MSU Center for Regional Food Systems

Take your food business to the next level by attending Making It In Michigan on May 7th! Making It In Michigan 2025 opens with a half day educational conference featuring panels, speakers, and awards from the MSU Product Center. The following trade show in partnership with Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development is open to the public with vendors exhibiting products processed in Michigan. https://lnkd.in/ePtPk5_n Join the Michigan Good Food Fund Pitch Competition the evening before on May 6th for a chance for your Michigan-based packaged goods food business to win $5,000! https://lnkd.in/eCmSvtJi

Governor Whitmer has proclaimed March as Michigan Food and Agriculture Month! The 2025 Michigan Agriculture magazine highlights Deeply Rooted Produce, a woman-owned farm business in Detroit. Michigan Agriculture is a guide to Michigan’s farms, forests, food and exports. This magazine is published in partnership with the Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development and features stories about the state’s top crops, livestock, agribusiness, tourism, food safety and local products. Check out the full magazine online here: https://loom.ly/FecqjZo #LocalFood #MichiganGrown #MichiganFarm #MichiganFood #FoodSystems

Ready to grow your food business? Join Growing Hope's flexible workshop series covering everything from Cottage Food Law to marketing and recipe optimization! You can choose to attend any of the sessions of the Stepping Stones to Food Entrepreneurship Workshop Series to gain the tools you need to thrive as a food entrepreneur. The series will take place at the Ypsilanti Farmers Marketplace starting April 16th, 2025. Find the whole series here: https://loom.ly/mExTu9k #LocalFood #FarmBusiness #FoodBusiness #Entrepreneurship #SmallBusiness

One week left to share your insights in the 2025 National Food Hub Survey! Contribute to building a stronger, more resilient regional food system with your valuable perspective by March 31st. Complete the survey today: https://lnkd.in/eyPCUx2x These surveys help shape national understanding of food hubs and inform policy and program initiatives, gain greater exposure for food hubs nationally, and inform new potential relationships between food hubs and investors, grant makers and other food hubs looking to find success. #FoodHubSurvey2025 #ActNow #ResilientFoodSystems #FoodSovereignty #LocalFood

The best way to stay updated with the Center for Regional Food Systems and its programs is through our email lists! Find a program that interests you such as the Michigan Farm to Institution Network or the Michigan Food Council Network and sign up here: https://lnkd.in/eSq9TTZ2. Subscribe to our mailing lists and listservs to receive updates directly in your inbox, we'd love to connect! #FarmToSchool #LocalFood #FoodSystems #MichiganGrown #FoodSovereignty

Join Sam Stokes from the Center for Regional Food Systems at the Campus Farm Tour: Creating Models for Healthy, Local, and Just Food Networks. The tour is a session at the Sustainable Food Procurement Conference by Institutions at the University of Michigan. We'll learn about how UM and MSU utilize campus and local farms to offset local sourcing needs. Join this tour to explore how these two universities integrate education, sustainability, and community impact into their food systems, creating models for healthy, local, and just food networks. Register here for the Sustainable Food Procurement Conference by Institutions: https://lnkd.in/dfZeaR3r Established in 2012, the University of Michigan Campus Farm at Matthaei Botanical Gardens advances food justice and sustainability through hands-on learning opportunities. As a hub for student engagement, the farm grows and harvests fresh produce weekly, delivering it to the Maize & Blue Cupboard to support food access for the campus community. Joining Jeremy Moghtader and Haley Kerner from University of Michigan Campus Farm are Darby Anderson and Sam Stokes from Michigan State University, sharing best practices from their South Campus Animal Farms and their research center, Center for Regional Food Systems (CRFS). MSU’s farms--located within three miles of its central campus--supports teaching, research, and outreach across seven facilities specializing in dairy, beef, swine, poultry, and more. The CRFS builds on MSU’s legacy of fostering sustainable, equitable food systems through collaboration in production, processing, distribution, and access. #FarmToInstitution #FoodSystems #MichiganFood #Michigan #MichiganGrown

Aiye Akhigbe started by making homemade baby food for her son. As he got older, the mixes got more sophisticated, and eventually she realized she could evolve her recipes into delicious jams with local ingredients. Eight years later, she is making 175 flavors and selling them out of her own store, Sticky Spoons Jam. As a Navy veteran, Nigerian-born entrepreneur, Aiye fell in love while stationed in Japan, and it turned out her partner was from the small town of Niles, Michigan. When the couple was looking for a place to settle and start a family, they were called to the Great Lakes State. Aiye now loves the agriculture economy that surrounds her, with 95 percent of their fruits coming from small farms within 30 miles of their location. “I tell everyone, we are the agricultural hub of the country,” she says. “Southwest Michigan grows almost everything I need.”

Have you been wondering about the distinctions between food access and food sovereignty? Or do you know the whole spectrum and are wondering how to use this knowledge to guide your own food systems work? Shiloh Maples created the Food Access to Food Sovereignty Workbook: A Spectrum of Food Systems Change for those purposes and more. This workbook provides tools for individuals and groups to contextualize their work in relation to others, which in turn increases understanding of their own efforts and fosters collaborations to improve food systems. Learn more and access the workbook here: https://loom.ly/-8NCY2Y The development of this workbook incorporates the expressed needs of Michigan Local Food Council Members (MLFCN) members. This resource was funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Support for MLFCN comes from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Michigan Health Endowment Fund . #FoodAccess #FoodSystems #FoodSovereignty #LocalFood

Are you interested in finding funding for your food related business? The Funding Sources for Food-Related Businesses is now an interactive online resource! Sort the directory by funder's name, business ownership type, funding type, business sector, funding amount, and/ or location. Find Funding Sources here: https://lnkd.in/e4qE_qym. #FarmBusiness #FoodBusiness #Entrepreneurship #SmallBusinessSupport #LocalFood

Today we’re celebrating Heather Nelson, our Business Operations and Finance Assistant. Heather has been part of the Center for Regional Food Systems for 5 years and is an invaluable part of our team, tirelessly supporting our programmatic efforts behind the scenes with her financial acumen. ?She brings a smile to many of our faces with her kindness and thoughtfulness. This year she is looking forward to her 2025 travel plans to visit family & meet her newest addition, a grandson! Thank you so much for all you do, Heather!