legislature, and it can be flexible to the changing needs of our local food systems, which I think is really innovative,” she said. 

At Island Grown, the money will be used for repairs in the 30,000 square foot glasshouse.  

“One of the projects is going to be to build out a year-round insulated wash, pack area, the drainage, and be able to process vegetables in there year-round and a higher volume of vegetables, because we are investing in improving the greenhouse’s mechanics,” Island Grown co-executive director Caroline Pam said.  

Another project this grant will help with is the construction of a new equipment barn.  

“A lot of this has been scattered and stored outside in the elements or tucked into areas of the greenhouse, now that we’re renovating the greenhouse and making it fully productive again, all of those things that have been stored there need to move into a barn,” Ms. Pam said.  

The Gazette was unable to reach Net Result owner Mike Santoro for comment.

For the MV Shellfish Group, the money will be used to revive the Hughes Hatchery to produce oyster seed for the local aquaculture industry. The hatchery has been inactive for 20 years, according to Shellfish Group director Emma Green-Beach. 

“This grant is going to fund a photo bioreactor, which is a self-contained, state of the art, algae growing machine and algae culture [is needed] to be able to feed baby shellfish,” she said.  

While the group used to grow oyster seed to help the local farmers in the mid 1990s, complications caused the hatchery to pause. A few years ago, farmers started being waitlisted at large hatcheries off Island and came to Ms. Green-Beach in concern. With this grant, the hatchery aims to provide a larger number of seed for the farmers on the Island who need it. 

“With this ability to grow seed for the local industry, we can provide some resilience,” she said. “I don’t think that we want to be the ones improving all the seed for all the farmers, but we want to make sure that everyone gets seed when they need them.” 

Ms. Green-Beach is excited to ignite longstanding projects and initiatives with the Shellfish Group. 

“We are so thrilled and honored to get this funding,” she said.