Wisconsin Food Initiatives

1000 Friends of Wisconsin educates the citizens and policy makers of Wisconsin about the benefits of sound land use planning. We advocate for state and local land use policies that protect diverse natural communities, promote the preservation of productive farmland and livable communities, and provide for the kinds of development and growth that most efficiently use taxpayers' investments.

Purchasing of development rights for agricultural land near cities.

16 North Carroll Street, Suite 810

The Aldo Leopold Foundation, founded by the children of Aldo Leopold, keeps his legacy alive by promoting the 'Land Ethic' he so eloquently defined. The Foundation actively integrates programs in land stewardship, environmental education, and ecological research to promote care of natural resources and foster an ethical relationship between people and land.

Through The Blufflands Project, a cooperative initiative with The Prairie Enthusiasts, the Foundation provides technical assistance and manpower to landowners wishing to protect prairie and savanna remnants in portions of Sauk, Columbia, Iowa, and Dane counties.

Rob Nelson

PO Box 77

Blue Planet Partners is a non-profit corporation established to apply and advance an interdisciplinary regional design process to the I90 corridor between Madison and Chicago that will be a model for regions across the United States and around the world to optimize their cultural, economic and environmental resources. 

They have been involved in the Madison Public Market as well as looking at building a local food system.

120 East Lakeside Street

The Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems (CIAS) is a sustainable agriculture research center at the University of Wisconsin's College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. CIAS brings together farmers, researchers, policy makers, and others to study farming practices, farm profitability, the environment, and rural vitality. Their vision is of sustainable agricultural and food systems that contribute to the well-being of families, workers, consumers, and their communities.

CIAS was created in 1989 to build UW sustainable agriculture research programs that respond to farmer and citizen needs...and involve them in setting research agendas. This means that human relationships are at the core of everything they do. A Citizens Advisory Coucil helps to build meaningful citizen involvement into their programs. A Faculty Associates group helps to develop relationships with faculty members representing a broad range of academic disciplines. CIAS staff members work with these partners to create flexible, multidisciplinary research in emerging areas including: crop and livestock production, farm business, food processing, food systems, land management, and marketing.

- Pasture-Based Farming: Research on the status of managed grazing in Wisconsin and important questions raised by graziers.
- Participatory Research and Plant Breeding for Sustainable Production Systems: This project is addressing current limitations in seed production and is beginning a participatory breeding project for sustainable and organic production systems.
- Profit by Planning: Gathering information on the economics of fresh market vegetable production, direct marketing, and quality of life on vegetable farms.
- Renewing an Agriculture of the Middle: A national initiative to renew disappearing mid-scale farms, ranches, and related agrifood enterprises.
- Community Supported Agriculture: Research on CSA farm management, including economics, scale, and member involvement and education.
- Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems Trial: Systems research measuring the profitability, productivity and environmental impacts of six cropping systems.
- Pesticide Use and Risk Reduction/Eco-Apple Project: Addressing the impacts of the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) on Wisconsin commodities and producers, including methods for sustainable apple production.
- Organic Research Initiative: Increasing the number of research and outreach projects at UW that benefit organic farmers.
- Training and Research for Beginning Farmers: Training programs for beginning dairy farmers and market growers, and research on farm entry.
- Value-Added Enterprise Budgets: User-friendly software packages for farmers to evaluate the economics of their value-added enterprises.
- Wisconsin Homegrown Lunch: A farm-to-school program bringing local food and farmers into Madison's public schools.
- Sustainable Agriculture Curriculum: A free curriculum that addresses the social, environmental and economic impacts of agriculture.
- Specialty Cheese in Wisconsin: A baseline study of Wisconsin’s specialty cheese industry, including characteristics of profitable, competitive businesses.
- Farm Fresh Atlas: A guide to farms and food-related businesses that sell their products directly to customers in southern Wisconsin.
- Sustaining Local Food Systems in a Globalizing Environment: Wisconsin's work on this national project has focused on specialty cheese, pastured poultry, and the sourcing of locally grown food by public schools.
- Home Grown Wisconsin: CIAS has tracked the development of this local marketing cooperative based in southern Wisconsin.
- Value-Added Survey: The first comprehensive portrait of value-added agriculture in Wisconsin.
- Sustainable Woods Cooperative Case Study: A profile of a woodland owners’ cooperative that closed its operations.
- F.H. King Student Organic Garden: Support for a student-operated garden on the UW-Madison campus.
- Troy Gardens: Participatory research on a community owned and managed urban agriculture project on Madison's north side.

Centerfor Integrated Agricultural Systems
University of Wisconsin-Madison
College of Agricultural and Life Sciences
1535 Observatory Drive

Common Wealth Development is continuing to build and sustain a vibrant, diverse, engaged, inclusive and safe community.
 
