Happy Farm to School Month!!!

It's Halloween, and we're celebrating the last day of Farm to School Month! A time to cheer for all that's been accomplished to get good, local food into school and early childhood program meals.

 

I hope you all had fun this month taking those small steps for farm to school. We certainly had a lot in Michigan! West Michigan celebrated breaking their 'Big Crunch' record, getting 32,715 Michigan Apples at one time, while the state celebrated 350,000 crunches, and schools throughout Michigan celebrated by crunching along! We also celebrated the launch of the 10 Cents a Meal Pilot Program in Northwest Michigan (and launched the Michigan Cherry Slurp, which will be coming in January 2016! Stay tuned for details), and celebrated crossing the 50 institution mark for Cultivate Michigan! This month was topped off here at the Center for Regional Food Systems as we brought farm to school to the Michigan School Nutrition Association Annual Conference in Dearborn this past weekend (See picture attached!).

 

What one small step did you celebrate? Share your stories TODAY with #F2SMonth and keep the celebration going! And you've got a few more hours to pledge to take one small step and enter the National Farm to School Network's drawing!

 

Farm to School program is good for students, schools, and farmers alike

While the amazing work in Michigan continues to grow, none of this would be possible without all of you! Food service directors, nutrition educators, teachers, parents, advocates, and partners like you are the reason Michigan is such a model for farm to school efforts. So here's to you, Ganders!

 

The National Farm to School Network's website is filled with inspiring blogs celebrating Farm to School Month. If you've got time this week, check out some of their most recent inspiring highlights!

 

And don't forget to fill your baskets for the trick or treaters tonight!

 

Best, and thanks for all you do,

 

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

[NEWLY PUBLISHED] Michigan institutions spent nearly $3.5 million on Michigan food since January 2014, according to Cultivate Michigan Campaign

Contact: Kathryn Colasanti, MSU Center for Regional Food Systems: (517) 353-0642, colokat@msu.edu

                Megan Thompson, MSU Center for Regional Food Systems: (517) 432-0307, thom1306@msu.edu 

 

October 26, 2016

 

Cultivate Michigan Campaign Reports that Michigan Institutions Spent Nearly $3.5 Million on Michigan Food Since January 2014

 

 

EAST LANSING, MI – Michigan Institutions participating in the Cultivate Michigan campaign reported spending nearly $3.5 million on Michigan-grown or Michigan-produced foods from January 2014 to June 2016, according to a new brief published by the Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems (CRFS). These institutions include K-12 schools, early childhood programs, hospitals and health care systems, colleges and universities, long-term care facilities and other entities with a food service program.

 

The Cultivate Michigan campaign asks institutions to commit to the Michigan Good Food Charter goal of purchasing 20% Michigan foods by 2020 and provides tools and resources to support participating institutions in sourcing food locally and tracking progress. The campaign is managed by the Michigan Farm to Institution Network (MFIN) which seeks to help farm to institution programs grow. Co-led by the Ecology Center and CRFS with support from MSU Extension, MFIN has over 400 members including institutional food service buyers, farmers, food vendors and distributors, advocates, and eaters.

 

To date, 53 institutions across the state have signed up to participate, collectively serving nearly 135,000 meals every day. More than half of participating institutions (31) are schools and school districts and about 20% are hospitals and health care systems. Taking schools and districts together with early childhood programs, more than two-thirds of participating institutions serve children.

 

"At Beaumont Hospital Royal Oak we have had great success working with the Cultivate Michigan Campaign and the Michigan Farm to Institution Network," said Maureen Husek, MFIN Advisory Board Member and Director, Nutrition and Retail Services at Beaumont Hospital - Royal Oak. "Prior to MIFN, we had been working to increase our local food purchases but encountered many barriers such as access to farmers and the sheer volume of product we needed."

 

"The connections that we have made through MIFN and the materials provided through Cultivate Michigan not only helped us to increase our local buying, but also to promote our Michigan products to our patients and retail customers.  More and more our customers want to see local food items on our menus and we are happy to provide this service. We use the Cultivate Michigan materials to educate them on our wonderful Michigan produce and the farmers who grow it for us. Due to our short growing season in Michigan, most recently I have been focused on extending our season with frozen, canned, and dried products. One of my favorite milestones was being able to serve Michigan blueberries year-round. For us that represents 24 flats/week for fresh, 300 lb./week for frozen, and 5-20 lb. cases/week of dried blueberries."

