Up North. PEOPLE | NATURE | ARTS | NOSTALGIA | BUZZ | WISDOM | CURIOSITIES
Claire Butler and Kat Palms
SMALL FARMS, BIG IDEAS by LYNDA WHEATLEY
photo by Dave Weidner
From a humble $1,200 start to a recent $250,000 grant, MI Farm Co-op is transforming the North’s farm-to-table economy.
O
ne of the best things to happen to locavores since sliced local bread: MI Farm Cooperative, the increasingly brawny brainchild of 9 Bean’s co-owner Nic Welty and Bardenhagen Farms’ owner Jim Bardenhagen. An independent producer-owned cooperative, the MI Farm Co-op launched in 2014 with a $100 investment from 12 northwest lower Michigan farms. The initial mission: Join forces, pool resources like marketing and delivery, and create a system to connect more farmers to the folks who want locally grown and raised foods: area restaurants, caterers, grocery stores, hunger helpers like Goodwill and Food Rescue and—key to growing a healthy community and local economy—schools. Easy, right? Not so much. But with that little bit of money and a lot of blood, sweat and volunteers, the co-op concept caught on. It attracted more member farms (25 at last count) and developed an online market where wholesale buyers can order an array of freshly made, plucked and picked goodies from multiple local farms at once. APRIL 2023
0423_TVM_upnorth.indd 11
11
3/2/23 11:14 PM