Goals:
- to provide job training, placement, financial education and mentoring for low-income teens;
- to promote the creation of new living wage jobs for low-to-moderate income people while improving the local business climate;
- to create affordable housing for people with limited incomes;
- to preserve and improve older housing stock while preserving the community’s socio-economic diversity;
- and to involve the people living and working in our neighborhoods in community-building activities. 

Partnering with Blue Planet Partners on the Madison Public Market project.

1501 Williamson Street

CAC's mission is to develop economic and social capacities of individuals, families and communities to reduce poverty in Dane, Jefferson and Waukesha Counties. CAC has seven divisions: Citizen Advocacy, Family Support, Financial Services, Food and Gardens, Volunteer Services, Jefferson County, and Waukesha County.

The CAC Community Gardens Program provides support services to develop and enhance locally designed and managed community gardens and related food growing enterprises that substantially benefit and include low and moderate income households and groups in order to strengthen the overall community fabric and to increase individual and local food security.

Each year the Food Security Division distributes approximately 2.5 million pounds of perishable and non-perishable food to people in our communities. CAC does this by coordinating the Dane County Food Pantry Network, distributing TEFAP commodities, recovering food through the CAC Gleaners, and campaigns such as Plant a Row for the Hungry and Food Share Day.

1717 North Stoughton Road

The Community Food and Garden Network (CFGN) is a network of people in the Madison area using food as a way to build a stronger sense of community and working to make gardening available to everyone- including youth, seniors, and people with special needs. Our purpose is simple - to connect people through gardening. Subscribe to the listserv by sending an email to <communityfoodandgardennetwork-subscribe@yahoogroups.com>.

CFGN c/o Community Gardens Division
Community Action Coalition for South Central Wisconsin, Inc.
1717 North Stoughton Road

The Cornucopia Institute is dedicated to the fight for economic justice for the family-scale farming community. Through research, advocacy, and economic development our goal is to empower farmers both politically and through marketplace initiatives.

The Organic Integrity Project acts as a corporate watchdog assuring that no compromises to the credibility of organic farming methods and the food it produces are made in the pursuit of profit. We will actively resist regulatory rollbacks and the weakening of organic standards to protect and maintain consumer confidence in the organic food label.
Right now they are challenging the USDA organic standards that doesn't require grazing standards for the organic labels.  They are also putting out a report rating organic producers.

Will Fantle

P.O. Box 126

Membership is open to everyone, including home cooks, food writers, chefs, nutritionists, collectors, scholars, and students. CHEW programs include monthly presentations by speakers with discussion and frequent food samplings and/or cooking demonstrations. Past topics include history of the birthday cake, the origins of Door County fish boils, the saga of corn, Native American fish foodways, food pyramid debates, and traditional Serbian cookery.

The Dane County Buy Local Initiative is a coalition of local independent businesses, social impact groups and citizens working together to support a healthy community economy.  We seek to mobilize resources in Madison and the surrounding area, engage the total community in the process of economic renewal, and inspire each other to take action.

Ten percent pledge.  Have consumers pledge to purchase 10 percent of their goods from local businesses.

The Dane County Farmers' Market, Inc. is an organization founded to pursue the following goals:
To give growers and producers of Wisconsin agricultural commodities and other farm-related products alternative marketing opportunities.
To promote the sale of Wisconsin-grown farm products.
To improve the variety, freshness, taste and nutritional value of produce available in the Madison area.
To provide an opportunity for farmers and people from urban communities to deal directly with each other rather than through third parties, and to thereby get to know and learn from one another.
To provide an educational forum for consumers to learn the uses and benefits of quality, locally grown or prepared food products.
To provide educational opportunities for producers to test and refine their products and marketing skills.
To enhance the quality of life in the Greater Madison area by providing a community activity which fosters social gathering and interaction.
To preserve Wisconsin's unique agricultural heritage and the historical role which farmers' markets have played in it.

PO Box 1485

A member-driven farm organization committed to enhancing the quality of life for family farmers, rural communities and all citizens through educational opportunties, cooperative endeavors and civic engagement. The farmers and other concerned citizens who comprise WFU's membership believe that the values of rural Wisconsin must be preserved and nurtured, and that owner-operated farms are the most efficient and sustainable food production system.

The Dane County Food Council explores issues and develops recommendations to create an economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable local food system for the Dane County region.

On October 6th, 2005, Dane County adopted Resolution 90, 2005-06 which created a Food Council to do the following: (1) Support the development of infrastructure and marketing opportunities for local foods. (2) Initiate local purchasing in county food service facilities. (3) Support development of a Central Agriculture and Food Facility (CAFF) and Public Market. (4) Establish a countywide network of farmers markets. (5) Support "Entrepreneurial Agriculture" and innovative farmland preservation initiatives. (6) Promote the use of local foods to improve health and nutrition.

This council was created on recommendation of the Local Food Policy Advisory Subcommittee in their "Recipe for Success" Report, which is available online.

