NW Michigan Food and Farming Network Report to the Community 2015 Report to the Community | Page 39
2015 Report to the community
Farm to Freezer: One Year later
Program makes local
food available all year
By Mark Coe
Farm to Freezer
Farm to Freezer was talked about
by a couple guys sitting on fivegallon buckets in late 2012. At some
point the question was asked: “How
can we extend the short growing
season we have in northwest Michigan?” And from atop the other
bucket came the response: “Well I
have an idea…”
It was a vision that would expand
into a couple ideas covering the
purchase of fruits and vegetables
from local farmers to having those
farmers grow more and different
products than they normally would.
The vision was born out a discussion
between Brandon Seng and Mark
Coe, and the idea was pitched to the
board of Goodwill Northern Michigan, which embraced the concept.
All of this is wrapped in a philosophy of changing lives. Goodwill’s
Farm to Freezer program would also
include job training and placement
for unemployed and disadvantaged
individuals. Today the program provides local fruits and vegetables to
schools and institutions, and wholesales its product line to retailers
directly. This allows the consumers
in northwest Michigan to purchase
high quality, healthy food, from
Farm to Freezer provides local fruits and vegetables to schools and institutions,
and wholesales its product line to retailers directly. (Photo: 9&10 News)
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neighbor’s farms year round.
The 2014 season saw growth from
three to 16 farms providing fresh
vegetables and fruit, expansion from
three to eight school districts, and
test sales from three Oleson stores to
19 retail locations. It grew from six
products to 20 with ongoing testing
for new ones.
Farm to Freezer is currently working on an organic certification and
has been developing an organic line
to add to the program. Farm to
Freezer has trained and placed 21
people in the 2014 season and has
plans on expanding that in 2015.
www.goodwillnmi.org/
food/farm-to-freezer
Today the program
provides local fruits
and vegetables
to schools and
institutions, and
wholesales its
product line to
retailers directly.