MI Farm to School News

Greetings all -

Hope you all enjoyed a wonderful holiday weekend filled with delicious food and good people. There has been a lot happening in November, including the announcement of the USDA Farm to School Grantees.  You can see a list of all the programs and their activities here. Reading through that list may spark some ideas for your own programming. Spoiler alert: Michigan received TWO grants! Congrats to Elton-Pigeon Bay Port Laker School District and Muskegon Public Schools for their planning grant awards!

News 

• Locally grown food coming to one school – Huron Daily Tribune
  • Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker school district received a USDA farm to school grant to expand access to new markets for locally grown and organic food
• Working with Michigan's agriculture seasonality for Farm to School programs - Michigan State University Extension
  • Learn how you can source local foods for your program during the summer

Resources

• Parents for Healthy Schools – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  • Resources to help schools, school groups, parent-teacher organizations, and school wellness committees to help parents engage to create a healthy school environment for their kids

Opportunities

• Conference: Farms, Food, & Health – Friday, January 29, 2016; Traverse City, MI
  • Learn, connect, and act. Hear about innovative models, tools and resource for promoting health through local agriculture
• Webinar: Creative Partnership Growing Farm to School with Farm Credit - Tuesday, Dec 8, 2015 1:00 – 1:45 PM EST
  • Learn about how farm to school supports farmers and rural communities and opportunities to work with Farm Credit to support farm to school efforts
• Webinar: Maximize Your Procurement Dollars through Regional Purchasing: School Food and Forward Contracting – Thursday Dec 10, 2015 1:00 pm – 2:00 PM EST
  • Learn how forward contracting can help maximize your procurement budget and support local farmers at the same time

And as always, if you have exciting things going on in your farm to school programming that you want shared, send them my way! 

Keep doing great things, 'ganders.

Abby Harper

Farm to School Specialist

MSU Center for Regional Food Systems

480 Wilson Rd Rm 309 | East Lansing, MI 48824

(p) 517-432-4525 (f) 517-353-3834

www.foodsystems.msu.edu | www.mifarmtoschool.msu.edu