<b>By KEVIN WALKER<br>
Michigan Correspondent</b> </p><p>

LANSING, Mich. — Last week, state officials announced they had found a way to save taxpayers some money and help Michigan producers get more business at the same time.<br>
As part of the state’s “Buy Michigan First” directive, the state’s agriculture department announced the Michigan Dept. of Corrections (MDOC) has contracted with a local grower to supply the state’s prisons with potatoes. The effort is expected to save the corrections system $248,000 over the next four years.<br>
“Buy Michigan First” is designed to give Michigan-based businesses contract preference in supplying goods and services to state agencies.<br>
“We are extremely glad to be a partner in this effort,” said Patricia Caruso, the MDOC director. “We prepare over 150,000 prisoner meals daily, which is no small potatoes. Buying Michigan-grown potatoes and other produce enables us to receive fresh, high-quality products, helps Michigan farmers and contributes to the state’s economic prosperity.”<br>
Hanson Farms, located in the Upper Peninsula not far from the Newberry Correctional Facility, was awarded the contract. “This is an all-Michigan program,” said Scott Hanson, son of the farm’s owner, Dennis Hanson. “There’s not going to be potatoes from other states or other countries. All this money is staying in the state.”<br>
Scott, who works with his father on their 900-acre farm growing hay, oats, grain and potatoes, described the program as modest right now, but with the potential to get bigger. He said over the past year, in a trial period with the state, they shipped approximately 25 truckloads of potatoes to the Newberry prison. There, the potatoes are bagged by inmates. He said there is the potential to ship as many as 100 truckloads of potatoes, which would represent 150-200 acres of the crop.<br>
The Michigan Potato Industry Commis-sion (MPIC) donated commercial packing equipment to the Newberry prison to help in moving the project forward. Once the potatoes are bagged, they are shipped to other prisons throughout the state.<br>
“I think this program has the potential to show that direct shipments to large institutions can be economical,” said Ben Kudwa, executive director of MPIC. “We have to learn how to manage large feedings programs as efficiently as we can.”
Kudwa thinks there is the potential to expand the “Buy Michigan First” program into other commodities.<br>
“I think corrections would like to expand it,” he said. “Onions are a possibility. Carrots are a possibility. Potatoes are a perfect fit. Apples, on the fruit side, I’m sure would be a good fit.”<br>
Russ Marlan, a spokesman for MDOC, said that potatoes were the perfect place to start such a project, since the department uses so many.<br>
“We prepare 150,000 meals a day. We feed each prisoner on $2.50 a day,” Marlan said. “We spend $875,000 a week to feed our prisoners. We realized a $15,500 savings in the first quarter of this year. Any slight savings that we can see, we would like to explore.”<br>
Marlan said with the exception of the potato program, each prison buys its own food the way it chooses, which may not be the most efficient way of doing things. He said there’s been talk in the state legislature to privatize the state’s food service, which Marlan believes may not be the way to go.<br>
“If they did that, how many millions of dollars would farmers lose?” he asked.