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Attention Farmers:  This program is creating opportunities for Michigan
farms to sell directly to schools and institutions to serve to their
clients such as students and patients. Check out the opportunities at
this web site and start planning for next year.

All the best

Vicki Morrone, Outreach specialist for organic farmers.

517-353-3542

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 30, 2008           

 

Michigan Farm to School Website Now on the Menu:

Helping schools link to local food

www.mifarmtoschool.msu.edu <http://www.mifarmtoschool.msu.edu/> 

 

 

Michigan Farm to School has launched a new website to share information,
tools, and resources that help support farm to school projects
throughout the state.

 

"Farm to school" applies to a variety of initiatives that link schools
and kids to local food and farms, including procurement of local food
for school meals programs, fundraisers utilizing local agricultural
products, and education opportunities like school gardens, farmer visits
to school classrooms and cafeterias, and school field trips to local
farms.

 

The website houses Purchasing Michigan Products: A Step-By-Step Guide, a
local food purchasing manual for Michigan school food service directors.
Reviewed by school food service directors and an advisory committee, the
Guide walks school food service directors through the process of
purchasing food directly from local farmers, provides templates of forms
for competitive bidding, and compiles regulatory information concerning
local food purchasing for school meals programs participating in the
National School Lunch Program. From the website, Purchasing Michigan
Products can be viewed and/or downloaded in its entirety or step by
step.

 

The website also allows interested readers to sign up for the Michigan
Farm to School listserv (MIFARMTOSCHOOL). It provides links to other
organizations working on farm to school and additional resources like
recipes for school meals programs using local food. With funding from
Michigan State University's Project GREEEN (Generating Research and
Extension to meet Economic and Environmental Needs), a manual for
Michigan farmers to market to school will be developed over the next two
years and posted to the website upon completion. Information about
classroom activities, fundraisers with local food and agricultural
products, and community resources will be coming soon.

 

# # #

 


Colleen Matts, Farm to School Specialist with the C.S. Mott Group for
Sustainable Food Systems at Michigan State University, coordinates
Michigan Farm to School. The website and Purchasing Michigan Products
were developed by Colleen Matts and Betty T. Izumi of the C.S. Mott
Group for Sustainable Food Systems with graphic design by Eat Local
Food, LLC. These projects were funded by the North Central Region
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) Graduate Student
Grant Program and the C.S. Mott Chair of Sustainable Agriculture at
Michigan State University.

 

CONTACT:

Colleen Matts

Farm to School Specialist,

CS Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems

Michigan State University

Tel: 517.432.0310

Email: [log in to unmask]

www.mifarmtoschool.msu.edu <http://www.mifarmtoschool.msu.edu/> 


If you would like to access previous postings to the Mich-Organic listserv you can copy and paste the following URL into your browser address bar
 http://list.msu.edu/archives/mich-organic.html