Food System Economic Partnership

Farmers are the bedrock of this initiative. We need their support and participation to create new opportunities, new markets and increased profitability for the agricultural sector in the region.

Preliminary Vision

• Profitable growing different crops at diverse scales
• Understand consumer needs and wants in the regional marketplace
• Have diverse local customer base and export markets for what they grow
• Strengthen the rural economy and community through the presence and activities of their farms

Current Activities

• Farmers and farm organizations have committed to contributing funds and participating in the strategic planning of the FSEP leadership team.
• FSEP is beginning a baseline assessment of agricultural production to better understand the current status, barriers and opportunities related to farm business in the region.
• In the coming months FSEP will be holding focus groups and conducting surveys of all farmers in the 5-county region.

Outputs

• Grain market study - preliminary results (pdf, 960kb)

Who's Involved

To date the following groups all have representatives on the FSEP leadership team: *

• Corn Marketing Program of Michigan
• Michigan Farm Bureau
• Michigan Lamb Producers Association
• Organic Growers of Michigan
• Fruit and Vegetable Growers
• Beef producers

*Participating county and local government officials from Jackson, Lenawee, Monroe, Washtenaw and Wayne also play an important role in representing and supporting the interests of local food distributors.

How You Can Get Involved

Contact Jennifer Fike to:

• Join the Partnership
• Participate in Forums
• Contribute Funding
• Contribute with In-kind Services

Once Involved You Can

• Help raise awareness
• Help recruit other farmers
• Share success stories