Driftless Region Food & Farm Project

On Thursday, July 21, the Experiment in Rural Cooperation (University of Minnesota SE Regional Sustainable Development Partnership) will host a panel of project leaders from Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa who have been working to expand the capacity of local farmers to grow, produce and sell food in their own regions. Come hear the stories of these local food pioneers, participate in small group discussions, and network with your neighbors to be part of the movement to strengthen the regional food system of Southeast Minnesota.

Directions: http://www.roch.edu/html-spectrum/getting_to_ucr.html

Building map: http://www.rctc.edu/campustour/maps/buildingmaps.html#ucr

Parking is available in lots around the main campus building. West lots are closest to the room.

• MN Dept of Health SHIP & potential CDC grant
• BCBS of MN/Center for Prevention - June 27 distribution meeting
• State Nutrition Action Coalition & MN Food/Nutrition Network –    Aug 9 Food Access MN mtg (partial funding via USDA)
• N team for NCR SARE Scaling-Up – to host regional mtgs
• UM Regional Partnerships – project/research funding/support
• SE Regional Partnership & SHIP grantees – regional food strategy
• A local project SE Partnership is sponsoring – Ridgeway F2S/distribution

Here are the directions to Western Technical College in La Crosse:

The meeting will be held at WTC’s Lunda Center, building #11 on this map: http://www.westerntc.edu/maps/pdf/lacrossemap.pdf. Please park in Lot B. Coffee and snacks will be provided.

Please email with questions. driftlessfoodandfarm@gmail.com

Thanks! Mark

Driftless Food and Farm Network-

Please save the date for our next meeting on June 16 from 10 to noon at Western Technical College in LaCrosse, WI.  We are jointly sponsoring this gathering with the LaCrosse Farm-to-Institution network, a group that has been working closely with Fifth Season Co-op in Viroqua and others to bring locally sourced food to institutional buyers.

We have scheduled the following presenters and will leave plenty of time for discussion and networking:

• Lindsey Day Farnsworth and Rosa Kozub of UW-Madison will talk about their research on efficiencies in local freight and distribution.
• Erin Meier of University of MN’s SE Regional Sustainable Development Partnership will address innovative regional distribution options currently being explored in SE MN.
• Terry VanDerPol, Land Stewardship Project’s food systems director, will lead a discussion related to LSP’s transportation/distribution work.

More information will follow shortly, but please save the date.  Please let me know if you have questions.

Many thanks,
Mark

driftlessfoodandfarm@gmail.com

Midwest Aronia Association Conference

Midwest Aronia Association will hold their 1st Annual Conference, bringing together the largest gathering of aronia pioneer, growers, and producers in the United States, on April 8 and 9, 2011 in Des Moines, Iowa.  Information will be presented on the science, growing, and marketing of the aronia berry.  For more information, or to register for this limited seating event, please visit www.MidwestAronia.org

Sustainable Poultry/Poultry Processing Summit

This event is hosted by a group hoping to launch a southwestern Wisconsin poultry processing facility.   The one-day conference is  Saturday, April 2, 2011 from 10 – 4 at the UW Extension, Crawford County Administration Building
225 North Beaumont Road, Suite 236,  Prairie du Chien, WI.  The cost is $15.   Click here for the agenda. To RSVP, email Amy Bruner Zimmerman.

If you weren’t at our session at the MOSES Organic Farming Convention, here’s a handy little recap on a blog called “Digging in the Driftless.”

And, for those interested in the ever-expanding world of permaculture, there’s this upcoming short course on hazelnuts.

Finally, we’d be remiss if we didn’t alert you to the upcoming series of forums on food system sustainability here at UW-Madsion, hosted by the Nelson Institute.

VALUE ADDED: On January 28, the Driftless Food and Farm Project convened at the Midwest Value Added Conference in Madison.   The purpose of the meeting was twofold.  First, we wanted to continue to provide a venue for introducing project participants to one another.  We did so successfully with an hour long speed networking session.  Thanks to all who participated.