 

Each year, the Cultivate Michigan campaign features four different Michigan foods, one for each season. These featured foods have proven to be a popular way to engage institutions in local sourcing, whether they are just beginning farm to institution programs or already have years of experience. They have also been a great way to connect with food suppliers and agricultural commodity groups and open up the conversation on how to provide institutions with the forms and quantities they need.

 

Using these featured foods, institutions participating in Cultivate Michigan were able to source substantial amounts of Michigan food – including in total nearly 97% of milk, 57% of apples and 36% of blueberries served at these institutions.

 

"There are a lot of institutions that are enthusiastic about buying more Michigan food – the number of Michigan institutions participating in Cultivate Michigan has more than doubled in our second year of the campaign," said Kathryn Colasanti, Specialist at CRFS and Chair of the Michigan Farm to Institution Network Impacts and Research Subcommittee, "And we know that the campaign is only capturing a fraction of the spending on Michigan food actually occurring, since food service directors and buyers have such limited time for reporting. As we move forward in the campaign, we hope to not only engage more institutions but also to work directly with more distributors to obtain purchasing records on behalf of Cultivate Michigan institutions, allowing us to get a fuller picture of spending on Michigan foods."

 

Find more statistics about institutional purchasing of Michigan food, which institutions are participating, and how Cultivate Michigan works in the newly published Cultivate Michigan 2016 Data Brief at http://foodsystems.msu.edu/resources/cultivate-michigan-2016-data-brief.

 

###

 

For more information about the Michigan Farm to Institution Network, visit www.mifarmtoinstitution.org or contact info@cultivatemichigan.org.

 

The Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems (CRFS) engages the people of Michigan, the United States and the world in developing regionally integrated sustainable food systems. CRFS extends MSU's pioneering legacy of applied research, education and outreach by catalyzing collaboration and fostering innovation among the diverse range of people, processes and places involved in regional food systems. Our vision is a thriving economy, equity and sustainability for Michigan, the country and the planet through food systems rooted in local regions and centered on Good Food: food that is healthy, green, fair and affordable. Learn more at http://foodsystems.msu.edu and connect on Twitter and Facebook: @MSUCRFS.

 

Ecology Center is a non-profit environmental advocacy organization established in 1970 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The Ecology Center develops innovative solutions for healthy people and a healthy planet in four primary areas: Environmental Health, Sustainable Food, Energy & Climate Change, and Zero Waste. This work is accomplished through educating consumers to help keep their families healthy and safe, pushing corporations to use clean energy, make safe products, and provide healthy food, providing people with innovative services that promote healthy people and a healthy planet and working with policymakers to establish laws that protect communities and the environment. For more information visit http://www.ecocenter.org/ and follow @Ecology_Center.

 

 

-- 

Andrea C. Sexton 

Director of Communications

Center for Regional Food Systems | Michigan State University

480 Wilson Road, Room 309 | Natural Resources Building | East Lansing, MI 48824

(517) 432-0283

foodsystems.msu.edu

 

facebook.com/MSUCRFS   

twitter.com/MSUCRFS  

**Cancellation** MFIN and Cultivate Michigan Gatherings on October 27 Canceled

Apologies for cross-posting!

Gatherings on October 27 Canceled Greetings, October sure is a busy month! As many worthwhile events are already on your calendars this month, we have decided to cancel the Cultivate Michigan Orientation and MFIN Network Gathering on October 27. Of course, we have more exciting MFIN events ahead. Be on the look out for details about other opportunities soon! As always, please let us know if you have any questions.   Best wishes, The Michigan Farm to Institution Network and Cultivate Michigan Leadership Team Our Progress About MFIN The Michigan Farm to Institution Network (MFIN) is a space for learning, sharing and working together to get more local food to institutions. We aim to meet the Michigan Good Food Charter goal of 20% Michigan food to institutions by 2020. The Michigan Farm to Institution Network is co-coordinated by MSU Center for Regional Food Systems and Ecology Center with support from MSU Extension. Visit our website >> In 2014, MFIN launched a local food purchasing campaign designed to help ramp up farm to institution programs and track progress. To learn more, visit Cultivate Michigan >>

You are receiving this email because you signed up to be a member of the Michigan Farm to Institution Network. To discontinue your membership or remove yourself from our email list, click here to unsubscribe.

