EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University will host its 100th Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) Week March 7-14.

Presented by MSU, its College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR), extension and AgBioResearch, ANR offers a variety of meetings, workshops and conferences in areas such as agriculture, horticulture, natural resources, food preparation and safety and animal-related topics.

According to Mariah Montenegro, a media relations coordinator with ANR communications, new offerings this year include several health and nutrition workshops aimed at connecting with consumers.

Extension will host an “8-hour ServSafe” training session, designed for anyone working in the foodservice industry, including nonprofit organizations. The cost for this national certification program is $70, and topics include providing safe food, forms of contamination, safe food handling, flow of food, food safety management systems and safe facilities, cleaning and sanitizing.

The class is March 9 from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center on MSU’s East Lansing campus.

Participants can learn “How to Start a Successful Cottage Food Business in Michigan” on March 11, from 1-3 p.m. The cost is $20. “This workshop combines the business and food safety aspects of preparing and selling cottage foods, and teaches people what products they can make at home to sell,” Montenegro said. “Participants will learn what’s legal and what’s not.”

Learning how to safely preserve foods at home is the focus of “Introduction to Food Preservation,” March 12 from 10-11:30 a.m. Discussion will include various equipment and methods to process fruits and vegetables safety using research-based resources. Content is intended for both new and experienced food preservers.

“Cooking for Crowds” is an educational program for nonprofit groups that prepare food for their members or the public as fundraisers. The program is designed to show groups the food safety risks that can develop when cooking larger volumes of food and teach them how to reduce those risks. The cost is $10, and participants will receive a manual and a food safety participation certificate of completion.

Educating youth about natural resources through fishing is the focus of “Project FISH Instructor Training.” This workshop is based on the Project FISH (Friends Involved in Sportfishing Heritage) philosophy of hands-on, multiple-contact sport fishing and aquatic resource education.

The event offers activities in aquatic ecology, tackle crafting, people and fish management and angling. Participants will leave with curriculum activities, equipment, a fishing rod and reel and access to supplies and resources to begin a successful fishing program or club for children.

For those interested in animal production on a small scale, “Sheep and Goats for Small Farms” is March 14 from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at Anthony Hall on MSU’s East Lansing campus. Topics covered will include setting goals for sheep and goat production, feeding them in a small farm setting, establishing and maintaining high health status and farm management.

Montenegro said in total, more than 50 programs as well as annual association meetings are planned during ANR Week. A variety of other events include: the Quiet Water Symposium, the Michigan Wildflower Conference, the Michigan Farmers Market Conference, Pullorum Certification Workshop, Shoreline and Shallows Conference, Michigan Equine Industry meeting, Horse Expo, the 87th Michigan FFA Convention, Michigan’s Invasive Plant Collaborative Exchange, Michigan State Rabbit Breeders Assoc. Annual Convention and Show;

The Great Lakes Conference, the Interagency Migrant Services Committee Annual Meeting, the Great Lakes Forage and Grazing Conference, Organic Farming Intensives Initiative classes, Organic Reporting Session, Better Process Control School, the Michigan Herb Associates Annual Conference – and even more.

ANR Week has a long history as one of the largest events of its kind in the nation. Foundations for the week were laid by the Farmers’ Institute more than a century ago. In 1898, Michigan Agricultural College hosted the first statewide Farmers’ Institute “Roundup.”

Five years later the roundup was combined with farm association meetings to become the first “Farmer’s Week.” In 1982, Farmers’ Week became Farmers’ Week and Natural Resources Days, followed by another name change in 1985 to Agriculture and Natural Resources Week.

Visit www.anrweek.canr.msu.edu or contact program coordinator Jennifer Labun at 517-884-7351 or events@anr. msu.edu for more information.