Farm to School is a collaboration between students, school administrators, teachers, school food service, farmers, local food distributors, and many community partners across northwest Michigan.
Northwest Education’s Farm to School work is built on the cultivation of relationships with area elementary school stakeholders to promote collaboration in planning and implementing programs.
The work of North Ed’s, Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities, FoodCorps, MSU Extension Grand Traverse County, and others form into the umbrella movement- Farm to School in Northwest Michigan.
Northwest Education Services
Mission Statement “Leading Lifetime Learning- The Traverse Bay Area ISD has a dynamic and responsive relationship with our local school districts, the community and business partners that defines the scope of our work. With its vision to be the best educational system in the world, TBAISD has established a strategic focus to meet the unique needs of the Traverse Bay region.”
Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities
Mission Statement: “We work with people to build a thriving local farm and food economy; to make our towns and villages stronger, more walkable, bikeable, and transit-friendly; and to develop local, clean energy. We seek to achieve on-the-ground results in northwest Michigan and leverage them to support other communities and improvements to state policy. All of this is designed to strengthen the local economy, protect the environment, and build community.”
Our Partnership: Groundwork and TBAISD collaborate on building capacity for teachers and school districts to integrate farm to school activities into learning communities.
Michigan State University Extension
Mission Statement: 
“The MSU Extension works to serve the state by bringing the vast knowledge and resources of MSU to communities, individuals, organizations, and businesses.”
Our Partnership: MSU Extension and TBAISD have historically teamed up in schools to integrate Farm to School programs and initiatives. Currently, we work together to host pop-up farmer’s markets and develop engaging curriculum with the support of MSU Extension’s FoodCorps service member.
Taste the Local Difference
Mission Statement: “TLD helps food businesses and the communities they serve benefit from the economic value of local food while ensuring that fresh, healthy, local food is available to all consumers.”
Our Partnership: TLD connects local farmers to TBAISD partner schools. Recently we have worked together to plan and host pop-up farmer’s markets at regional elementary schools.
Munson Healthcare Foundations’s Shape Up North
Mission Statement: “We envision a region where all citizens will achieve and maintain a healthy weight. To achieve our vision a multifaceted approach must be used which includes schools, businesses, healthcare providers, and the community at large. This collaboration will work to influence sustainable change.”
Our Partnership: TBAISD and Munson’s Shape Up North work to impact our community and families to promote healthy lifestyles. Munson’s Shape Up North coordinated community partnership efforts, around a wellness culture in northwest Michigan, to receive a Michigan Health Endowment Fund grant in 2017. Michigan Health Endowment Fund Nutrition & Healthy Lifestyles Grant: Munson Healthcare Foundations – Building a Child-Focused Health and Wellness Culture in Northern Michigan.
We sell fresh, local produce to restaurants, caterers, schools, grocery stores, and other food-related businesses in Leelanau, Grand Traverse, and Benzie county. We have a multi-farm CSA and offer 7 different delivery sites in the area. The mission of the cooperative is to provide a method of sale and distribution to market the products of its members in a way that will secure reasonable return for its producers. The MI Farm Cooperative is a Michigan non-profit consumer corporation founded in 2015. Members of the co-op must be engaged in farming or other similar horticultural practices.
