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The Triple Bottom Line

The Economy
Of the more than 53,000 farms in Michigan
40% of the farms remain at less than 50 acres
74% are earning less than $25,000 gross sales annually
net income from operations averages $13,585 per farm. This requires over 40% of Michigan’s farm families to spend 200 days or more per year working off the farm.

If current trends continue, by 2040 Michigan will lose 71% of its farms between 50 and 500 acres. This is nearly 50% of Michigan’s farms. This loss is not just farms, but also farmland, farmers, skills and infrastructure necessary for long term food production capability.

As of 2002, Michigan farms represented 2.5% of the nation’s farms, while our diversity of products remains second only to California. Connecting farmers and their communities to the resources that assist them to grow their businesses through sustainable agricultural initiatives will increase the number of farms and farm profitability. This will also stimulate the creation of new jobs and new businesses throughout the community.

Spending just $10 per week on local food in your community would keep over $37 million circulating within Michigan.

The Environment
As the value of direct-marketed fruits and vegetables increases through implementation of sustainable agricultural initiatives, selling farmland for development becomes less likely. This landscape will survive only as long as farms are financially viable. When you buy locally grown food, you are doing something proactive about preserving the agricultural landscape.

MIFFS success –impact on environment
In the modern industrial agricultural system, product varieties are chosen for their ability to ripen simultaneously and produce a tough skin that is able to withstand harvesting equipment, survive packing and shipping, and provide a long shelf life in the store. Only a handful of hybrid varieties of each fruit and vegetable meet these rigorous demands, so there is little genetic diversity in the plants grown. Local farms, in contrast, grow a huge number of varieties to provide a long season of harvest and many heirloom varieties that are passed along to the next generation.

The Social Well-Being of Communities
Healthier Food + Healthier People = Healthier Communities

Healthier Food
Food grown in local communities was probably picked within the past day or two. It’s crisp, sweet and loaded with flavor. Produce trucked or flown in from California or Chili is much older.

Several studies have shown that the average distance food travels from “farm to plate” is 1,500 miles, causing sugars to turn into starches, plant cell shrinkage, and loss of vitality.

Healthier People
Michigan is in the midst of an obesity epidemic with 62% of adults and 12% of high school students considered overweight according to medical statistics.

In 2003, obesity related medical costs in Michigan totaled $2.9 billion and statistics indicated the majority of people become overweight due to inadequate physical activity and poor diet.

Community-based food systems encourage healthy lifestyles by making fresh and flavorful local products more accessible to the community.

Healthier citizens also means reduced healthcare premiums.