(INDIANAPOLIS) — Indiana Grown Tuesday celebrated their upcoming five year anniversary in the historic Statehouse with program members, partners, and legislators. During the celebration the Indiana Grown team highlighted their major accomplishments and outlined key priorities for the year ahead.
“Having the Indiana Grown logo on a member’s product or storefront door seems to be a badge of honor,” said Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch, Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development. “As I travel across our state, some of my favorite visits are to our Indiana Grown partners. They have such a passion for their work that is visible the moment you step in the door or onto the farm. Today’s event was an incredible opportunity to showcase their work and celebrate where they are headed.”
Attendees gathered to hear from Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch, who has been a longstanding supporter of Indiana Grown, along with ISDA Director Bruce Kettler and Indiana Grown Director Heather Tallman.
“The Indiana Grown program is expanding daily and I commend the work done by our staff over these last five years to get this program to where it is today,” said Bruce Kettler, Indiana State Department of Agriculture Director. “Today’s event was a great opportunity for members to share their experiences with legislators, and I hope they both gained a greater knowledge of this outstanding program.”
The program has added hundreds of farmers, growers, makers, and producers to their member directory and has successfully partnered with retail stores like Kroger, Needlers, and Target to promote local foods. In July of 2017, Indiana Grown officials hosted the first annual Monumental Marketplace, which is a one-of-a-kind market held on Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis.
Indiana Grown established Indiana Grown for Schools in conjunction with the Indiana State Department of Health and Purdue Extension. This program supports farm to school activities and provides a network of growers to school food service directors. Indiana Grown officials continue to seek out new partnership opportunities and recently collaborated with Eskenazi Health to expand their local food offerings to patients and the public.
Recently, they received a grant to study the economic impact of buying local foods or products and to determine consumer and producer awareness. In 2020 Indiana Grown will open the nation’s first agriculture/airport partnership at the Indianapolis International Airport: Farmers’ Market featuring Indiana Grown.
“The hard work from our team and the resulting partnerships we have made over the years have propelled this program forward faster than we could have imagined,” said Heather Tallman Program Director. “We look forward to what 2020 brings to the table for Indiana Grown and our members.”
Visit www.IndianaGrown.org to learn more about the program.
