Here is a look at farming news making headlines in the region:

The Record-Eagle has this story on Northwest Michigan College's new viticulture program:

"Northwestern Michigan College will partner with Michigan State University and Missouri State University to offer the area's first viticulture certificate. The program offers an option to complete an associate's degree and will begin this summer.

"Right now, we have no channel of people coming in who know about cool climate viticulture," said Mark Johnson, winemaker at Chateau Chantal on Old Mission Peninsula. Viticulture courses will provide much-needed educational support to the region's grape-growing and winemaking industries. Johnson is anxious for the first wave of interns in the grape fields."

The Cadillac News has this story on a new organic CSA farm in Buckley:

"For $275, people who partake in the CSA receive at least $400-worth of "wholesome, local food," [Nirinjan] Singh said. Singh’s family owns a farm on West County Line Road in Buckley, and he’s farming about an acre of land this year for his CSA program. Each week of the growing season, which is from about April to November, every participant takes home a box of locally-grown organic food."

The Record-Eagle's Farm Focus reports that:

"Free-range chickens raised in northern Michigan are available at the Oleson's Food Stores chain through a partnership with Cherry Capital Foods. The chickens are raised at Bakers Greens Acres farm in Marion, and Oleson's officials said the chain is adding the product because of increased customer inquiries about the availability of local, free-range chicken.

A program on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) through the U.S. Department of Agriculture is set for Feb. 22 in Leelanau County. The event will be held at 1 p.m. at the Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Center in Bingham Township and is targeted for all cherry, apple, peach and asparagus producers."

Erin Lizotte, district educator for the Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Station in Leelanau County, wrote this piece published in the Record-Eagle on food safety standards for Northern Michigan:

"Food safety is the new game in town when it comes to agricultural production. Consumers have become more aware of where their food is produced, how growers produce it, and the journey it takes before reaching the table.

However, despite our diverse agricultural industry, importing food is still a common practice, as in many parts of the world. With all of these imports consumers are concerned — how do we know the food we buy is safe?

Although our local growers have been producing safe food for as long as they have been growing it, they now need to keep a record of [Good Agricultural Practices] GAP practices, develop a formal framework and undergo a third-party, on-farm audit to confirm compliance with GAP practices."

To read the full story on NMC's new viticulture program, click here. For the new Buckley organic CSA, click here. For the Record-Eagle's farm focus, click here. For Erin Lizotte's food safety op-ed, click here.

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Photo: Leelanau County by asdbbplyr.