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Acknowlegements & Regional Directory
Across Michigan local food gets cooking
March 26, 2009 | By Patty Cantrell
Great Lakes Bulletin News Service
Reported and Written By: Edited By: Designed By: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS February 2009 See the Local Difference: Regional food systems become essential ingredient for Michigan's future was researched, written, and published by the Michigan Land Use Institute. It was made possible by the Food and Society Policy Fellowship Program, support from the Sysco Corporation, and a grant from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality’s Coastal Management Program, which is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management. Statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. Local food activity is sprouting up everywhere across the state as a broad range of community interests – from health care professionals to economic development agencies – get involved. Below is a list of key contacts in different regions of Michigan that can help you get connected. These contacts represent just some of what’s going on all around the state. Start with them to find your way to people, partners, and projects that make sense for you. Chippewa County Extension Northern Lakes Economic Alliance Sunrise Food Coalition Taste the Local Difference Allen Neighborhood Center Flint Farmers Market The Garden Project MSU Student Organic Farm Saginaw Farmers Market Sweetwater Local Foods Market Southwest Michigan Fair Food Matters Greater Grand Rapids Food Systems Council Mixed Greens at the Blandford Nature Center Van Buren County Extension Southeast Michigan Detroit Black Community Food Security Network Detroit Garden Resource Program Collaborative Eastern Market Corporation Food System Economic Partnership SEED Wayne Farm to School Food System Economic Partnership Healthy School Meals Michigan Farm to School Taste the Local Difference Statewide Community Supported Agriculture in Michigan C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems at MSU Michigan Farmers Market Association Michigan Food and Farming Systems Michigan Food Policy Council Michigan Organic Food and Farm Alliance MSU Product Center Funding One important source of funding is the new 2008 federal Farm Bill, which includes $14 billion targeted to help grow local food and sustainable agriculture in the United States. Learn all about the programs and funding in the Grassroots Guide to the 2008 Farm Bill by the Sustainable Agriculture Coalition. Find it at http://www.sustainableagriculturecoalition.org/.
Patty Cantrell
Program Director, Michigan Land Use Institute
Food and Society Policy Fellow
Jim Dulzo
Managing Editor
Jane Kowieski
Design and Production Coordinator
ACROSS AMERICA LOCAL FOOD GETS COOKING
Northern Michigan
Farmers market development, hoophouse demonstrations, and other projects in the eastern U.P. Contact Chippewa County Extension Director Jim Lucas at lucasj@msu.edu.
Farm business counseling, classes, and collaboration. Contact Wendy Wieland at wieland5@msu.edu.
Contact volunteer organizer Brian Botkin, brianjbotkin@gmail.com
A 10-county network organized by the Traverse City-based Michigan Land Use Institute. See the project’s searchable database of more than 300 farms, restaurants, grocers and others offering local foods at http://www.localdifference.org/.
Mid Michigan
Neighborhood farmers markets, youth entrepreneurship, hoophouse demonstrations, and other projects. Contact Joan Nelson at joann@allenneighborhoodcenter.org.
Check out this hub for finding local food and others to work with: http://www.flintfarmersmarket.com/.
Provides gardening equipment and other support for community gardens. Contact Anne Rauscher at gardenproject@ingham.org.
Organic farming certificate program, community supported agriculture farm, and hoophouse research and demonstration. More at www.msuorganicfarm.org/home.php/.
Find your way to local food and community connections through the Saginaw Farmers Market at www.prideinsaginaw.org/events/farmers_market/.
A farmers market with a mission and a growing network of producers, consumers, and supporters. More at http://www.sweetwaterlocalfoodsmarket.org/.
A network of local food promoters and projects in the Kalamazoo area. More at http://www.fairfoodmatters.org/.
This multifaceted group produces a guide to local foods, events, research and more. Start at http://www.foodshed.net/.
Creating edible schoolyards and demonstration farming: http://www.blanfordnaturecenter.org/.
Beginning farmer program including peer-to-peer support and matched savings accounts. Contact Julie Pioch at piochj@msu.edu.
Urban agriculture, small-scale farming for job development and food security in Detroit. Contact Malik Yakini at myakini@aol.com.
A network of more than 500 backyard and community gardens in Detroit (http://www.detroit-agriculture.org/) supported collaboratively by four organizations: Detroit Agriculture Network, www.geocities.com/detroitag; The Greening of Detroit, http://www.greeningofdetroit.com/; Capuchin Soup Kitchen’s Earthworks Garden, http://www.cskdetroit.org/; and Michigan State University Extension-Wayne County, http://www.msue.msu.edu/.
An historic 43-acre market in Detroit serving as wholesale hub seven days a week and as a retail farmers market. Contact Dan Carmody at dcarmody@detroiteasternmarket.com.
A five-county collaborative connecting a range of business, government, and community groups around food and farming. More at http://www.fsepmichigan.org/.
Dedicated to building sustainable food systems on the campus of Wayne State University and in Detroit communities. More at www.clas.wayne.edu/seedwayne.
www.fsepmichigan.org/programs_projects/schools
http://www.healthyschoolmeals.org/
www.mifarmtoschool.msu.edu/
www.localdifference.org/farmtoschool
http://www.csafarms.org/
http://www.mottgroup.msu.edu/
A central resource for consumers, growers, and managers of Michigan Farmers Markets. http://www.farmersmarkets.msu.edu/.
http://www.miffs.org/
www.michigan.gov/mfpc
http://www.moffa.org/
http://www.productcenter.msu.edu/