Spartan Newsroom (https://news.jrn.msu.edu/category/news/business/agriculture/)
Schools in Greater Lansing are benefiting from fresh produce in their lunchrooms thanks to a Michigan program aiming to get farm-fresh food onto lunch tables.
The 10 Cents a Meal program, administered by the Michigan Department of Education, gives schools 10 cents for every meal they serve to children that includes a local fruit, vegetable or dried bean. This funding aims to make it easier for schools to afford fresh and local foods.
WILD RICE: A new study from Michigan Tech and its collaborators finds health risks from toxic materials, including arsenic, in wild rice grown in a part of the U.P. where millions of tons of copper mining tailings were dumped in the early 1900s, including L’Anse Bay and an inland lake in Baraga County. Tribes are restoring areas that grow wild rice, which is of spiritual as well as nutritional importance. Wildlife and migrating birds also eat contaminated wild rice. We hear from a Keweenaw Bay Indian Community wildlife biologist, a Ferris State biologist and a member of Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians. By Lindsay M. McCoy. FOR BAY MILLS, IRON MOUNTAIN, MARQUETTE, SAULT STE. MARIE, MICHIGAN FARM NEWS, BIG RAPIDS, MICHIGAN FARM BUREAU and ALL POINTS.
BEAN SHIPMENTS: Congress is moving on legislation that would make it easier for Michigan dry bean farmers to get containers for shipping their beans overseas. The current container shortage puts a serious crimp on bean exports Biggest producing counties are Huron, Tuscola, Sanilac and Bay. We talk to the Michigan Bean Commission in Frankenmuth, Michigan Agri-Business Association and a farmers’ co-op in Pigeon. Sens. Stabenow and Peters are cosponsors, as are Reps. Kildee, Stevens, Upton Meijer, McClain,Huizenga, Moolenaar and Bergman. By Jack Falinski. FOR MICHIGAN FARM NEWS, CORP! GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS and ALL POINTS.
Katrina Jeffreys in front of her company, Fur Real Dog Snacks’booth at the Holt Farmers’ Market. Her dog Nyxi is pictured behind her. Picture this: you wake up on a Saturday between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. You are absolutely famished, yet decidedly walk past the fridge and go outside. You find yourself at the brightly muraled entrance of the Holt Farmers’ Market. You walk in and are greeted with neighborly smiles and homegrown charm.
WHEAT: The Ukraine-Russia war has disrupted the source of one-third of the world’s wheat crop, but Michigan farmers can’t plant more wheat to make up for Ukrainian and Russian production lost to the ongoing war. Top producers include Lenawee, Clinton, Monroe and Ionia counties. The Farm Bureau and an MSU agricultural economist discuss.For news and business sections. By Hope O’Dell. FOR GREENVILLE, IONIA, MONROE, BLISSFIELD, ADRIAN, MICHIGAN FARM NEWS, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, CORP! and ALL POINTS.
Stewardship Saturdays’ is a community effort run by Emma Campbell, the land stewardship coordinator for Meridian Township, aimed to remove invasive species that threaten local ecosystems from surrounding land.
NEMATODES: Ag and farming officials are helping growers manage soybean cyst nematodes to prevent a major loss in yield as the crop’s production season approaches. We talk to the Michigan Soybean Committee, BASF chemical experts and an MSU researcher. By Jada Penn. FOR BLISSFIELD, ADRIAN, MONROE, HILLSDALE, MICHIGAN FARM NEWS and ALL POINTS.
RESTORE GRAYLING: Can remote streamside incubators restore the long-gone Arctic grayling to Michigan’s rivers and streams? A Consumers Energy Foundation grant is helping fund research to explore that prospect. The Manistee River has been one research site. Researchers from Grand Valley State University, Northern Michigan University and the University of Alberta, along with the DNR, are on a grayling restoration quest. By Danieele James. FOR MARQUETTE, SAULT STE. MARIE, IRON MOUNTAIN, BAY MILLS, WKTV, TRAVERSE CITY, PETOSKEY, CHEBOYGAN, BIG RAPIDS, CADILLAC, ALCONA, MONTMORENCY, ALPENA, CRAWFORD COUNTY, MANISTEE, LUDINGTON, CLARE COUNTY, LAKE COUNTY, OCEANA COUNTY and ALL POINTS.
SOYBEANS: With a worldwide increase in demand for food and oil, the soybean industry shows no signs of slowing down as demand rises. In addition, the consumer trend towards more plant-based meat substitutes will be good news for Michigan farmers – but not immediately. Counties with more than 100,000 acres of soybeans harvested are Lenawee, Sanilac and Saginaw, and other top-10 counties include Monroe, Hillsdale and Eaton. An Elsie soybean farmer and the Michigan Soybean Association’s CEO discuss. By Lindsay M. McCoy. FOR BLISSFIELD, ADRIAN, MONROE, HILLSDALE, MICHIGAN FARM NEWS and ALL POINTS.
MAPLE SYRUP: The recent trend of warming temperature disrupting the normal sap-tapping season has been reversed this year, as tapping time returns to normal. Demand is up, and optimistic producers are using new vacuum technology to increase the yield of sap. The director of Agriculture and Rural Development and producers from Onaway and Bear Lake, in Manistee County, discuss. By Lindsay McCoy. FOR MICHIGAN FARM NEWS, ALPENA, MANISTEE, LUDINGTON and ALL POINTS.
BLUEBERRIES: A native pest, the stem gall wasp, is the biggest threat to the state’s $132-million-a-year blueberry crops. The state Blueberry Commission, up for renewal this year, is funding research, including studies on how to control the wasp. Most of the state’s blueberries grow in West Michigan, led by Allegan, Berrien, Muskegon, Ottawa and Van Buren counties. We talk to the commission’s director and an MSU entomologist working on the project. By Hope O’Dell. FOR HOLLAND, LUDINGTON, THREE RIVERS, STURGIS, OCEANA COUNTY, MANISTEE, MICHIGAN FARM NEWS, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS and ALL POINTS.