Farm to School Month Week 3: Farmers and Producers

Congratulations on another incredible week of Farm to School Month!

 

This week we're celebrating farmers and producers - the movers and shakers across the supply chain that make local foods served in schools and early care and education settings possible. In Michigan, there are so many producers that are integral to farm to school efforts, so honor them this week! Write stories about your local producers for social media, school newsletters, or your local paper, and share them using the hashtag #F2SMonth.

Video: Michigan Farm to School: Calumet Center and Sharkar Farms

One of the programs in Michigan that helps connect farmers with schools is Hoophouses for Health, and currently, this program has helped connect 20 farmers with 29 different schools and early childhood programs throughout Michigan. One of those partnerships, between Sharkar Farms and Calumet Center in Southeastern Michigan, has really taken off! Calumet Center, a MI Farm to School Grantee, is a residential child care institute in Highland Park, MI that has increased their local food sourcing through their close partnership with Sharkar Farms. We recently highlighted this great partnership and the impact it's having on the food served at Calumet Center, and the additional impact of having new year-round markets for Sharkar Farms. Be sure to check out the video for your extra dose of inspiration this week.

 

Can't get enough of the folks putting the "Farm" in Farm to School? Check out this awesome local story on another Hoophouses for Health farmer, Presque Isle Farm, and their work with Rogers City Area Schools. This is a great story to show how farmers can be the initiators of farm to school activity.

 

And last, don't forget to check out the National Farm to School Network blog this week (and every week!) for great stories on the farmers throughout the country that are integral to farm to school! This week, they're highlighting the work of the Hmong American Farmers Association in Minnesota, which sells produce to Head Start programs. Through this partnership, not only are the farmers seeing increased profits but it's allowed an opportunity to share Hmong culture with young learners.

 

And don't forget to pledge to take one small step and be entered to win prizes for your school or ECE site!

 

Best, and happy eating!

 

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

Reminder to Register - October 27 MI Farm to Institution Network Gathering

The MFIN Network Gathering & Cultivate Michigan Member Orientation are right around the corner! See more information and a link to register below.

Please share this reminder to register with institutions, producers, food vendors, and food & farming allies!

Cultivate Michigan Member Orientation & 2016 Network Gathering October 27, 2016 - East Lansing, MI ​​​ Join your fellow Michigan Farm to Institution Network members for an interactive gathering the day before the Michigan Good Food Summit! 9:30 AM to 1:00 PM - Cultivate Michigan Member Orientation Audience: Institutions In the morning, we are offering an optional Cultivate Michigan Member Orientation. This is an excellent opportunity for institutions who have recently joined Cultivate Michigan or those of you who are thinking of joining, to connect with each other and to gain a deeper understanding of where our local food purchasing campaign is headed. 1:30 PM to 5:00 PM - MFIN 2016 Gathering Audience: Full Network The afternoon event is open to the full network. We will use the lightning talks format to share brief stories, discuss how the network can continue to drive engagement in farm to institution and delve into areas of interest using open space topics generated by you! Registration Follow the link below to register for one or both events! Keep in mind: If you represent a Cultivate Michigan institution, please consider signing up for our morning orientation. Use the registration form in the link to RSVP. Please use the registration form to submit your ideas for open space topics. These will be small group discussions that cover an area of interest or work through a challenge in your farm to institution work. If you would like to share your story with the group, we are holding 6 spots for lightning talks. Each talk will be five minutes, and you can use one slide (or photo) as a visual. We want these to be a success story or a challenge story - something that other farm to institution practitioners can learn from or connect with. Use the space in the registration form to submit your idea. Free to Attend! Please Register by October 21, 2016 REGISTER TO ATTEND >> Our Progress About MFIN The Michigan Farm to Institution Network (MFIN) is a space for learning, sharing and working together to get more local food to institutions. We aim to meet the Michigan Good Food Charter goal of 20% Michigan food to institutions by 2020. The Michigan Farm to Institution Network is co-coordinated by MSU Center for Regional Food Systems and Ecology Center with support from MSU Extension. Visit our website >> CULTIVATE MICHIGAN In 2014, MFIN launched a local food purchasing campaign designed to help ramp up farm to institution programs and track progress. To learn more, visit Cultivate Michigan >>

ONE MILLION CRUNCHES!

