West Michigan group receives USDA grant to build local food economy

A group that has helped bring locally grown food to communities for more than 20 years will receive a grant to help other communities in Michigan build similar networks.

The Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities works to ensure locally grown food is used by pantries, hospitals, schools and local restaurants.

Now it’s receiving a nearly $900,000 grant over the next three years to help 16 Michigan counties do the same.

“We were approached by people in the West Michigan Lakeshore region to share best practices with that region to build networks there. You have many parts that work within a regional food supply chain and it just brings them together,” said Jen Schaap, the group’s food and agriculture program director.

She said it’s about bringing diverse people and groups together and exploring what might work for her community.

Lester Graham

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Michigan radio

Michigan Grown Products. Photo was taken at Argus Farm Stop.

“So that people like farmers, food suppliers, schools, day care centers, traders and aggregators can learn from each other,” she explained.

Schaap said the pandemic has shown that long-distance supply chains can fail and these efforts could increase the resilience of local food economies.

In a press release, Groundwork lists what it believes are the benefits.

• Family businesses gain financial stability
• Farmland remains in agriculture and preserves our beautiful landscape
• Families eat healthier because the less food is transported, the more vitamins and other nutrient components are retained
• The local economy is strengthened because food dollars stay in the local economy and pass through many hands
• Local food can help us build a more resilient and secure food distribution system as it does not depend on long, complicated and vulnerable supply chains. Food security is national security, as we have seen in the pandemic
• Local food health can help us combat the many diet-related, life-threatening diseases that plague our populations, from children to the elderly – which will also help slow skyrocketing health care costs