Council members:
Martin Bailkey
Jerry Bradley
Gerald Campbell
Judy Hageman
Jerry Kaufman
Robert Pierce 
Ken Ruegsegger
Dale Secher
Richard A. Slone
Ruth Simpson
Lisa M. Wiese
Jane Voichick

210 Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard- Room 362

With an office in each Wisconsin county, Cooperative Extension develops practical educational programs tailored to local needs and based on university knowledge and research. County-based Extension educators are University of Wisconsin faculty and staff who are experts in agriculture and agribusiness, community and economic development, natural resources, family living and youth development.

In Dane County UW-Extension Faculty and Staff provide education programs and support to:

The Dane County Ag Enterprise Grants program for 2006 has two categories for funding: 1) $1000 to develop a business plan and 2) full proposals to start a business enterprise. Applications are due September 15, 2006.

The Master Gardener Program provides educational programs in horticulture to adults who, in turn, volunteer to help with projects that benefit their local community or County Extension office. There are  General Training Sessions and a Specialized Training Sessions for more advanced gardeners.  There are expanding hands on education programs that are delivered to underserved youth through a joint effort by the nutrition educators and horticulture educator related to food production and proper preparation.  

WNEP- Wisconsin Nutrition Education Program helps low income elderly, families and youth learn about nutrition and resource management through research-based education programs; collaborates with community, state and federal organizations in the design and implementation of nutrition and resource management education programs; and trains local leaders, volunteers and agency staff in developing community nutrition and resource management education programs.

The Family Living program is promoting healthy, well-nourished families as they learn to manage food dollars, plan nutritious meals, and purchase, prepare, and serve food that is safe to eat. The education program also addresses home food preservation.  Other education programs address the basics of earning, spending, saving, investing, health care, and housing issues through the Dane County Extension Financial Education Center located at the Villager Mall on Park Street..

Youth are involved in food and farming through the Junior Master Gardeners program and 4-H, a community of young people across America who are learning leadership, citizenship and life skills.

The Dane County Hunger Prevention Council was initially created as the result of Extension efforts.  Key staff members of Extension provide ongoing educational input and resources within the Council. 

1 Fen Oak Court, Room 138

Tuesday, from 4-7 p.m. May to October at the site of the new Madison Central Park, 201 S. Ingersoll St., Madison

F.H. King Students of Sustainable Agriculture is a group of committed individuals at the University of Wisconsin - Madison gathered for the purpose of learning, debating, educating and acting on the ideas of sustainable agriculture, economies and society. We convene in the spirit of F. H. King, an agricultural physics professor here at UW-Madison and founder of the Department of Farm engineering (Agricultural Engineering) in 1904, and The Department of Soil Science in 1905.

Organic Garden Demonstration Project

Michael Bell

c/o CIAS, 1450 Linden Drive

The mission of FFD is to create a farmer-controlled and consumer-oriented food system based upon  democratic institutions that respect and empower local people in their quest for justice and dignity.  To this end, FFD supports sustainable agriculture, farm worker rights, animal welfare, consumer safety, fair trade, and food sovereignty.  It is FFD's belief that healthy, safe, accessible food is a basic human right and that all communities should be able to control their own food system.

FFD is national grassroots organization founded in Wisconsin with now with members in all 50 states, plus Canada and Mexico, as well as several state chapters and affiliates in OH, PA, and NY.  FFD is also an active  member of larger groups such as the WI Network for Peace and Justice (WNPJ), Churches' Center for Land and People (CCLP), Rural Coalition, National Family Farmer Coalition (NFFC), Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC), and Via Campesina.

Current FFD campaigns include:

Fighting for Better Milk:  In 2002 FFD launched a national campaign against the illegal use of imported MPC in human food, including a boycott of Kraft Singles and other adulterated products.  This campaign has expanded to include other corporate attempts to downgrade dairy food standards and criminalize raw milk consumption.

Supporting Food Safety:  FFD educates and activates the public against expanded use of dangerous industrial agribusiness technologies like advanced meat recovery (AMR), cannibalistic livestock feeding practices, food irradiation, synthetic hormones, sub-therapeutic antibiotics, and genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Challenging Factory Farms:  FFD helps communities resist largescale livestock confinement operations that pose an unprecedented threat to clean water, air quality, animal welfare, worker rights, and public safety.  FFD works hard to promote more democratic, viable and sustainable rural development alternatives.

Overhauling Federal Food Policies: FFD supports the National Family Farm Coalition's (NFFC) -Food From Family Farms Act and is actively involved in efforts to transform the Farm Bill and reverse U.S. free trade policies that hurt both farmers and consumers at home and abroad.

Reclaiming Agri-Culture:  FFD works closely with others to get healthy local food into public schools; create food policy councils; expand farmers' markets, community supported agriculture (CSA), and community gardens; as well as bringing closer together the organic farming, fair trade, buy local and slow food movements. 

