About Growing the UP

DO YOU CARE ABOUT LOCAL FOOD AND EDUCATION?

Maybe you’re passionate about a vibrant local food system in the U.P., and you’re looking to find a school garden program, connect with experienced teachers, or find out what resources are available to help new and established agriculture education programs through community partners.

DO YOU NEED SUPPORT?

The U.P. is a large, sparsely populated region—a third of Michigan’s land mass, and only 3% of its population—and it’s sometimes hard to find each other.

WE’RE HERE TO HELP.

Growing the U.P. is a tool to help you locate and connect with actively engaged schools and community partners that give young people hands-on learning experiences in agriculture, food, and natural resources.

OUR STORY

The U.P. has a lot of interest in agriculture education, but few formal programs. Each area and school has created a program that suits their community’s strengths and available resources – that might look like an elementary school garden of raised beds created by students that the Senior Center takes care of in the summer or a high school class that is working with a local farm to tackle soil health and grazing. Yoopers are famous for their rugged individualism, but we’re also well-known across the state for having deep community partnerships. Growing the U.P. came from the idea that the best people to help and instruct others on getting new agriculture education projects started are the teachers and community partners who are already doing this work. This site is a place for those individuals to share their projects and for newcomers to ag ed – whether it’s through FFA, Farm to School, or having to get better food in the cafeteria – to have place to find information and ask questions. In order to have a vibrant local food system in the U.P., it’s important for young people to understand that food system.

OUR TEAM

Abbey Palmer

Education Coordinator
MSU North Farm at U.P. Research and Extension Center
palmerab@anr.msu.edu

Sarah Monte

Farm to School Facilitator
U.P. Food Exchange
smonte@marquettefood.coop

Matt R. Raven

Agriculture, Food & Natural Resource Ed Coordinator
MSU Department of Community Sustainability
mraven@msu.edu

THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS

Thanks to all the innovative Upper Peninsula educators who bring agriculture, food, and natural resources education to their students.
Your work helps kids in the U.P. create a thriving future.

This project is supported by the SPECA Challenge Program of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA Grant # 2016-38414-25820.