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Local foods need supportive infrastructure to grow

The head of the West Michigan Shoreline Food Processing Association says infrastructure is one of the top barriers in getting more local foods to consumers.

Marty Gerencer tells Brownfield her group is working to increase regional logistics and address challenges throughout the food supply chain.

“Is really helping connect, particularly our small and our mid-size growers to our retailers or wholesalers, so that they can be in the store and compete with the others,” she emphasizes. “It’s prioritizing Michigan, the United States.”

Growing processing also means using more resources and generating more food waste. Gerencer says anaerobic digesters would be an ideal solution.

“Whether it’s renewable energy or if there’s some type of digestate that can legally be applied to the land, that’s savings, that’s savings for our farmers,” she says. “That’s savings for our community, and if we can use food waste to get there, that’s what we all want to do.”

The association has been working closely with the Michigan Food Processing Association and a statewide biogas committee to partner with lawmakers on more streamlined regulations.

The groups say Michigan’s rigorous permitting process of digesters with more than 20 percent food waste is cost-prohibitive and anticompetitive compared to surrounding states.

“You can’t be spending all this extra time and money on properly disposing of food waste, or you’re going to move,” she says. “You’re going to move to a state that properly supports you.”

More than 40 percent of the state’s agricultural sales come from West Michigan.