Promoting Domestic Fair Trade:  In 1996 FFD launched the nation's first domestic fair trade initiative involving direct marketing of rBGH free, organic, and grass-fed family farmer cheeses produced at Cedar Grove in Plain, WI.  In 2006 FFD also collaborated with WNPJ to publish Wisconsin's first local food fair trade directory.

Defending Food Sovereignty:  FFD is working with Via Campesina to popularize the global principle of food
sovereignty in the U.S. and defend the right of local people to democratically determine the seeds they plant, how animals are raised, the types of agriculture done in a community, and - ultimately - what they eat.

John Kinsman, President
Paul Rozwadowski, Secretary
Francis Goodman, Treasurer
Ruth Simpson, Executive Board member
Lori Matthews, Fair Trade Project Coordinator

Mailing: P.O. Box 1772
Office: 1019 Williamson St. #B, Madison, WI  53703

May through October, Thursdays, 3pm to 6pm
Location: Left at Intersection of Fish Hatchery Rd. and E. Cheryl Pkwy., Fitchburg (under Agora Pavilion), RAIN or SHINE

The Friends of the Dane County Farmers’ Market, Inc is designed to support the charitable and educational activities of the Dane County Farmers’ Market. 

Projects they are working on:  Farm Fresh Atlas, School on the Square and Meet the Farmer, Plant a Seedling, Kids make Edible Jewelry, plus other food tastings.

P.O. Box 1584

The Friends of Troy Gardens is a non-profit organization responsible for the development and stewardship of 26 acres of open space known as Troy Gardens on Madison's north side. The land includes community gardens, youth and demonstration gardens, a CSA farm, woodland and prairie restoration, wheel chair accessible garden beds, an edible landscape, and nature trails. On five additional acres adjacent to open space area, the Madison Area Community Land Trust will be building 30 units of affordable cohousing.

Friends of Troy Gardens sponsors youth gardening programs, a high school horticulture job training program, gardening and farming workshops, a natural areas restoration stewards program, college internships, volunteer activities, and neighborhood-based social activities on the land.

3601 Memorial Drive, Building 14, Room 171

The Nelson Institute is an interdisciplinary unit of UW-Madison where professors, students, and other professionals with wide-ranging backgrounds converge to address environmental problems. The heart of the institute is its faculty: roughly 150 professors representing more than 50 academic disciplines. The soul of the institute is its students, who come from throughout the country and around the world. The Nelson Institute administers a variety of interdisciplinary academic, research, and outreach programs focused on the environment. Students have the opportunity to pursue issues in food and sustainable agriculture through the Land Resources or Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development degree programs.

University of Wisconsin- Madison
5 Science Hall
550 North Park Street

Growing Power is a nation-wide not-for-profit organization and land trust supporting people from diverse backgrounds and the natural environments they live in through the development of community food systems. These systems provide high-quality, healthy, affordable food for all people living in the community.

Urban agriculture

The Market Basket Program is a CSA-style food distribution program designed to connect urban consumers with small-scale, regionally local food systems.  The program consists of weekly deliveries of boxes of produce from our Rainbow Farmer’s Cooperative to neighborhoods throughout urban Chicago and Milwaukee. This program is a year-round food security program that supplies safe, healthy, and affordable whole foods, vegetables, and fruits to communities at a low cost. Because the program is run on a weekly basis, each customer may engage week to week at a pace that is right for them. Robert Pierce is working with Growing Power to expand the Market Basket program to Madison. The Dane County Food Council is also working to support this effort.

Community Food Centers are local places where people can learn sustainable practices to grow, process, market and distribute food.  Growing Power's Milwaukee-based Community Food Center has been established for several years and features a wide variety of active demonstrations, including aquaculture, vermiculture, large-scale composting, etc.  Growing Power provides hands-on training or guided, educational tours at the Milwaukee-based Community Food Center.   The training that occurs at the Milwaukee center provides the seed for Growing Power's collaborative projects.

Jerry Kaufman
Robert Pierce

5500 West Silver Spring Drive

May 7th through October, Wednesdays and Saturdays, 7am to 2pm. Location: Hilldale Shopping Center parking lot next to Segoe Rd. Check the website for updated information about the Winter Market.

These farms share common philosophies about farming and eating as well as an order and delivery system that gets food from the farm to your table in less than a day.  Organic and sustainable agricultural practices result in the most delicious and healthy produce one can eat, while actually fortifying the soil in which it is grown rather than depleting and polluting it.

Lesley Wolf
Amanda Raster

PO Box 6171

The mission of the Hunger Prevention Council of Dane County is to coordinate and improve efforts to prevent hunger and promote food security throughout Dane County through information sharing, research, public education and advocacy.

Pat Ludeman

PO Box 46006

In the Spring of 2004, Madison, WI passed a law allowing single-family homes the right to raise poultry in the back yard. Previous to this law, poultry was allowed inside the home, but not outside. Coops were not permitted, nor was raising poultry inside the garage. Today it is legal to have 4 hens (no roosters) in a coop, no closer than 25' from the nearest neighbors living quarters. Butchering within the city limits is still not allowed.

