Two northwest Michigan projects are among those awarded funds to innovate within their regional food systems.
The
Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development awarded $75,000 to the Starting Block, Kitchen Incubators, Oceana and Benzie counties, and Grow Benzie, for a cooperative project called the West Michigan Kitchen Incubator and Farm Stand Collaborative. It will focus on providing equipment, outreach and training for local farmers to help expand opportunities to sell their products and process them.
Coveyou Farms in Petoskey also received $53,500 for its project to use geothermal heat pump technology to grow organic greens, particularly lettuce, during the winter.
Other projects awarded funds were located in Lansing, Dexter, Flint, Chatham, Dewitt, Charlotte, East Lansing, Rudyard, Benton Harbor and Detroit. Only twelve projects were funded out of the 53 proposals which were submitted to MDARD.
Writer: Sam Eggleston
Source: Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development
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