Campaigns
BENTON HARBOR Grows!
On July 6, 2009, Chris Bedford and the Center were commissioned to develop a local food system for the City of Benton Harbor, Michigan. Working for the Benton Harbor City Commission, Bedford developed a plan to promote public health, economic rresurgence, and community resilience through a program of community gardens. The goal -- to develop a vibrant network of community gardens through the small city (pop. 12,000) -- is based on the knowledge and experience of 22 existing home and community gardens in the city.
The project was presented to the community on Saturday, November 21, 2009 from 4-6pm at the Benton Harbor High School in a Local Food Summit. Existing gardeners were honored and new gardeners recruited during the event. A DVD of a Power Point that describes the entire project is available from Chris Bedford for $10/postpaid. Request it by emailing him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
FARM TO SCHOOL TASK FORCE - Healthy School Meals for Our Children
The Muskegon County Farm-to-School Campaign seeks to bring 100% local, organic food into the county's schools for all meals, year-round. The campaign maintains a website at..
The campaign has connected with over three hundred parents, teachers, and leaders in the county through the website, an email list, and regular meetings. Two school districts, Montague Public Schools led by Dan Gorman and Fruitport Community Schools lead by Pat McGee are Michigan leaders in this movement. A new DVD/Power Point on the scientific and public policy basis of the campaign is available from Chris Bedford for $10/postpaid. Contact him at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 231-893-3937.
DECLARATION OF INTERDEPENDENCE.
Michigan’s future economic security depends directly on its ability to reinvent its economy to work with nature, accepting nature’s order and working within its laws. Such an economy is local by design, honors the children of all species, and builds ecological health. Such an economy is designed around ecological intelligence.
Ecological intelligence involves commerce that gains its profits and competitive advantage from its ability to achieve an ecological fit with where it lives. This is what Charles Darwin meant when he coined the phrase, “survival of the fittest” -- the species that most effectively fit into nature’s order would survive the best.
The development of a healthy, local food system is the first step in building an ecologically intelligent economy. Our economic security depends on achieving food security for all regardless of income while enhancing the productivity of the natural environment, the physical health of Michigan residents and the economic health of Michigan.
The Declaration of Interdependence offers Michigan’s consumers a direct path to building that economy through a broad based public education campaign that will result in a ballot initiative – tentatively titled, “Healthy Local Food for a Healthy Michigan”. The Preamble presents the fundamental values that underlay this effort.
“We, the undersigned, acknowledge that access to healthy food is essential for a healthy life for all citizens of Michigan regardless of income; that good nutrition is necessary for students to succeed in education; that a healthy local food system is critical to the development of a thriving sustainable local economy.
THUS, the State of Michigan has the obligation to ensure that all its citizens, have access to locally produced food raised in a manner that…
1. enhances biological diversity in harmony with biological cycles,
2. builds soil health and promotes animal welfare,
3. human and environmental health,
4. enables our children to achieve their potential as human beings,
5. contributes to the rebirth of a thriving small farm economy
6. supports the transition to an ecologically sustainable economy.
Access to healthy local food is critical to our collective future. The Center’s ”Declaration of Interdependence” Campaign brings this issue to the public square, for debate, deliberation, and action.