The Northwest Michigan Food and Farming Network (FFN) has a brand new logo and five gorgeous new fact sheets highlighting progress in building northwest Michigan’s agricultural future.
Oregon uses schools to move the needle on regional food
Oregon taxpayers are pleased with the $7.5 million that some Oregon school districts spent on Oregon foods since 2011 with just $600,000 in state incentive. Now lawmakers have nearly quadrupled the level of support over the next two years and expanded the incentive program to all schools.
Growing the local food economy while shrinking waistlines
A whopping 68 percent of residents of the five-county Traverse City region are overweight. The good news is that doctors, public health experts, and employers are teaming up with small farmers and getting creative.
Conference to connect dots between local food and wellness
Because of collaboration between the organizers of two back-to-back conferences in January at the Grand Traverse Resort, farmers now can learn practical tips on how to tap into wellness markets in hospitals, schools and workplaces. Employers, hospitals, schools, health practitioners and others at the same time can learn their own practical tips on how to use local farm foods to benefit their health and wellness initiatives.
Ag Forum: Relationships required in local food system
The definition of local food needs to include a valuation for the relationships it demands. It’s not enough now to simply say, “my food was grown within 150 miles.” We should also be able to say, “…and I know the name of the farmer.”
Ag Forum: Institutions seek more local food
New businesses are working to meet the growing demand from buyers for locally grown food, and more food service directors are flexing their buying power and insisting that distributors figure out how to offer the option to buy local.