We did it!

 

Congratulations Michiganders! Along with Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, and Indiana, we hit one million crunches. Michigan took up a hefty share of that too, with over 350,000 crunches. If you have a spare minute today, check out the #MIAppleCrunch and #GreatAppleCrunch posts on facebook (and #midwestapplecrunch, because they joined us too!)! I especially liked MI Farm to School Grantees' snapshots of crunchers at Leelanau Children's Center and the YWCA Kalamazoo, and I attached a fun video of one of the classroom crunches at Mattawan Consolidated Schools (where they also had a Blender Bike making apple smoothies!). We had a great CRFS crunch at the Student Organic Farm and had staff crunching with the Michigan Good Food Fund and at the 10 Cents a Meal Crunch in Traverse City.

 

Thanks for all that participated in this awesome statewide event to promote Michigan agriculture! We're already scheming to make next year's crunch even bigger…

 

Here's some news to cap off an exciting week two of National Farm to School Month. What one small step are you taking this month to kick off farm to school efforts?

 

Opportunities

·         Webinar: Celebrating National Farm to School Month with USDA – USDA

o    Join the School Nutrition Association to learn about resources from the USDA Office of Community Food Systems and how farm to school strategies can boost participation, reduce food waste, and increase consumption of fruits and vegetables.

 

Resources

·         My Plate, My State – USDA Food and Nutrition Service

o    What foods, flavors, and recipes is your state/territory known for, and how do they fit into your healthy eating style? This tool highlights the best and brightest foods and flavors from all states in the nation!

·         Video: Celebrate National Farm to School Month – USDA FNS

o    This video is an overview of Farm to School, including results from the census.

·         Farm to school data explorer – USDA FNS

o    You may have seen results from the Census come out several months ago. This allows you to dig deep into the data to find out more local information.

 

News

·         The FoodCorps farm to school program in Michigan expands this school year – MSU Extension

o    Spotlight on FoodCorps Michigan and the impact its leaders are having in connecting kids to healthy food in school.

·         Program helps GHAPS purchase local produce – Grand Haven Tribune

o    Local piece on farm to school at Grand Haven Area Public Schools, who received funding from the 10 Cents a Meal pilot program.

·         Agriculture Forum: Get crunching on Michigan apples – Traverse City Record eagle

o    Kelly Lively highlights the Michigan Apple Crunch!

·         Traverse City Area Public School kids enjoy a locally sourced lunch – MSU Extension

o    On Monday, Oct. 10, TCAPS celebrated National School Lunch Week and Farm to School month by featuring local baked chicken, roasted winter squash, and apple crisp.

 

Happy fall!

 

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

DPSCD Fall Harvest Festival- This Saturday!

Good morning,

Hope you all are well!  This Saturday the Detroit Public School Community District, Office of School Nutrition will be celebrating Farm to School Month at Catherine Ferguson Farm with a Fall Harvest Festival!

We have fantastic partners from Eastern Market, FoodCorps, MSU Extension, Keep Growing Detroit, Fair Food Network, LAHC, and WSU School of Public Health sharing info and resources about:

-Home Gardening 101

-Composting

-SNAP/EBT & Double Up Food Bucks

-Detroit Fall & Winter Markets

-Michigan Seasonal Crops

-Healthy Eating in Detroit Caferatias

Special Guest, Barbara Norman, blueberry farmer from Covert, Michigan, and blueberry supplier for DPSCD schools will be on site as well!

Thank you for your support in providing access to healthy food in school cafeterias and beyond. We hope to see you this Saturday!

Warm regards,

Monica

Monica DeGarmo, M.A.

