$3.5 Million Grant to MSU to Help Access Environmentally Friendly Food

A $3.5 million grant recently awarded to Michigan State University will give consumers greater access to environmentally friendly food. The grant money will allow MSU to develop a pasture-based dairy facility and composting program to develop supply chains for pasture-based dairy products.

According to excerpts from the article:

With the aid of a three-year, $3.5 million development grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Michigan State University will establish a pasture-based dairy facility and composting program at the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station (KBS) in Hickory Corners and develop supply chains and markets for pasture-based dairy products. The dairy facility will be a focal point for research, education and outreach programs that provide farmers with information on dairy management options for moderate to small operations that focus on sustainability from production through consumption.

The program will support sustainable and productive food and farming systems by engaging diverse food system participants – from those who produce, process and market foods to those who consume them. The initiative will help determine best practices for raising animals on pasture and also work to develop an improved supply chain – processing, distribution and marketing programs – for pasture-raised animals. In addition, two new faculty members will be hired in animal grazing ecology and human ecology in rural development as a result of Kellogg’s Food Systems and Rural Development programming.

“To ensure the vitality of rural communities, it is important that we create better market opportunities for small and midsized farms,” said Mike Hamm, C.S. Mott Chair for Sustainable Food Systems at MSU. “These farms are the backbone of communities – as food providers, purchasers of local goods and services, employers, taxpayers and stewards of the landscape. Expanding production options that improve the viability of these farms will help strengthen healthy rural economies and communities.”

Read the entire article here.