It's simple to join the Michigan Good Food Charter Council and sign the resolution of support as an individual or organization. There are three levels of Charter Council membership so everyone can find a level of support that suits their goals and needs. If you support the vision and initiatives of the Charter and would like to stay informed you can join as a Supporter. To implement the charter vision within your community, signing up as a Local Leader may be the right choice. Consider signing up as a Committee Member of one of the three Michigan Good Food Charter Committees If you are looking for ways to get more involved at the statewide level. Charter Committees support the implementation of Charter activities through coalition-building and coordinated policy action efforts.
To address the complex challenges of the food system, we have identified six interconnected goals describing the results we want to see in our communities.
Food Access to Food Sovereignty: Everyone has the resources to access and afford healthy, culturally relevant food where they live, work, learn, and play and the ability to shape the food systems that impact them.
Farm and Food Business Viability: The food system supports a dynamic mix of local, regional, national, and global food sources that offer opportunities for small-scale and marginalized Michigan farm and food businesses to thrive.
Health Equity: The food system supports opportunities for everyone to be as healthy as possible, physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually.
Fair Wages and Economic Opportunity: People who plant, harvest, process, pack, transport, prepare, serve, and sell food have access to living wages, benefits, safe work environments, and pathways for career advancement and leadership.
Sustainable Ecosystems: The food system protects air, water, and soil now and for future generations.
Climate Change Mitigation and Resilience: Communities are resilient in the face of climate change and the food system actively mitigates its impact on the climate.
How can we use the Charter?
The Michigan Good Food Charter is a tool for collaborative communication, advocacy, and evaluation. We can use it to:
Explore ideas that advance a good food system in Michigan
Identify common ground for collaboration within and across sectors
Build action coalitions around food systems policy change
Inform policymakers of statewide and local priorities
Published on February 1, 2013
In keeping with the goals of the Michigan Good Food initiative, many groups across the state are striving to provide people with better access to high quality local food through the development of new and existing programs.
Published on January 2, 2013
Moving Michigan toward its Good Food Charter goal of Michigan farmers supplying 20 percent of food in Michigan markets by 2020 involves a lot of people and businesses in many different sectors.
Published on January 2, 2013
Michigan Land Use Institute (MLUI) has been seeking support to implement one of the Michigan Good Food Charter agenda priorities-"10 cents a meal," whereby schools are given extra funds to purchase local, healthy food for school meals.
The Michigan Good Food Charter is a vision and a roadmap to advance Michigan’s food and agricultural contributions to the economy, protect our natural resource base, improve our residents’ health, and enable generations of Michigan youth to thrive.