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West Michigan Businesses, Governments Incorporate Good Food
Our Food and Farming Program
Our Taste the Local Difference program links shoppers and retail buyers to area farms. Healthy Food for All helps families, schools, and other institutions serve fresh local food. Get Farming! connects farmers to farmland and business resources. Our Entrepreneurial Agriculture program makes the case for local food as economic development, and helps coordinate northwest Michigan's Food and Farming Network.
Jim Lively Janice Benson Marketing Coordinator Taste the Local Difference janice@mlui.org Shauna Fite Patty Cantrell Senior Policy Specialist Entrepreneurial Agriculture pattyc@mlui.org
Diane Conners Senior Policy Specialist Healthy Food for All diane@mluil.org Jim Sluyter Coordinator Get Farming! jimsluyter
@mlui.org
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Special Reports
Northwest Michigan's Farm Factor
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Agriculture contributes substantially to the economy of the six-county northwest Lower Michigan region. Ample opportunities also exist to significantly expand its economic footprint.


See the Local Difference
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Regional food systems become essential ingredient for Michigan's future


Perspectives from Surveys of Northwest Michigan Growers and Buyers
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The northwest Michigan region is home to almost a quarter-million people and hosts around 50 percent more seasonal residents and tourists through the year. It also has a diverse and unique agricultural industry that is struggling as rapid development inflates land values and economic pressures drive down prices for agricultural products. The region's growing population and vibrant tourist industry, however, together make a potentially large market for local farm products. To the extent that local growers can better access this market, greater local food sales could help the agricultural industry survive, and even thrive, in the face of population growth and development.


Our Journalism
West Michigan Businesses, Governments Incorporate Good Food


West Michigan Businesses, Governments Incorporate Good Food

One reason people are buying more local food is to put more money back into local pockets. Some even say that local spending is like...more
West Michigan Organizations Spur Good Food Transformation


West Michigan Organizations Spur Good Food Transformation

While no one organization can contain all of West Michigan’s Good Food activity and innovation, there are several groups that help to...more
West Michigan Good Food Spotlight:


West Michigan Good Food Spotlight:

Here’s a roundup of some of the top organizations and projects that are spurring the Good Food movement in West Michigan....more
Good Food Networks Bonding West Michigan


Good Food Networks Bonding West Michigan

What do scrappy community gardeners and a bunch of millionaire investors have in common? Quite a lot, when you look at what’s going...more


Food Boosts Kalamazoo's North Side Development

Mattie Jordan-Woods stood with pride outside the grocery store at Park and Westnedge Streets, on Kalamazoo's north side, happy because the...more
MSU Extension Grows a Stronger Kalamazoo


MSU Extension Grows a Stronger Kalamazoo

Kalamazoo County Extension helps gardeners, growers, businesses, and officials bring healthier food and stronger farms to the region....more
Wes Jackson: ‘Let’s Save the Stuff We’re Made Of’

Wes Jackson: 'Let's Save the Stuff We're Made Of'

There is another way to farm, says agricultural pioneer Wes Jackson, and it’s time to revolutionize our thinking about agriculture. ...more
A Call to Action for Sen. Stabenow


A Call to Action for Sen. Stabenow

A year ago I watched U.S. Senator Stabenow listen to a proud food service director and superintendent explain how they transformed their...more
The Scoop

David Letterman Hosted 350.org Founder Bill McKibben on his late night show.

Share Your Vision for Michigan’s Rail Future at the official state Web site.

More Than 200,000 Homes Have Been Weatherized so far, thanks to the American Restoration and Recovery Act.

09.04.10: A Taste of Michigan brings terrific local food—and zero waste!—to Crystal Mountain Resort. 

The Bioneers Conference Focuses on Food and Farming this year.

Detroit’s Move toward Local Farming is attracting more national attention.

The Spirit of 350.org Comes Alive in this amazing, totally fun video.

The Kalamazoo River Oil Spill Involves the world’s worst kind of petroleum.

A Survey of Great Lakes Islands ranks them according to their biodiversity—and the development threats they face. 

Local Food Gets Strong Support from Seattle’s City Council, which recently passed some pioneering urban ag ordinances

Benzie County’s Proposed Brauer Wind Farm got a nice write-up in the local paper.

Changes to Proposed Federal Safe Food Legislation could lighten the regulatory load on small farms.

Using Public Transit Instead of School Buses sounds good to the Traverse City Record Eagle.

Blow Up a Mountain, or Build Wind Turbines On It? A West Virginia community is thinking it over.

Most Michiganders Say Farming Is Very Crucial to the state’s economic recovery.

How About Power Towers That Look Like People? Iceland is thinking about it.

Beulah Has a New ‘Day Dock’ and a local TV station says lots of people are excited about it.

09.13-14.10: The Michigan Downtown Conference, in Bay City, will feature a barnburner of a speech from James Howard Kunstler.

Our Video Picks
 
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