Know Your 'Food Hub'

Friend Kim Bayer recently wrote about Food Hubs, including emerging Food Hubs in the State of Michigan, in a post Food hubs are coming to Michigan.

On November 28, Keith Creagh, the Director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD), called a meeting in Lansing to bring together key players in Michigan interested in the emerging concept of food hubs. Representing a brand-new Washtenaw Food Hub, I was able to participate in the meeting of approximately thirty attendees. About half of the participants represented communities around the state, from Marquette to Grand Rapids to Detroit, and about half the participants were state employees.

Creagh opened the meeting by remarking that the staff was on hand because he wanted to see inter-agency collaboration that could help local economies, build capacity, and contribute to health and wellness in Michigan.

More specifically, Creagh said he saw the development of food hubs as part of Michigan's "reincarnation." Food hubs can be aspects of a healthy economy and jobs, contributors to state goals for health and wellness, and key to the Michigan Good Food Charter's goal to "enable 20% of food purchased in Michigan to come from Michigan."

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For the past several months, a small group of people has been working to organize the Washtenaw Food Hub, initially envisioned as "a bustling network of local, food-based businesses as well as a demonstration site and destination for anyone interested in sustainable food systems."

Some of the main goals of the Washtenaw Food Hub are "to increase the available supply of staple foods grown in Michigan by coordinating infrastructure, resources and market outlets for producers" and "to provide a 'one-stop' experience for individual and institutional buyers who prioritize support for local farmers and Michigan-grown food."

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For more information, email: washtenawfoodhub@gmail.com