Our Work

Our work spans the many people, processes, and places involved in regional food systems. Current work advances:

Find information about past areas of work at the bottom of this page.

Michigan Food Hub Learning and Innovation Network

Providing development and leadership expertise for Michigan businesses that facilitate the aggregation, storage, processing, distribution, and/or marketing of local and regional food products.
Michigan Local Food Council Network

Convening and engaging food councils through peer-to-peer learning to build individual and collective capacity, address food and food policy issues, and engage communities.

Michigan Meat Network

A network of livestock producers, meat processors, distributors, and food professional and buyers looking to make business connections, find answers, and build viable markets for local and regional meat in Michigan.
National Food Hub Survey

A national survey of food hubs, conducted in 2013, 2015, and 2017 by CRFS in collaboration with the Wallace Center, representing one of the most comprehensive data sets on food hub operations to date.

Racial Equity in the Food System Workgroup

A community of Cooperative Extension professionals and community stakeholders who connect, learn and collaborate to facilitate change within our institutions and society to build racial equity within the food system.

Michigan Good Food Charter

The Michigan Good Food Charter is a roadmap for a food system that is rooted in local communities and centered on good food. The charter outlines six goals to advance the vision by 2020.
Michigan Good Food Charter Shared Measurement Project

Improving understanding of the impact of good food efforts in Michigan by building capacity statewide to assess and communicate food system change.

Michigan Good Food Fund

A $30 million public-private partnership loan fund providing financing and business assistance to good food enterprises that benefit underserved communities across Michigan.

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 School

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

Michigan Organic Farming Exchange

Information is available to farmers and consumers interested in understanding organic production methods and suggests ways to successfully transition conventional production to organic.
Michigan’s Emerging Farmers

Making farming a more prosperous, secure, and sustainable career by providing training and tools for Michigan’s beginning and emerging farmers.

Organic Farmer Training Program

Nine-month intensive training program in year-round organic farming focusing on diversified production of vegetables, flowers, fruits and herbs for local markets.

Economic Impact Analysis of Local and Regional Food Systems

Economists and local food system researchers convened to assess existing practices and recommend future strategies for economic analyses of local and regional food systems.
Financing Farming in the U.S.

A national team of community-based lenders and farm business advisors.

Food and Community Connections

A national outreach effort to cultivate environments and infrastructures for the development of equitable good food systems and healthy communities.
Food Innovation Districts

A planning and economic strategy toolkit to address regional food system infrastructure needs and support the clustering of markets, food business incubators, and facilities for common storage and distribution.

Local Governments and Local Food Systems

An outreach and research program to build capacity for local government engagement in food system development.
MI Farm to School Grant Program

From 2011-2018, over 70 eligible Michigan K-12 schools/districts and early care and education programs were provided mini-grants to plan for or implement farm to school programs.

Northwest Michigan Agriculture and Food System Sector Alliance

Providing collaboration, planning and action between stakeholders from the Northwest Lower Michigan food system, including growers, processors, preparers, packagers, distributors, servers, and retailers.
Season Extension Outreach

Sharing of resources, research, and other support for production, marketing, business planning and other parts of year-round farming.