Michigan

Last week USDA Rural Business-Cooperative Programs Administrator Judith Canales crossed Michigan’s Lower Peninsula at a series of events to highlight flex-fuel options and the availability of renewable energy assistance. She addressed the Michigan Business Incubator Association’s conference...

Recently Morton Township, Michigan held the groundbreaking ceremony for its library expansion. Located in the Village of Mecosta on the western side of the Lower Peninsula, the event was a wonderful example of how a rural community can come together to support a project.

Cross posted from the Let's Move! blog: In March 2011, USDA Special Nutrition Programs Regional Director Julie Mikkelson and I met Chef Paul Penney at a HealthierUS School Challenge (HUSSC) award celebration in Canton, Michigan. Chef Paul, a volunteer with the First Lady’s Chefs Move to Schools...

Recently, a USDA Rural Development project received one of the 2011 Governor’s Awards for Historic Preservation from the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office. The ceremony was held in the state Capitol rotunda and dozens of citizens and legislators from across the state turned out. Michigan...

Last week, Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan visited the campus of Michigan State University to participate in a tour of the cellulosic ethanol pretreatment lab at MBI International and conduct a roundtable discussion with key stakeholders in Michigan’s biofuels community. MBI is owned...

Tulakemelwa Ngasala is a Tanzanian civil and water resources engineer currently living in Michigan. While in the United States she is caring for her three young girls while her husband works toward his Ph.D. in geology at Michigan State University.

As I talk to farmers across the country, regardless of what they produce or where, they all share one common challenge: how to best move product from the farm to the marketplace. This is especially crucial for small and midsize farmers who may not have enough capital to own their own trucks, their...

My colleague Julie Mikkelson and I are back to Chicago after a road trip across Michigan, March 22-24. We were there to recognize a number of schools for their efforts to support the First Lady’s LetsMove! initiative and the HealthierUS School Challenge (HUSSC). Our trip began in Waterford, north of...

Recently, the Bavarian Inn in Frankenmuth hosted an event to commemorate the award of grants and loans to Air Advantage LLC through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Broadband Initiative Program and discussed the progress of the project to date. This is one of the largest single awards for...

Usually when I submit a post for the Rural Development blog, the subject is an event, such as a closing, ribbon-cutting or groundbreaking ceremony. This entry as a little different – it is a blog about another blog.