WORCESTER, Mass. - Two local groups are using state grant money to launch efforts to get food to more people and to help communities grow their own produce.

Located in Lanesborough, Red Shirt Farm is in the middle of completing its new farm store and commercial kitchen. The Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources awarded Red Shirt Farm $50,000, and the farm will match the grant to go toward the infrastructure costs of the store and kitchen.

Jim Schultz, Red Shirt owner and co-farmer, said that they have been awarded more than $700,000 so far in grants from the state and federal government for the project. This recent grant will bring them closer to completion.

As of now, the farm’s distribution models are farmers markets and a summer community supported agriculture program. Schultz said that when he started thinking about the store, he knew the farm could grow more food, but there was no other outlet for distribution. 

"At the core, our driving force is to nourish our community with the best food possible and this (farm) store is going to allow us to really expand our ability to do that," Schultz said. 

The Red Shirt Farm Store will help expand the vegetables available to members of its CSA program, in which members pay the farm for a share that provides them with fresh vegetables for 20 weeks beginning in June. Those on SNAP can use their benefits to pay for their share. 

Currently, members of this program come to pick up their vegetables from a small barn where they have been washed and prepared for pick up. The new store will expose CSA members and other community members to produce beyond vegetables.

"The store is going to have all sorts of stuff. We’ll have eggs, dairy, meat, poultry, fish and dried goods ... so basically like a mini grocery store with bread and baked goods," Schultz said. "In addition to getting their veggies that they’ve already paid for, they can also buy whatever else is available in the store when they are coming to pick up their share."

Charles Luster, executive director and founder of the nonprofit 2Gether We Eat, is also serving a food insecure population, but is focusing his work on educating kids about a new way of growing healthy produce. 2Gether We Eat is a youth hydroponic farming program located in two different Worcester public schools. The state awarded the nonprofit $5,823 for a storage and operations shed. 

"What it (a storage and operations shed) will allow us to do is have the students dress in their safety gear right inside the shed," Luster said. "They will go from the shed directly inside the freight farm, so now we don't have to worry about any bug contaminations. We’ve had an outbreak before where we’ve had to shut the farm down because we had an infestation."

Luster said each freight farm produces two to three tons of food a year, which goes to the kids who take part in the hydroponic class at the Vernon Hill School and Elm Park School.

"We like to use it as a classroom and a field trip for kids because we want people to see that you can grow your own food, healthy, in your community, and you don’t need herbicides and pesticides," Luster said. "What it does is, it teaches the elementary age students how to eat a little healthier."

The survival of the food grown in these two freight farms is imperative because all of the produce is donated to the community. Not only do students in the hydroponic class get free food to bring home, but in the summer, the food is donated to Worcester organizations such as Yes We Care and the Pleasant Street Neighborhood Center.

Schultz said that Massachusetts is notably supportive of their farmers and their endeavors to support community members in areas where there is not affordable access to healthy produce. The state Department of Agricultural Resources has awarded $8.2 million to 42 businesses and organizations across Massachusetts in this recent grant.

“Massachusetts is unlike none of the surrounding states,” Schultz said. “We have friends right over the border in New York, and they say that there’s nothing like this in New York state, where the state provides grants to support small-scale farming. Massachusetts is just incredible in terms of the support that it provides to the farmers in this state.”