Mad City Chickens started out as a group of like-minded, pro-poultry people (also known as the "poultry underground"). Our aim is to educate the urban population on the benefits of raising ones own food, and to bring to light the misconceptions people might have about the raising of poultry in an urban setting. Mad City Chickens is available to answer questions and concerns regarding all aspects of poultry rearing. We have the wonderful support of our local UW Extension Poultry Specialist and the staff of the UW Poultry Science Dept. They are a wealth of information, and willing to share it.

Mad City Chickens offers an introductory class for those who are interested in raising birds in their own backyard. A class for those who would like an in-depth look at Poultry Coop Design and Construction, is in the works.

The Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Coalition works to create a sustainable, just, and locally based food system in Southern Wisconsin by promoting and supporting CSA farms, coordinating community and farmer education programs about the benefits of locally, sustainably grown foods, and operating the Partner Shares Program which raises funds to subsidize CSA memberships for households on a limited income.

Our recently updated food book, "From Asparagus to Zucchini: A Guide to Farm-Fresh, Seasonal Produce, " is an indispensable tool for all fresh produce lovers. The coalition also makes CSA shares affordable for low-income households through the Partner Shares Program.

PO Box 7814

Madison Environmental Group is an interdisciplinary consulting firm assisting businesses and individuals with innovative resource and cost saving solutions which contribute to a healthy community and environment.

To successfully "Build Green" involves thoughtful, integrated decision-making from project concept to building occupancy. Helping people "Live Green" is the next step. It’s the actions of those who occupy and manage buildings and homes, and who travel to and from them, that will make a lasting difference in preserving our natural and community resources.

Build green project consulting services:
- Green Development Consultation
- Construction and Deconstruction Recycling
- Transportation and Parking Demand Management
- Fullcircle Interior Design Service

Live green community programs:
- EnAct: Environmental Action Teams (www.enactwi.org)
- Car-Free Challenge (www.madisonenvironmental.com/projects_carfree2005.htm)
- Community Car (www.communitycar.com)
- Community Outreach and Education

Research and development services:
- Feasibility Studies and Pilot Programs

25 N Pinckney, Suite 310

The Madison Fair Trade Action Alliance (MadFTAA) was formed after the watershed WTO meeting/protest in Seattle by those interested in challenging corporate globalization, free trade, and neoliberalism, and creating locally-oriented fair trade economic models within Madison and the greater Dane County bioregion.

MadFTAA has regular meetings, produces educational materials, hosts speakers and forums, and makes sure that Wisconsin has a voice and presence at various trade events.

John Peck

216 N. Hamilton St.

Perserving the Madison Area's Unique Local Flavor.  Madison Originals is a not-for-profit chapter of The Council of Independent Restaurants of America (CIRA). The purpose of this corporation is to serve as a trade association, as defined in Section 501 (c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code 1986, as amended, to educate and promote the interests of the independent restaurant industry.

Madison Originals Magazine, Coupons, CIRA meeting in Madison in May 2006.

Susan Breitbach
Craing Kuenning
Marcia O'Halloran
Lee Pier
Teresa Pullara
Robert Von Rutenburg
Barbara Wright

P.O. Box 259501

Mid-May through October, Thursdays, 2pm to 6pm. 
Location: 5724 Farwell St., McFarland.

Winter Market, November & December, Most Saturdays, 10am to 3pm.  Location: McFarland Municipal Bldg.

Holiday Market, Dec. 2nd, 10am to 3pm.
Location: McFarland Municipal Bldg., during Christmas in the Village.

Michael Fields’ mission is to cultivate the ecological, social, economic, and spiritual vitality of food and farming systems through education, research, policy and market development. Since 1984, Michael Fields Agricultural Institute has been devoted to developing an agriculture that can sustain the land and its resources.  As a public, non-profit learning center, we seek to revitalize farming with research, education, technical assistance and public policy. 

Milwaukee Public Market, crop production research, farm systems outreach and education, and garden student project.

Margaret Krome

P.O. Box 990

Mid-May through mid-October, Thursdays, 8am to 1pm.
Location: Corner Greenway Blvd. and Deming Way – Middle of New Shopping Center, Middleton.
Contact: Tom Murphy,

Midwest Environmental Advocates (MEA) is the first environmental law center in Wisconsin. MEA is a legal and technical resource center for community groups across Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Upper Michigan, who are working for environmental justice. In addition to legal representation provided directly by MEA, we also operate as a clearinghouse to connect community groups to pro bono and low cost legal services provided by attorneys who have joined MEA's advocacy network.

Developing sample zoning ordinances for townships.

