locally grown produce

Tracking cattle from pasture to plate, a new spin on marketing Michigan beef

Michigan Radio Newsroom — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 16:33:23 +0000

Michigan cows are making national headlines. Last week, NPR’s Morning Edition covered a story by Dan Charles on the cattle tracking program in Michigan.

The state of Michigan requires cattle to have electronic ear tags. In fact, it is the only state that requires the tags.

This mattered little to the general public until now. Some farmers are looking at how the tags could help consumers learn more about where meat is from and how it was raised.

Michigan Radio’s Mary Jo Wagner first reported on the tracking system back in 2001. Originally, Michigan started the electronic tracking system in order to monitor cattle for tuberculosis, mad cow disease, and foot-and-mouth disease.

Now, the local food movement and recent exposés on cruelty in the meat industry have given the tags a new use.

Grand Rapids celebrates a decade of “Local First” with massive street party Saturday

Lindsey Smith — Fri, 31 May 2013 14:38:54 +0000

More than 10,000 people are expected at a street party in Grand Rapids Saturday to celebrate all things local.

Locals bands, local food, and of course local beer; brewed special for the party with locally produced honey. It’s the biggest fundraiser of the year for Local First, a non-profit that supports locally owned businesses throughout West Michigan. It's their 10^th anniversary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yiAzTzhY1AU

Executive Director Elissa Hillary says if everyone in Kent County shifted 10% of their purchases to locally owned businesses, it would create 1,600 jobs.

“It’s important for us to just be aware that our daily choices have an impact and that they can have an incredibly positive impact,” Hillary said, “So if we’re making choices to support businesses in our community we’re essentially choosing to support people who live in our community.”

MSU: More interest in buying locally grown food

Steve Carmody — Sun, 05 May 2013 17:30:02 +0000

A new Michigan State University survey finds a growing number of school lunch rooms, hospitals cafeterias and other institutions are interested in filling their pantries with locally grown food.

MSU’s Center for Regional Food Systems has been asking institutions about whether they buy locally grown fruits, vegetables and other food staples since 2004.

Center director Michael Hamm says the number of school cafeterias buying local has tripled in the last decade. But he says there’s only so much more local farmers can produce now.

Stateside: Michigan State University's Dairy Store

Emily Fox — Thu, 04 Oct 2012 18:15:14 +0000

The local food movement is not a new thing for Michigan State University's Dairy Store.

It has been selling local dairy products such as cheese and ice cream since 1913. The milk is bought from Michigan Milk Producers, less than 30 miles away.

It's then taken to MSU where it is processed and distributed. A lot of the ice cream flavors have MSU or Big Ten themes.

Stateside's Emily Fox, visited the store and chatted with customers, workers and manager, John Engstrom.

You can listen to the audio postcard above.

Winter farmer’s market kicks off today in Kalamazoo

Lindsey Smith — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 10:55:00 +0000

Carl Rizzuto sells his own sausage and meatballs at the summer farmer’s market in Kalamazoo. He tried coordinating a winter market ten years ago but he says there wasn’t enough interest. Now he says business is so good during the summer market vendors agreed a the Kalamazoo Winter Market would be worth the effort.

Simple business model connects chefs to locally grown food

Lindsey Smith — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 15:38:45 +0000

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/michigan/local-michigan-984072.mp3

Michigan farmers grow the most diverse crops of any state besides California. Agriculture is Michigan’s 2nd largest industry and it’s growing. But many Michigan farms aren’t big enough to distribute through grocery stores.

National Farmers Market Week

Steve Carmody — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 20:01:01 +0000

This is national farmers market week. The number of farmers markets in Michigan has grown tremendously during the past decade, from 90 in 2001 to more than 250 today.

Dru Montri is the director of the Michigan Farmers Market Association. She says farmers markets have grown to meet consumer demand.