The Michigan Legislature and governor’s office have agreed upon and signed a budget deal, and we wanted to take a moment to address that 10 Cents a Meal was not included in this year’s Michigan School Aid budget. MDE issued the following statement in its...
This article first published in the Traverse City Record-Eagle Ag Forum. A budget impasse in the Michigan Legislature means we are rapidly approaching a potential state government shutdown, and schools can’t properly plan their budgets for the year and take care of...
A note from Cassidy Hough, FoodCorps Service Member, from June 2025: “I had my last lesson EVER this morning. I started the class by announcing that it was the last lesson I'd ever have with them, and in the middle of my speaking someone yelled "GROUP HUG," and I was...
ABOVE: What rural food partnerships look like. This is the diagram that resulted when partners in a regional meeting were asked to draw a line from their name to anybody they were working with to further the local food economy. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s...
This article is the first in a three-part series in which we explore the work being done to expand local food economies along Michigan's west coast. The program is one of just a handful of similar USDA pilot programs in the entire nation, and they are...
This forum piece first published in Bridge Michigan. We all remember those weeks of food scarcity as the pandemic began its terrible sweep across the nation in spring of 2020. Photos of empty grocery store shelves played across TV screens. The web streamed images of...