Andrew Hanson

702 East Johnson Street

The Milwaukee Public Market is home to 20 family-owned specialty food vendors, offering an array of fresh fruits, vegetables, cheese, fish meats and poultry. The aroma of hot coffee, soup and ethnic delicacies fill the air. Vibrant flowers, bakes goods, and confections beckon to you. The Palm Garden, a café-style seating area, is upstairs. In addition, the second level is home to a state-of-the-art demonstration kitchen that was dedicated in loving memory to Wisconsin culinary icon Madame Liane Kuony.  There are an interesting selection of monthly cooking classes in Madame’s Kitchen. During the summer months there is also a farmers market outside on Saturday and Sundays from 8am-1pm.

Hours of operation:
Tuesday-Friday 10am-7pm
Saturday & Sunday 8am-5pm

400 N. Water Street

May through mid-October, Saturdays, 8am to 11am.
Location: Watertower Park, Mineral Point.

May through October, Sundays, 9am to 1pm.
Location: Ahuska Park, next to Pier 37 Shopping Center, E. Broadway, Monona.
Special Events during the Market – see the farmers’ market website.

Location and times to be determined - check Mt. Horeb Chamber of Commerce website.

The USDA’s North Central Region (NCR) Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program has awarded more than $30 million worth of competitive grants to farmers and ranchers, researchers, educators, public and private institutions, nonprofit groups, and others exploring sustainable agriculture in 12 states.

NCR-SARE Goals: Foster site-specific, integrated farming systems; satisfy human food and fiber needs; enhance environmental quality, natural resource conservation and the integration of on-farm and biological resources; enhance the quality of rural life and support owner-operated farms; protect human health and safety; and promote crop, livestock and enterprise diversity and the well-being of animals.

*Click on Wisconsin for State resources and organizations.

The NCR funds 50 to 75 cutting-edge projects every year in four grant programs:

Research and Education Grants — Awarded to multi-disciplinary teams of researchers, producers, educators and others exploring sustainable agriculture. NCR Call for Preproposals in April.

Farmer Rancher Grants — Awarded to farmers and ranchers for on-site projects in sustainable agriculture. NCR Call for Proposals in Fall 2005.

Professional Development Program Grants — Awarded for educational programs in sustainable agriculture practices and concepts for Extension, NRCS, and other agricultural professionals. NCR Call for Proposals in February.

Graduate Student Program Grants — Awarded to graduate students studying sustainable agriculture in the North Central Region. NCR Call for Proposals in December.

Other NCR Initiatives

State Strategic Plans — Since 1994, the AC has allocated money to each North Central Region land grant institution to help implement a strategic plan in sustainable agriculture. For example, one of Missouri’s state plans — Sustaining People through Agriculture — sponsored seminars, workshops and trade shows to boost rural communities and farm families.

State Sustainable Agriculture Conferences — The AC designated funds in 1996 to support state or multi-state meetings on sustainable agriculture. Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan pooled funds to hold a conference entitled Profitable Farming in a Changing Environment, which featured speakers, discussion groups, poster sessions, and workshops.

Promoting Diversity — In 1997, the AC awarded four special Diversity Enhancement grants for Native American communities to implement sustainable practices and concepts on reservation lands. This initiative is intended to open doors and forge partnerships with Native American land grant universities. Future NCR-SARE initiatives will encourage participation of minority groups and under-served communities.

13A Activities Building
1734 N. 34th Street
University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Sunday mornings, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Sherman Plaza, corner of North Sherman and Northport Dr. in Madison

Claudia Rosenbaum

Statewide Nutrition and Physical Activity Program addressing the obesity epidemic in Wisconsin.

Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Pilot Program:
Recent Federal legislation authorized funds for a program that offers free fruits and vegetables to students during the school day. Public Law 109-97 provides $6,000,000 to be distributed among six States: Utah, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Texas, Connecticut and Idaho. Within each State, 25 schools will participate. The purpose of the program is to increase fruit (both fresh and dried) and fresh vegetable consumption in elementary and secondary schools. The level of funds provided to any one school depends on the demographics of schools that are selected to participate in the program. DHFS is partnering with DPI and others to facilitate this program.

Got Dirt? Gardening Toolkit:
In an effort to increase fruit and vegetable consumption in Wisconsin, the Nutrition and Physical Activity program developed "Got Dirt?" - a program designed to assist with the implementation of school, community, and child care gardens. Never gardened? The toolkit is designed to provide simple, step-by-step plans for starting a garden. Even better…tips from garden experts and garden success stories from around Wisconsin are also included. To supplement the toolkit, you can attend a Got Dirt? Garden Training, sponsored by the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health's Wisconsin Partnership Fund. Learn the fundamentals of starting a fruit and vegetable garden by attending a hands-on garden training. The Toolkit is available on the website or by contacting the program directly.

Wisconsin Nutrition and Physical Activity State Plan:
The State Plan is a long range planning document focusing on the best ways to be active, eat well and prevent obesity.  A complete copy of the plan and an executive summary are available on the website.

