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Flint, UP food hubs selected to pilot Good Food for Michigan Project collaboration

The Good Food for Michigan Project has announced its first grants to expand institutional local food access through regional food hubs.

Brian Schorr with Flint Fresh tells Brownfield their food hub has been supplying some area schools with fresh produce since COVID.

“That started out with a few thousand pieces and has since grown substantially,” he shares. “It started with just a few items like carrot sticks, celery sticks, apple slices, and now we’ve got a dozen or so standard items that we process weekly for schools.”

Schorr says their sourcing allows customers to work with them year-round, providing in-season produce grown by local farmers and other items like oranges to streamline institutional ordering.

“Our strength is aggregating,” he highlights. “We can take those small farms that are just starting, and aggregate that product together to fill these orders. But then, as some of them are more successful than others, we can help those scale.”

Schorr says schools are very interested in supporting local food systems, but access and funding can limit their ability. He says the pilot with Bendle Public Schools should highlight models that are working for local food procurement and expand markets for farmers.

The Chippewa Luce Mackinac Community Action Agency in the Upper Peninsula was also awarded a grant through the project to increase Michigan-grown and produced foods served at senior nutrition sites and in their meals on wheels program.

The Good Food for Michigan Project is a partnership between the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Center for Good Food Purchasing, and Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems.