New partnership delivers MSU experience to Muskegon ag accelerator

MUSKEGON — A new partnership is bringing Michigan Point out University’s assets and abilities in food processing to organizations and business owners throughout West Michigan.

The West Michigan Meals Processing Association (WMFPA) has tapped the MSU Solution Centre to manage its Food, Agriculture, Research and Production (FARM) food processing accelerator, an 8,000-sq.-foot facility located adjacent to Muskegon Community College or university. FARM, which opened in March, offers both of those manufacturing and education space for stage-two foods processing enterprises that have outgrown household kitchens.

The facility is at this time house to kombucha brewer Lively Up Kombucha LLC and Kaja’s Flavor Packs LLC, a company that generates seasonings.

The MSU Product Center will bring its demonstrated design and resources that it offers at its on-campus facility.

Marty Gerencer, govt director of WMFPA, advised MiBiz that her group connected with MSU even just before development began on the facility to manage the partnership.

MSU’s presence at FARM will make its products and services for meals firms and business owners even far more available.

“While any business could access out to MSU at any time, to have them so close at hand and readily accessible at FARM just would make it significantly much easier,” she explained. “Some of the small providers definitely did not know the assets that had been obtainable to them, and now they know. They have all those sources and a complete-time manager there every single day.”

Clarence Rudat, a former application coordinator at MSU’s Institute of Agricultural Know-how in Muskegon, will provide as the MSU FARM manager, bringing with him extra than 30 a long time of knowledge in food stuff, agriculture and organic methods.

“With more than $22.3 billion invested in food items and agriculture start-ups in 2020, the synergy this partnership brings to the area could not be a lot more timely,” Rudat explained in a assertion. “With Michigan getting the next most agriculturally various point out in the country, farmers are searching to include value to their products and solutions, and creative food items business owners are hunting to examination and scale up modern concepts.”