For Service Providers

Help grow the food and farm business ecosystem across the Great Lakes Midwest!    

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The Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center coordinates and provides assistance for small- to mid-sized farmers and food business owners in IL, IN, MI, and WI, including producers, harvesters, and other business owners operating on federally recognized tribal lands.  

We seek service providers who can provide education and training as producers launch, grow, and sustain their operations. We will connect businesses with service providers who can offer training focused on post-production and marketing activities, including but not limited to:  

  • Business planning and development
  • Financial readiness
  • Market development
  • Post-harvest processing, aggregation and distribution
  • Value chain coordination

Through the Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center, we aim to cultivate a stronger regional network of service providers to support more thriving small- and mid-sized farm and food businesses in the region.

How to register as a service provider: 

  • If you or your business can offer an educational service or training to support farm and food businesses in IL, IN, MI, and/or WI, complete the registration form available below.
  • By completing the registration form, you will be added to an internal database of vetted service providers. Providers will be considered based on experience, qualifications, capacity, potential to contribute to a strong network of providers, ability to provide training/education, and the ability to advance the program’s geographical priority places.
  • Eligible service providers will be selected to assist producers on a rolling basis based on the needs of farmers, producers, and food business owners.
  • Service providers who can offer services with an educational / training component may be invited to participate as a potential vendor to support the businesses in the region (dependent on available funding).
  • Preference will be given to service providers based in IL, IN, MI, and WI. However, service providers with businesses located outside the region will also be considered if they can provide services to producers within the region.
  • PLEASE NOTE that completing the registration form does not automatically qualify you as a service provider for the Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center. Providers will be vetted by the program team through the information shared in the registration process, references, and potential one-on-one conversations. Additionally, as of May 2025, federal funds that support this program remain paused, so paid services to external providers also remain paused at this time.

If you believe you and your organization can benefit farmers, producers, and food business owners in the Great Lakes Midwest region (IN, IL, MI, WI), we invite you to complete the registration form found here.

If you have questions after completing the form, please reach out to Jamie Rahrig, Director of Food and Farm Business Assistance, at rahrigj1@msu.edu or connect with the region’s Network Coordinators listed on this webpage.  

Register

Thank you for your interest in supporting farmers, producers, and food business owners in our region.