St. Joseph County Agriculture: Past, Present and Future

Michigan’s agricultural economy is extremely diverse, ranking second in the nation in terms of agricultural product diversity, and proving Michigan’s capacity for agricultural production. So too is the variety of agricultural products raised and produced in St. Joseph County. The uniqueness of our location along with our very important access to abundant ground and surface water, unique soil types, and moderate summer temperatures, makes agricultural production especially important in this region. Nearly 70% of the county's land area  is dedicated to agricultural use with 907 farms producing over $94 million worth of agricultural products yearly. Part of the strength of the agricultural economy in St. Joseph County is due to our capacity for irrigation. In fact, St. Joseph County has more irrigated land than any other county east of the Mississippi River. Specialty crops such as seed corn, snap beans, potatoes, and pickles would not be part of this agricultural community if not for our location and access to abundant groundwater. For instance, the seed corn industry, one of St. Joseph County’s strongest, produces two million bags of seed corn a year, valued at more than $192 million and used to plant more than six million acres of commercial corn. These are interesting and impressive figures about the agricultural community in your very own St. Joseph County. You can learn more about St. Joseph County agriculture by reading the entire document:

St. Joseph County Agriculture: Past, Present and Future

For the best local information check with your local MSU Extension office, listed by county in the directory.

Land Use Area of Expertise Team pagesPromoting positive land use through public education, capacity building and applied leadership development.

Citizen Planner

Urban Collaborators

The Michigan Prosperity Initiative (MPI) is an innovative effort by Michigan State University, in partnership with the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, the Michigan Association of Regions, the Michigan Municipal League, the Michigan Townships Association, the Michigan Association of Planning and Michigan State University Extension to help return economic prosperity to the state. The MSU Land Policy Institute (LPI) is leading this effort.

The MPI will provide the state of Michigan and its citizens with strategies based on MSU and other university and think-tank research that have the potential to return the state to a place among the most prosperous places in the world. From mid-April to mid-June, 100 training programs will be offered across the state by LPI and MSUE educators in over 50 locations. Three separate training programs are being offered:

• New Economy 101 will describe how Michigan's present economic circumstances developed, and emphasize that because Michigan has many assets there is good reason to be hopeful about our economic future.
• New Economy 201 will focus on a simple common vision and basic goals for prosperity; it will describe in detail Michigan's critical assets and then identify place-based strategies to help us create new prosperity on a regional basis.
• New Economy 301 will address detailed economic analyses that can be performed to help inform regional strategic growth plans and the key strategies necessary to implement those plans.

The first program is intended for all audiences. The second and third programs are intended for stakeholders, economic development professionals and those people that attended the first program and desire more information.For more information visit : www.landpolicy.msu.edu/MPI.