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Michigan Farm Bureau works to unify against hunger

State and federal efforts to alleviate food insecurity were the focus of a recent roundtable at Michigan State University.

Michigan Farm Bureau CEO Scott Piggott tells Brownfield food insecurity in rural communities has grown to nearly one in four children in the state.

“We want strong schools, we want great rural communities and we’ve learned that rural communities are definitely not immune to food insecurity,” he says.

Piggott also sits on the Food Bank Council of Michigan’s board of directors representing farmers.  He joined Senate Ag Committee Chairwomen Debbie Stabenow and other food bank leaders last week to discuss priorities for the next farm bill.

“It’s such an important safety net, not just for the agricultural community but for food insecurity across the country,” he explains.

Piggott says there needs to be more focus to get food produced in Michigan to food banks and new state funding should help.

“The state of Michigan helps the food banks to purchase Michigan-based food products, and they’ve upped that this year from $2 million to $12 million so there’s some great opportunities for the food banks to be able to offer forms of compensation to those farmers who don’t have to just donate,” he says.

Representatives from the Food Bank Council of Michigan Food Bank Council of Michigan, Food Gatherers, Gleaners Community Food Bank, and Forgotten Harvest were also part of the roundtable.

Michigan Farm Bureau family of companies, which includes its insurance arm, has moved to a for-purpose business model focused on solving food insecurity.