Infrastructure

The Infrastructure Working Group set out this priority strategy to implement the regional goal and objectives developed at the Farm Route to Prosperity Summit, February 24, 2009:
 

• Establish an industry roundtable of regional food producers, buyers, distributors, and processors to identify and address gaps in market infrastructure, such as a lack of smaller scale pre-processing facilities (coring, seeding, etc) or the ability of individual farms to supply larger orders, such as through cooperative regional branding.

 
At the August 2, 2011 Council meeting the Producers, Buyers, and Infrastructure Working Groups were combined into a "Scaling Up" working group. This formalizes a previous revision of these groups and this structure will continue until it seems appropriate to separate the functions out once again.Related Projects
 
 
Farmers Markets 
Vision: To help farmers markets become more and more centers of commerce and community.

• Identified first step to
• Work plan ideas: 1) Develop ways to share resources and information 2) Engage community resources like Taste the Local Difference in moving forward.
• Next steps: Engage more people in conversation. Rob Bagiagalupi of Traverse City market signed up to convene farmers markets and others in fall 2010.