Food Access in Michigan Project Seeks Farmer Input

The Food Access In Michigan (FAIM) project, a collaboration between six universities and an equal number of community organizations, aims to paint a more nuanced picture of food access and food insecurity across the state of Michigan. In order to do that, we are gathering the perspectives of people who work throughout the food system, from farmers to food retailers, Michigan residents and key stakeholders.

To that end, they will be holding focus groups at the Northern Michigan Small Farm Conference, January 31-February 2.  The project would like to talk with farmers to learn their perspectives on food insecurity in Michigan, including such questions as where you currently sell (or would like to sell) your products, sources of support for Michigan farmers, and ways to address food insecurity in the state of Michigan

The project plans on sharing their results widely across the state through community presentations, press releases, fact sheets and newspaper articles.  They also plan on having a wealth of information, resources and findings on their website, and envision it as a space for anyone in Michigan to visit and learn more about the food environment where they live. 

More info about the focus groups is available on this pdf, and you can find out more about the FAIM project by visiting www.meldi.snre.umich.edu.