The Traverse City Record-Eagle article Farm network has Vision takes a look at the newly formed Northwest Michigan Food and Farm Network:

A new local network has some big plans for the region's farming sector — to double its value over the next decade.

The Northwest Michigan Food and Farm Network formed to follow through on some of the objectives of the new Grand Vision land-use and transportation plan. It showed strong local support for protecting the area's farm land, and to promote local food and employment opportunities.

The network is made up of 15 local civic, business, government and education groups working to expand the local food economy, including land conservancies in Leelanau and Grand Traverse, the area Council of Governments, the Traverse Bay EDC and the Michigan Land Use Institute. Its goal is to double the market value of food and agricultural sales in the six-county area, and increase the market share of local food purchases from regional food and agricultural businesses to 10 percent, up from the current estimate of 2 percent…

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Photo credit: Raspberry Patch by ( Jennifer )