Monday, September 28, 2015

Michigan Food Innovation District - - Janny MT Presentation - - Lansing Civic Events - - September 28, 2015 - - by Chuck Krafft



Michigan Food Innovation District

Janny MT Presentation

September 28, 2015

T.A. Forsberg, Inc. has been working in conjunction with Michigan State University, Lansing Economic Area Partnership, the Lansing and Mason Chambers of Commerce as well as Alaiedon Township and Meridian Township to set up a Food Innovation District.  The Food Innovation District is working to help build a food, agricultural, economic and marketing center to help promote Michigan Food Products in the Lansing Area.

The Food Innovation District is located in Alaiedon Township, just North of I-96 between Hulett and Hagadorn Roads.

Today, T.A. Forsberg, Inc. held a reception to welcome Janny MTUS to the area.  This is family-owned French Company that is introducing the Janny MT fresh food storage bin to growers in Michigan. Benoit Janny came from France to introduce the bins to the audience of people from the organizations listed above as well as several local growers and food processing companies.

These fresh produce storage bins are designed to create a flexible controlled atmosphere that extends the shelf life of harvested fruits, vegetables and cut flowers. By controlling the temperature, humidity and levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the air-tight bins, they are able to slow the aging of the products inside of them.  While they require a cold storage atmosphere, because you simply place the bins in existing cold storage units, there is no additional energy used to store the products.

This provides a huge benefit to local farmers as they can sell their fresh produce over a much longer shelf-life before they begin to deteriorate.  Thus, farmers face far less pressure to offer price discounts on their produce before it becomes overly ripe and less salable.  This results in enhanced revenue for the farmer as well more healthy fruits and vegetables being consumed before they spoil.

Dr. David Spencer and Brent Forsberg told some of the history of the MI Food Innovation District in Okemos and its cooperation with Michigan State University.  They stressed how the Food Innovation District is a prime location with a lot of farming activity in the area and great access to expressways for shipping products. 

Janny MT has assigned Lea Deberry, a post-graduate intern with a background in sciences and agriengineering, to work on the project for seventeen months while they develop a market for their bins and begin to sell them in Michigan.

All this will hopefully help the T.A. Forsberg, Inc. and the MI Food Innovation District to bring investment and employment to the Lansing Area!

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