We also heard from Josh Miner, the Farm-to-School Coordinator at La Crosse County Health Department, who talked briefly on the challenges related to pooling products from multiple producer groups, matching of supply and demand, developing an efficient distribution system based on a per-case handling fee and other aggregation and distribution issues.  Here are Josh’s PP slides on Farm-to-School aggregation challenges.   Click here to email him.

RAW MILK CHEESE: Then, on February 3, we joined raw milk cheesemakers from around the region for a session exploring terroir, the “taste of place”, co-sponsored by the Dairy Business Innovation Center.  Presentations included one on the microbiology of terroir in cheese and one on the potential for modifying the French concept of terroir for use in the United States.  We concluded with a tasting menu provided by Madison restaurant L’Etoile and a discussion of ways local cheesemakers can capitalize on the marketing potential of the taste of the Driftless.

Remarkably, the meeting received coverage from both the University of Wisconsin news service and on the Cheese Underground blog.

Here is the workshop agenda and a map of raw milk cheesemakers in Wisconsin.  For more information, contact Michelle Miller from UW-CIAS, or Laurie Greenberg from the Dairy Business Innovation Center.

The Midwest Value Added Conference is next week, January 27 and 28 in Madison.  At that conference we will hold our first Driftless Food and Farm Project meeting of 2011 on Friday morning, January 28 at 10:30.  Conference registration is still open.  Click here for conference registration information.   If you’re still on the fence, we may have a small number of scholarships remaining for people who are active in initiatives relevant to the Driftless Food and Farm Project.  Email us if you are interested.

We will begin our session with a brief introduction to the Driftless region and our project for those who might be new.  We will then segue into a brief presentation from Josh Miner, Farm-to-School Coordinator for the La Crosse County Health Department.  He plans to present one concrete example of the regional food system challenges we’ve been trying to tackle collectively through all our varied projects.  In his case, he’s working on aggregating and processing local food in an efficient way that helps keep local competitive with large-scale national food suppliers.

From there we will break into a speed networking session. Each participant will have two minutes to quickly present his or her food system projects to others.  The idea is that you will connect with others whose skills, experiences and activities will be useful to you.

To make sure that we connect as many people as possible, we ask that you bring approximately 50 copies of your business card.  If you can’t, we will have notecards for you to use.  Please let us know if you have any questions.  See you Thursday and Friday.

P.S. We’ve also posted to the blog a pair of upcoming conferences/events that we think might be of interest to many.  See that post here: http://www.driftless.wisc.edu/?p=139

The Driftless Food and Farm Project Team

2011 Southern Wisconsin Fresh Produce Workshop

Presented by UW Extension

February 8 at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, 8:00 am – 4:30 pm

In the morning, the workshop will include a variety of sessions presented by UW Extension Specialists and others on production, disease forecasting, pest management, post-harvest handling and best management practices for fruit and vegetable growers.

In the afternoon, learn about a new Wisconsin fresh market produce packing house opportunity. Come and learn how a packing house works, what you need to know to participate, and other exciting details about this potential new market. You will have the chance to meet with large volume wholesale buyers interested in Wisconsin produce.

And you will also hear about safe food handling and information on the new Federal Food Safety bill and what it means for growers.

Click here for the agenda and registration form or visit http://dane.uwex.edu/ for more information.

“Making Good Food Work”

April 19-21, Detroit, MI

More than 200 entrepreneurs, food industry professionals, non-profits, researchers, and policymakers will convene in Detroit to build strategies for more just and efficient local and regional food distribution.

This conference is designed to be practical and action-oriented. Entrepreneurs, researchers, and others active in local food system work are now invited to propose local food distribution projects and/or research topics that will be further developed and examined over the course of the conference.  Conference organizers are soliciting applications from individuals and organizations to lead teams and hope you will consider submitting your new or existing project or issue idea by February 4, 2011.

Possible projects could include but are not limited to:
*    Researching and outlining a business plan, including start-up costs, for a mobile grocery unit;
*    Developing a strategic plan to increase sales from urban farmers to local restaurants;
*    Laying the groundwork for a multi-state food distribution research proposal;
*    Writing a proposal for a feasibility study for a regional aggregation facility; or
*    Developing food distribution plans for an area identified as a “food desert”

Visit the conference website for more information.