Northland Food Network and Local Food and Farm 2021 Announcement
We are excited to announce the Top 3 selections from the Northland Food Network and Local Food and Farm initiative where a variety of private businesses, community organizations, and individuals submitted 17 project proposals to enhance and bring equity to the local food and farm system.
Thank you to all partners, community voters, and project participants!
A big thank you to all of our collaborators and to the special teams who submitted project proposals to share their vision with the Northland Food Network (NFN). NFN Partners: Rutabaga Project / AEOA , Northeast RSDP, Healthy Food Healthy Lives & UMN Extension, IRRRB, and the Entrepreneur Fund.
Congratulations to the Top 3!
Of the original 17, seven finalists were invited to present on Friday, February 19th at a virtual event. We welcomed the general public to vote for their Top 3. They are Wild Rice Processing Facility (Finland, MN), Community Cold Storage (Cook County), and Love's Hemp House (Gheen, MN). Congratulations! Each will receive a portion of $10k to support their projects donated by the Healthy Food Healthy Lives Institute (HFHL).
Runner Ups!
The Runner Ups are Farm Lande Community Kitchen (Duluth, MN), Food Access Land Trust (NE MN), Institutional Supported Agriculture (Embarrass, MN), and Farmers Market Hub Expansion (Grand Rapids, MN).
Honorable Mentions!
This initiative also received proposals for an amazing array of local food and farm projects to serve the Northland. Tool Sharing Co-op, Anything Grown Promotion Project, Biochar Kitty Litter Product and Marketing Research, Armory Community Kitchen, Lift Bridge Bagels, Cook Home Repair and Pumpkin Patch, Wolf Ridge Production, Minogitoon Collective Open Food Network , CoolBot Walk-In Cooler, Root Cellar and an Aeroponic CSA.
Future Opportunities for NFN Project Participants
All 17 projects are very inspiring to show the opportunity and the ambition that we have in the Northland to support healthier lifestyles and connected community food and farm systems. Each project and their teams are being followed up with by the Entrepreneur Fund for a technical assistance business advising services. Best wishes to all on the next steps of their journeys! We can’t wait for all these projects to launch!
Stay Connected:
Monthly Northland Food Network Calls, 2nd Wednesday at the month from 4pm-5pm. Zoom Link and more info on our Facebook Page.
Northland Food Network Newsletter Sign-Up (sent out monthly).
Sincerely from your NFN Local Food and Farm Initiative partners,
David Abazs dwabazs@umn.edu
Joel Bransky bran1351@umn.edu
Dani Pieratos dani.pieratos@aeoa.org
