Driftless Region Food & Farm Project

In the last week we have posted summaries from 10 breakout sessions we held during our Prairie du Chien meeting a few weeks ago.   For your convenience, below are links to each of the summaries.

Please use the comment section of each post to reflect on the next steps and suggest anything we may have missed.  If you are looking to get involved in participating on a task force related to one of our breakout groups, let us know in the comment section or by emailing us at: driftlessfoodandfarm@gmail.com.

Which break out group do you think has the most potential for making a big difference in the region?  How do you see yourself getting involved?  We are looking for partners to spearhead conference calls on the topics below, should you be interested. Are there other activities that could help us move forward between now and our meeting in July in conjunction with the Kickapoo County Fair? Do you have something to present at the July meeting?

Break out group summaries:

• Marketing and Communication – The Driftless Identity
• Grassfed Dairy & Artisanal Cheese
• Transportation and Distribution Logistics
• Apples and Other Fruit
• Emerging Crops – Aronia, Hops, and other Fruits & Nuts
• Wildcrafting (Mushrooms) and Permaculture
• Agritourism
• Grassfed Animals (Beef, Lamb, Poultry)
• Processing
• Organic Vegetables

– The Driftless Food and Farm Project Team – Michelle, CeCe, Lisa, Alex and Mark

mailto:driftlessfoodandfarm@gmail.com

ORGANIC VEGETABLES

The organic vegetable sector group identified strengths such as their broad production knowledge, diverse regional and national connections, and their commitments to care for the land while providing quality vegetables for their communities.  Other strengths they named included multitasking, communicating thoughts and ideas, seeing ways to integrate systems, and complementing and fostering ecological health in small segments of the landscape.  They saw opportunities in strengthening these ties to conservation including the issue of containing urban sprawl, developing their networks and connections.  They also saw opportunities to communicate ethics, ideas, and motives in order to bring about agricultural transitions, and to integrate ecological concerns with production efficiency.

Next steps:

• What strategies should we employ to best communicate the ethics, ideas, and motives behind agricultural transitions towards?

• How can we advance ecological sustainability while ensuring production efficiency?

• How can we continue to build networks and share knowledge to support our growing organic producer community?

We would like to encourage your participation in continuing conversations. Please step forward by posting a comment below or by emailing us.  If you have suggestions on how we can proceed please don’t hesitate to share them.

Processing

Participants discussed a number of reasons why processing, especially for vegetables, is in the forefront of the region’s food movement. There is a regional history of collaboration between cities and counties, a history of raising cash crops, land available for increasing production, and a documented demand for processed vegetables. There is a strong interest in community-based processing (such as through a co-operative business structure) and many collaborators and resources to make it happen. Furthering development of a robust processing sector in the region will give small-mid-size farmers more market options, build the local economy, and further sustainability goals.

Next steps:

• Who is working on this issue in the region?

• How do we best address food safety concerns?

• Where do we find business development support? Where do we learn the ins-and-outs of facilty design, mechanical systems, sanitation, regulations, etc.

We would like to encourage your participation in continuing conversations. Please step forward by posting a comment below or by emailing us.  If you have suggestions on how we can proceed please don’t hesitate to share them.

Transportation and Distribution Logistics

Compared to some of the other topic groups, this group is at relatively early stages of thinking, planning and doing. People in the region have been working independently, but are increasingly ready to organize. This part of the food supply chain offers opportunity to grow and diversify the local economy much like other parts of the chain, but the way forward is less clear than it is with bricks-and-mortar projects. There is a strong interest in maintaining a vision of sustainability in the development of new systems. SE MN is actively engaged in this work and could potentially provide leadership as critical mass develops.

Next steps:

• Who in the region can provide leadership for this work? What is necessary for them to build capacity to take on that leadership? Where do we find that support?

• What is the most appropriate scale to work with? Local, county, multi-county, state, etc.?

• Where could the region find industry expertise, if only to understand what questions yet need to be answered in thinking about distribution and logistics?

• How do we build awareness with farmers about the role that this part of the food supply chain plays and the associated costs / savings of working in moving beyond direct marketing into a wholesale model?

We would like to encourage your participation in continuing conversations. Please step forward by posting a comment below or by emailing us.  If you have suggestions on how we can proceed please don’t hesitate to share them.

GRASSFED ANIMAL AGRICULTURE

(BEEF, LAMB, POULTRY)

This group’s discussion focused on taking advantage of production and marketing capacity and experience in the grassfed meat sector.  Strengths include direct marketing experience, connections with conservation, and business experience.  They saw opportunities in building local sales, increasing local processing, especially of poultry, and promoting local institutional buying of grass-fed meat.  They also talked about making links between local foods, agriculture, conservation, climate change, and limited availability of fossil fuels, and bringing the agricultural and conservation communities together.

Next steps:

• How do we increase local processing capability, especially for poultry?  Aggregation is also a pressing topic.

• What strategies can we employ to build on local direct sales?

• Which institutions can we partner with to promote institutional sales?

