Sharing ideas, tools and resources to support a range of efforts to serve local foods in schools and early care and education settings.

Michigan farm to school logo with a green apple design

Michigan Farm to School

Farm to School centers around efforts to serve local foods in school and early care and education settings. It also applies to a variety of activities in Michigan, including:

  • school garden programs,
  • fundraisers using local agricultural products,
  • farmer visits to school classrooms and cafeterias
  • and field trips to nearby farms

Farm to Institution is a more encompassing term. It refers to connecting institutions such as schools, early childcare programs, hospitals and colleges (among others) with local farmers, food producers and vendors to provide local food for food service programs.

The farm to school team at the MSU Center for Regional Food Systems is the evaluation partner for 10 Cents a Meal. Explore 10 Cents evaluation results.

Michigan Farm to School is part of the National Farm to School Network.

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Get updates on farm to school efforts across the state and nationally.

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Hoophouses for Health

Michigan Farm to School teamed up with the Michigan Farmers Market Association and the MSU Horticulture Department on a program called Hoophouses for Health. From 2011 to 2018, this program helped Michigan children and families have better access to good food while supporting Michigan farmers and increasing season extension food production. Hoophouses for Health was funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Explore the impact of the project in this five part video series! Taking Root: Hoophouses for Health + MI Farm to School!

The Lake Michigan School Food System Innovation Hub

The new, USDA-funded grant-making initiative to reimagine school meals offers funding, training and other assistance for people working to improve school meals in Michigan and across our region — especially in areas that don’t have equitable access to resources. Learn more about the Lake Michigan School Food System Innovation Hub.

Learn more:

Michigan Farm to Institution Network

Seeking new approaches to institutional food purchasing. Growing Michigan institutions’ capacity to serve local food. Expanding markets for food grown, raised and processed in Michigan.

Michigan Farm to ECE

Farm to early care and education helps children and families eat more local foods.

Michigan Farm to ECE Network

Helping Michigan’s children grow, choose, and eat more nutritious local food.

Cultivate Michigan

Cultivate Michigan is a statewide campaign to help farm to institution programs grow.

Lake Michigan School Food System Innovation Hub

Lake Michigan School Food System Innovation Hub fosters collaborations that reimagine school meals in ways that nourish students, connect to local farms and businesses, and celebrate our region’s cultures and communities.