Wisconsin 5-A-Day Coalition:
The Wisconsin 5-A-Day Coalition wants everyone in the State to eat more fruits and vegetables everyday. On the webpage you will find links to information which will help you learn more about the health benefits of eating fruits and vegetables, and how easy it is to actually reach the goal!

Wisconsin Division of Public Health
PO Box 2659

May through October, Tuesdays, 2pm to 6pm.
Location: Waterman Triangle Park, center of town, Oregon.
To participate: Paul Maki, (608) 455-2803, paul@blueskiesfarm.com.

Outta The Box provides unique educational experiences in creating livable spaces, edible landscaping and urban community building.

Outta The Box is actively working towards creating and implementing solutions for a 4 season urban harvest.  Cities offer enormous unique and creative opportunities for food production. Urban food production allows for increased bioregionally responsible farming and decreases energy costs associated with food transportation and packaging. Individual households working together cooperatively can produce an increasing percentage of their food needs while decreasing pollution and beautifying their living environment. Outta the Box offers educational classes about whole system urban food production and no-work gardening.

REAP Food Group’s mission is to build a regional food system that is healthful, just, and both environmentally and economically sustainable.  REAP connects producers, consumers, policy-makers, educators, businesses and organizations to nourish the links between land and table.

REAP’s major projects include:

Food for Thought Festival – an annual autumn celebration of our region’s food system and the many opportunities we have to eat from our foodshed.

Southern Wisconsin Farm Fresh Atlas - a guide to Southern Wisconsin’s sustainable producers, farmers’ markets and local businesses who sell local foods.

Wisconsin Homegrown Lunch Project – working with schools to “link the land with the lunchroom.”

Buy Fresh Buy Local – a campaign to encourage local restaurants and institutional food services to serve meals made from local farm products and to encourage diners to support eateries that do.

P.O. Box 5632

May 13th through October, Saturdays, 8am to Noon.
Location: Parking lot of Savanna Oaks Cultural Center, Hwy 16 and Poser Rd., Fall River.

Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin, a private, nonprofit organization, distributes food to more than 300 charitable programs that feed the hungry in 16 southern Wisconsin counties. Those counties include Dane, Columbia, Rock, Jefferson, Sauk, Green, Lafayette, Juneau, Adams, Monroe, Vernon, Richland, Crawford, Dodge, Iowa and Grant.  Through food and fund donations from corporations, organizations, businesses, foundations and individuals, the food bank is able to distribute food to qualified charitable shelters, food pantries and meal sites.

Mission:  To feed the hungry in southern Wisconsin by acquiring food and related products and distributing them to qualified nonprofit organizations; to provide these programs with appropriate assistance; to act as a resource for information related to fighting hunger; and to develop partnerships with others who work on hunger issues.

Kids Cafe Program: Kids Cafe is a program of America’s Second Harvest and is one of the nation’s largest charitable meal and nutrition education programs exclusively for children in need. Second Harvest operates seven Kids Cafes in partnership with the University of Wisconsin Nutrition Education Program. They are located at the Nehemiah Development Corporation, Family Enhancement Teen Parent Place, Boys and Girls Club of Dane County, Centro Hispano, Atwood Community Center, Vera Court Neighborhood Center and Salvation Army Darbo Drive Community Center. Each Kids Cafe is designed to meet the needs of the children living in the neighborhood. While no two programs are identical, each shares a common goal of providing a safe, respectful environment where youth can receive wholesome meals, nutrition education, academic and recreational activities. More
  
Direct Delivery/Drop Site Program: Food pantries and meal sites in distant counties often do not have personnel or appropriate vehicles to transport the quantity and types of food they need from our Madison warehouse. In 1999, the food bank implemented a program to deliver food directly to agencies in some counties and in 2002 it added three drop sites convenient for agency pick-ups. Today over 40 agencies in 10 outlying counties can better serve their communities with the help of this program, which has grown 550% since inception. An estimated 700,000 pounds of food will be delivered this year.
  
Mobile Pantry: In August 2003, Second Harvest rolled out the Mobile Pantry Program.  In partnership with a member agency, food from the Second Harvest warehouse is trucked to a neighborhood site at a prescheduled time for immediate distribution to residents. The program provides additional food to those in need and gives Second Harvest a valuable channel to increase distribution of perishable food items to ensure that good food will not go to waste. The Mobile Pantry distributed over 515,000 pounds of food last year and is serving hundreds of people with each scheduled visit.

Backpack Program: Backpacks filled with nutritious, easy-to-prepare foods provide nourishment on long weekends and other out-of-school times for children considered at risk of hunger.   In conjuction with a school district and a community agency that acquires food through Second Harvest, packs are filled with food and a teacher discretely hangs it in a child’s locker to be taken home on the last school day before the break.  The child returns the empty backpack on the next day back at school.  This is Second Harvest’s newest program to fight child hunger.  It is designed for small town/rural communities and currently serves over 60 children from 25 households in the Evansville School District .  

