Our goal is to capture the percentage (and corresponding dollar value) of local and regional food and beverage products bought or purchased in 2025 from each state in New England.

Because the Vermont Legislature has adopted a local food definition for the state (and is the only state in the region to have done so), we have adapted the Vermont definition to be inclusive of the other five New England states.  

Click here for a complete list of the product categories and corresponding definitions

• Definitions:
  1. “Eggs” means eggs that are the product of laying birds, including: chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese, or quail, and that are in the shell. 
  2. “Majority of ingredients” means more than 50 percent of all product ingredients by volume, excluding water. 
  3. “Processed food” means any food other than a raw agricultural product and includes a raw agricultural product that has been subject to processing, such as canning, cooking, dehydrating, milling, or the addition of other ingredients. Processed food includes dairy, meat, maple products, beverages, fruit, or vegetables that have been subject to processing, baked, or modified into a value-added or unique food product.
  4. “Raw agricultural product” means any food in its raw or natural state without added ingredients, including pasteurized or homogenized milk, maple sap or syrup, honey, meat, eggs, apple cider, and fruits or vegetables that may be washed, colored, or otherwise treated in their unpeeled natural form prior to marketing. 
  5. “Substantial period of its life” means an animal that was harvested in [state] and lived in [state] for at least one third of its life or one year. 
  6. “Unique food product” means food processed in [state] from ingredients that are not regularly produced in [state] or not available in sufficient quantities to meet production requirements. 
• As used in this section: “local,” “local to [state],” “locally grown or made in [state],” and any substantially similar term shall have the following meaning based on the type of food or food product: 
  1. For products that are raw agricultural products, “local to [state]” means the product:
     • was exclusively grown or tapped in [state]; 
     • is not milk and was derived from an animal that was raised for a substantial period of its lifetime in [state]; 
     • is milk where a majority of the milk was produced from [state] animals; or 
     • is honey produced by [state] colonies located exclusively in [state] when all nectar was collected. 
  2. Except as provided in subdivision (3) of this subsection, for products that are processed foods, “local to [state]” means: 
     • the majority of the ingredients are raw agricultural products that are local to [state]; and 
     • the product meets one or both or the following criteria: 
       1. the product was processed in [state]; or 
       2. the headquarters of the company that manufactures the product is located in [state]. 
  3. For bakery products, beverages, or unique food products, the product meets two or more of the following criteria: 
     • the majority of the ingredients are raw agricultural products that are local to [state]; 
     • substantial transformation of the ingredients in the product occurred in [state]; or 
     • the headquarters of the company that manufactures the product is located in [state]. 

STEP 1: Download the worksheet that is most applicable to your business or entity type:

• For institutions, restaurants, or retail-grocers.
• For food hubs or distributors.

STEP 2: Fill out the worksheet to test out how much you are buying or selling of local foods in comparison to foods from outside New England.

STEP 3: Contact your Local Team directly for support—they can help you in identifying the information and set you up to submit your purchasing or sales data from 2025 (once it is available in January 2026).

• Connecticut Food System Alliance > 
• MA Food System Collaborative>
• Farm to Plate>
• Maine Food Convergence Project>
• NH Food Alliance>
• Rhode Island Commerce>

STEP 4: Take the Pledge! Ensure you will submit your 2025 data in 2026 and commit to supporting more local food in New England.

Ultimately, this regional food count figure can be used to encourage greater regional food sourcing through various market channels in the region. The 2025 regional percentage will give us a relative sense of how close we are to achieving our 30% goal. By conducting the local food counts in all six states again in 2031 (for 2030 data), we will be able to see whether or not we achieved our 30% goal for 2030. 

In September 2026, we will publish the 2025 Local Food Count reporting—this will include six individual state reports and one regional report. We will also update our aggregated data by food category and market channel for 2025 in our Local Food Counts Data Dashboard.

We also plan to update the 2022 Local Food Count reporting across these same categories in the Fall of 2025.

All information collected shall be kept confidential and will be analyzed solely by the Lead Data Analyst, Scott Richardson, with no identifying raw data shared with any other parties. The results of the Count will only be displayed in aggregate (e.g., local food sales across ALL grocery stores in a particular state, all local food sourcing across ALL restaurants in a particular state, all dairy sales across all market channels in a particular state).

The Local Food Counts data collection process is sponsored by the New England Food System Planners Partnership, a collaboration of seven-state level food system organizations and representatives from each of the six state agricultural, economic and environmental departments. Non-Disclosure Agreements will be available for businesses interested in a formal commitment of confidentiality.