• What do we need to do to expand infrastructure and fair regulation for interstate meat?

We would like to encourage your participation in continuing conversations. Please step forward by posting a comment below or by emailing us.  If you have suggestions on how we can proceed please don’t hesitate to share them.

GRASSFED DAIRY & ARTISANAL CHEESE

This group identified several main strengths in the grassfed dairy sector.  First, they saw grazing as an excellent opportunity for new farmers.  They also saw a strength in the ability of the grassfed dairy sector to differentiate their product by taking advantage of the quality of the grass.  Next, they pointed out that not everyone can be organic, and thus grass-based dairy can move towards sustainability without requiring farmers to be certified organic.  Profitability due to lower cost of production was a strength, as was providing a model for other farmers.

The group also identified a set of challenges. These included addressing the need for new skills, figuring out how to encourage “conventional” farmers to transition to grass-based farming, overcoming the race to increase production, and educating bankers and policymakers to understand the economic advantages of grass-based dairying.

Next steps:

• Can we take advantage of combinations of Driftless flavors? One example mentioned included the creation of a cheese with morel mushrooms and grass-based milk.

• How do we advertise the Dirftless area as a grass-friendly region?  This could mean drawing on historical, logistical, and topographic base for grass to draw in new farmers.  The group pointed out that Crawford County successfully did this at the Dairy Expo.

• How do we show dairy leaders, farm leaders, and local, state, and federal politicians that encouraging grass-based farming is a long-term strategic opportunity?

• Can we utilize existing processing opportunities, including Carr Valley, Cedar Grove, Mt. Sterling, and Meister?

We would like to encourage your participation in continuing conversations. Please step forward by posting a comment below or by emailing us.  If you have suggestions on how we can proceed please don’t hesitate to share them.

Agritourism

Participants in the agritourism session were unified in their belief that the Driftless agriculture sector stands poised to benefit from an increase in tourism related to burgeoning interest in local foods. The group noted that the region already boasts a good number of well-organized food and culture events and that such events help local farmers. However, perhaps the biggest challenge to a unified vision for a Driftless agritourism movement is the presence of political boundaries.

Next steps:

• In the short term, what are the obstacles to the creation of a Driftless-wide agritourism events calendar?

• In the longer term, who are the leaders that can help coordinate efforts across state borders and connect businesses in the industry?

• How do we collaborate with other food system partners to create and promote a Driftless Area identity?

We would like to encourage your participation in continuing conversations. Please step forward by posting a comment below or by emailing us.  If you have suggestions on how we can proceed please don’t hesitate to share them.

Wildcrafting and Permaculture

Those gathered to discuss wildcrafting and permaculture opportunities focused on the low barriers to entry and the vast potential of a series of underutilized wild crops, including: a variety of fungi, watercress, ramps and wild fruits.  The abundance of these crops in the Driftless Region leads to opportunities for entrepreneurial collectors to create new markets.  While the knowledge of such crops is present in the community, little has been done to organize interested collectors to share information and resources.

Next steps:

• Who are the sectors leaders and how do we connect interested collectors to those in possession of local knowledge?

• Would the establishment of collectors’ co-ops have beneficial effects?

• Can we augment the presence of and demand for ethically-harvested wild foods at farmer’s markets and other retail venues?

We would like to encourage your participation in continuing conversations. Please step forward by posting a comment below or by emailing us.  If you have suggestions on how we can proceed please don’t hesitate to share them.

Marketing and Communication

The Driftless Region Identity

To the members of the marketing and communication group, the need to capitalize on the work of the many, diverse actors in the local food system could not have been clearer.  Thankfully, despite its lack of wide name recognition, the Driftless Region possesses uniqueness and qualities that lend themselves well to a well-organized, coordinated marketing effort.

Next steps:

• Who will lead the effort to define and communicate the meaning, strengths and shared history of the term, “Driftless Region” to consumers and potential stakeholders?  How will that effort begin?

• Which producers, retailers and other food-related stakeholders will take the lead incorporating the Driftless name into marketing and communication efforts?

We would like to encourage your participation in continuing conversations. Please step forward by posting a comment below or by emailing us.  If you have suggestions on how we can proceed please don’t hesitate to share them.

Emerging Crops – Aronia, Hops, and other Fruits & Nuts

The feeling that materialized from the emerging crops group was that the sector is poised for noticeable growth, due to surging recognition of perennial crops’ environmental and health benefits.  While demand has yet to develop following the increase in interest in these crops, growers need simultaneously to prepare for the growth and to actively encourage it.  Product development, consumer education, and production efficiency are all areas needing attention.

Next steps:

• How do we channel the passion and commitment of pioneering growers to work together towards a series of common crop-specific production and marketing goals?  What should those goals be?

• How do we capitalize on growing interest to expand markets for value added products?

We would like to encourage your participation in continuing conversations. Please step forward by posting a comment below or by emailing us.  If you have suggestions on how we can proceed please don’t hesitate to share them.