2802 Dairy Drive

SHARE is a nonprofit food buying club that offers good, nutritious products at reduced cost through a volunteer-run, community-based distribution system. SHARE’s mission is to build and strengthen community through volunteer service.

Anyone who wants to save money on food and help their community can be a member of SHARE. There are no membership fees or eligibility requirements. As a member of SHARE, you can save up to 30–50% on many of the same products you would find in a supermarket. SHARE can offer amazing savings because SHARE volunteers help sort, package and distribute the food that SHARE buys
in bulk for over 20,000 people. SHARE offers a wide variety of frozen meats, fresh produce, other grocery items and club-size packages. You pick the food you want every month from SHARE's monthly order form. SHARE serves over 200 communities throughout Wisconsin, northern Illinois and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

SHARE encourages all forms of volunteer service. Volunteer with your local SHARE food distribution team. Give time to a local community group. Help out at church, a senior center, or in your neighborhood—however you want to make a difference in your community.

SHARE has more than a dozen food pick-up sites in Dane County, so more than likely we are neighbors! To find the SHARE pick-up site nearest you, call toll-free 1-800-548-2124 or visit our website.

P.O. Box 403

Slow Food is an educational organization dedicated to stewardship of the land and ecologically sound food production; to the revival of the kitchen and the table as centers of pleasure, culture, and community; to the invigoration and proliferation of regional, seasonal culinary traditions; and to living a slower and more harmonious rhythm of life.

Mark Dohm
Tammy Lax

28 South Franklin Street

Slow Food is an educational organization dedicated to stewardship of the land and ecologically sound food production; to the revival of the kitchen and the table as centers of pleasure, culture, and community; to the invigoration and proliferation of regional, seasonal culinary traditions; and to living a slower and more harmonious rhythm of life.

Farm Fres Atlas, SE WI. Farmer-Chef connection, which helps connects producers with chefs. Chef-Farmer cooking classes, using local ingredients and the farmers who grow it.  The class is held at the Waukesah County Technical College.  Chef's guide to using local, seasonal produce.

Tuesdays, 2- 6 p.m. and Saturdays 9 a.m to 2 p.m. from May to October at the Labor Temple, 1602 South Park St., Madison

New Villlager Mall location for 2006 on Thursdays 2-6pm. Located on S. Park Street, just 2 blocks north of the Beltline (12/18).

May through October, Fridays, 7am to 1pm.
Location: Plaza Shopping Center, 1050-1060 W. Main St., Business 50, Stoughton.
Vendor PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED.

May through October, Saturdays, 7am to Noon.
Location: 300 E. Main, Municipal Parking Lot, Sun Prairie.
Vendor PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED.

Sustain Dane is a non-profit organization dedicated to creating a community that deeply enjoys, cares for, and is sustained by its unique environment. We promote sustainability discussion courses, organize educational events, assist other sustainability organizations in their activities, and provide access to local sustainability-related news and resources.

Developing a program to look at food and health.  Looking at eco-tourism. A green guide for the visitor's bureau. Helping to find local food to source for conferences.

222 South Hamilton Street, Suite 1

Town & Country serves the 13 counties of Southeastern Wisconsin, including Dane County.  The Town and Country RC&D mission is to optimize opportunities for sustainable economic growth, healthy communities, and a healthy environment in the Town & Country area through the support and coordination of our region’s agencies, municipalities and organizations. Efforts by Town and Country RC&D will help our area become a place where rural areas and urban centers are able to thrive and support each other to enhance the region’s economy, environment, and quality of life. 

Grazing Project, Community-owned Wind Harvest, Farm Fresh Atlas of SE Wisconsin, Camp and Center Lakes Rehabilitation District, Ag Tourism workshop and more.

Linda Caruso
Ruth Johnson
Diane Herman
Doug Nelson
Greg David
Ron Doetch
Jack Kaestner

333 E. Washington St., Suite 3500, P.O. Box 2003 

The UWCC mission is to study and promote cooperative action as a means of meeting the economic and social needs of people. The Center works in rural and urban settings in the United States and internationally. It develops, promotes, and coordinates educational programs, technical assistance and research on the cooperative form of business.

University of Wisconsin- Madison
230 Taylor Hall
427 Lorch Street

Agroecology is the study of agriculture as a human endeavor embedded in society and environment.  Our program is based on the idea that the most beneficent agriculture will emerge from broadly participatory discussions about agricultural practice.  Our program is dedicated to the training of students and the facilitation of informed discussion about new directions
in agriculture.

The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System approved the Agroecology MSc degree program on March 8, 2006! We will offer the full complement of core classes in the 2006-2007 academic year.

Agroecology Program
1545 Observatory Dr.

A food scientists' job is to ensure a safe and nutritious food supply. From quality control to new product development, Food Scientists work to ensure that our food supply meets the needs and desires of consumers. There are always new opportun