The Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society received a $61,882 grant from the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (MDAR) this week, part of a statewide effort to promote local agriculture.

“Nourishing and healthy food is grown right here in Massachusetts, but not all of our residents have access to these local farms,” wrote Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper, in a press release. “This funding will help bridge that gap.”

Lauren Lynch, executive director of the agricultural society, said the group first received a local food grant from MDAR in 2021, with funds helping them develop a local farm map.

“It’s always going to support the marketing efforts of our farmers,” she said.

This year’s grant will support the Island’s long running mobile poultry processing unit, which provides slaughtering services to smaller farmers allowing them to sell whole chickens to local customers. Two pieces of defeathering machinery, the scalder and plucker, will soon need to be replaced, Ms. Lynch said.

Portions of the funding will also go towards helping local farmers with grant writing and marketing, updating their farm map, and advertising and assisting markets and farms on-Island that accept SNAP.

The society will also work with the Fishermen’s Preservation Trust to develop and promote a “know your fisherman” campaign, Ms. Lynch said.