Detroit Public School Community District, Office of School Nutrition

Detroit School Garden Collaborative

Program Manager

313-651-3457 (office)

313-450-2437 (cell)

monica.degarmo@detroitk12.org

The Apple Crunch is Here!!!

Happy Apple Crunch Day!

 

I hope you all are getting ready to CRUNCH with your kiddos! Don't forget to share your pictures on social media and tell your local news station or paper about your event! Get the word out that you're taking steps to get Michigan foods into your school and early childhood program meals!

 

This also marks the second week of National Farm to School Month, and the theme is Healthy School Meals. What a time to get those Michigan apples onto your plates and celebrate healthy school meals.

 

Need inspiration for celebrating healthy school meals? The National Farm to School Network has highlighted some great stories on their blog in order of Healthy School Meals. Check out this story on the Chef Ann Foundation and how they're getting real, unprocessed, healthy school food to kids every day. There's also a really great video showing how collards make it to the plate at one school in North Carolina.

 

New to Farm to School? It's not too late to join in on the Farm to School Month action! Pledge to take one small step and you could be entered to win support for your farm to school activities. That one small step could be as simple as buying some apples and crunching them together!

 

Best, and happy crunching!

 

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

Are You Registered? The Apple Crunch is three days away!

Greetings Michiganders –

 

The Apple Crunch is just three days away, and we are so close to hitting our goal of one million regional crunchers! Make sure you're registered to help us reach that goal! It's not too late to register your early childhood program, classroom, or entire school and join us in support of Michigan agriculture, and don't forget to follow

 

If you need inspiration, check out our recent Cultivate Michigan newsletter article on Hart Public School's Apple Crunch, and read about how it started farm to school efforts district wide!

 

And don't forget to send pictures, videos, and whatever other media or promotion you have to me afterwards so we can celebrate your stories! This year's Apple Crunch is sure to be huge, let's make sure everyone knows how Michigan supports local food!

Best,

 

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

Request for Presentations: Macomb All About Food Conference

Greetings all,

Apologies for any cross postings.

The All About Food conference committee is seeking proposals for the 2017 conference on June 6th. Representatives from all sectors of the food system are encouraged to submit a proposal for a 60 minute session. Please see the attached Call for Session Proposals for more information.

Proposals should be submitted to kaitwoj@msu.edu, by November 14^th, 2016. Notifications will be sent out to accepted presenters in early January of 2017.

You can find more information on the host of this conference, the Macomb Food Collaborative, at their website.

Please share widely with your networks.

Thank you,

Kaitlin Koch Wojciak

Michigan State University Extension Educator

Community Food Systems

21885 Dunham, Suite 12

Clinton Township, MI 48036

Work: 586-469-6088

Cell: 313-695-7746

Please note my new email address:

kaitwoj@anr.msu.edu

 

 

Happy National Farm to School Month!

It's October, and that means the start of National Farm to School Month!

 

Join the celebrations by taking the One Small Step Pledge. Pledge to take one small step to get informed, get involved and take action for farm to school in October and you'll be entered to win support for farm to school activities at the school or early care and education site of your choice! Take the pledge and find other opportunities to celebrate National Farm to School Month at farmtoschool.org.

 

Featured in this month's Cultivate Michigan Newsletter is MI Farm to School Grantee Hart Public Schools. They participated in the Michigan Apple Crunch to celebrate Farm to School month last year, and now everyone is amped about Farm to School! Read the story of the small step that kicked off their work!

 

Other ways to celebrate National Farm to School Month:

-          Join us for the Cultivate Michigan Carrot & Potato Tour on October 14 in Muskegon

-          Come network at the Michigan Farm to Institution Network Gathering on October 27 in East Lansing

-          Celebrate the Michigan Good Food Charter at the Michigan Good Food Summit on October 28 in East Lansing

-          Attend one of the remaining Making Michigan Menus Work on October 4 in Benzonia, October 20 in Okemos, November 3 in Kentwood, or November 8 in Warren

 

What are you doing to celebrate National Farm to School Month? Share your stories on social media using the hashtags #farmtoschool #F2SMonth and #mifarmtoschool.

 

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