Driftless Region Food & Farm Project

Join us to set a research and business development agenda for transporting local food in the Upper Midwest. More than 20million people live in our region and most are dependent on a brittle national and global food system. Business leaders from the local food movement will discuss issues central to moving local food regionally.

February 20-21, LaCrosse, WI

To learn more about this free event and register on-line, go to: http://www.cias.wisc.edu/networking-across-the-supply-chain-transportation-innovations-in-local-and-regional-food-systems/

Meeting sponsors

This Project is supported by Cooperative Agreement No. 12-25-A-5639 between the Agricultural Marketing Service/USDA and the Center for Integrated Agriculture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

FRAN- The Food Resource and Agribusiness Network  is a network of agribusinesses working together to improve the competitive advantage of businesses and the economy of the Seven Rivers region. FRAN is a geographic concentration of similar companies that share common technology, markets, suppliers or workforce skills in Western Wisconsin, Eastern Minnesota and Northeast Iowa. FRAN is providing a platform to address common opportunities and synergies that exist among regional food processing and agribusiness companies. The region has over 85 food processing manufacturers, a nationally renowned organic farming industry, 12,000 farms and 1.7 million acres in agriculture assessed lands provides great opportunities for joint ventures between suppliers, manufacturers, transporters, retailers and consumers.

USDA-Agriculture Marketing Service- Transportation and Marketing Program economists and marketing specialists at USDA Agricultural Marketing Service facilitate the development of local and regional food systems through research and analysis of agricultural transportation issues, food aggregation facilities, farmers markets, and other direct-to-consumer marketing, as well as assessment of wholesale markets and facility design.  This Program area of USDA-AMS also manages the USDA Farmers Market in Washington, DC.

For more information on agricultural transportation, please visit:  www.ams.usda.gov/AgTransportation

For more information on marketing services, please visit: www.ams.usda.gov/WholesaleandFarmersMarkets

UW-Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems (CIAS) is a research center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. CIAS was created in 1989 to build UW sustainable agriculture research programs that respond to farmer and citizen need and involve them in setting research agendas. The goal of work at CIAS is to learn how particular integrated farming systems can contribute to environmental, economic, social, and intergenerational sustainability.

March 1-2, Eau Claire

Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin hazelnut growers plan to convene this spring to share information on growing, processing and selling hazelnuts. Researchers from Ontario, New Jersey, Minnesota and Wisconsin will share their work on propogating commercial nuts from hybrid and native hazelnut stock, and various ways growers are marketing their crops.

For more information and to register, go to:

http://www.midwesthazelnuts.org/assets/files/2013%20Hazelnut%20Conference%20Brochure.pdf

Please share widely with your friends and colleagues!

The Equitable Food Initiative is hiring a Senior Advisor to engage major actors in the food industry to join the EFI.

The Equitable Food Initiative (www.equitablefood.net) is a consortium of major food buyers, growers, farm worker groups and consumer advocates to ensure dignified livelihoods for farm workers; a trained workforce and safer, more sustainable food. The co-chairs of the coalition are Oxfam America and the United Farm Workers of America.

The position will engage major actors in the food industry, other organizations and the public with the goal of strengthening the EFI program as well as providing steering for the design of field-based training, certification and verification.

The position will be based on the West Coast. To apply, see Positions at Oxfam America.

Peter O’Driscoll
Project Director
EquiTABLE Food Initiative
www.equitablefood.net

202-777-2933 (desk)
617-407-8171 (cell)

PODriscoll@OxfamAmerica.org

UW Extension recently released a new report “Setting A Yield Goal for Hazelnut Breeding in the Upper Midwest”. This report summarizes some of the work-to-date on an ambitious project to improve hazelnut germplasm, develop appropriate-scale nut processing equipment, and develop sustainable business models to support commercial hazelnut production in the Upper Midwest. University of Minnesota is the project lead, with partners at UW Extension, UW Stevens Point, UW-Madison Department of Horticulture and CIAS. The project is part of The Upper Midwest Hazelnut Development Initiative, a collaboration of researchers in Wisconsin and Minnesota working with early-adopter hazelnut growers to develop an Upper Midwest hazelnut industry.

Hazelnuts are native to the Driftless region, with considerable potential as a perennial, high-value, drought-tolerant, permaculture-friendly crop. Keep your eye on this project and tell us your interests and concerns with hazelnuts.

In Eating Green: Coverage of the Locavore Movement,  Extension researcher from Charleston, South Carolina reviewed media coverage regarding the role of farmers markets in local food consumption. Through a framing analysis of newspapers from eight different U.S. cities, the study revealed that four frames describe the coverage on the farmers markets and the buying local trend. These four frames are product awareness, economic support, quality counts, and price negotiation.

The Journal Of Extension has just published an article entitled A Feasibility Template for Small, Multi-Species Meat Processing Plants. The Kerr Center at Oklahoma State created a template to allow entrepreneurs to play out “what if” scenarios in developing a meat processing business for value-added meat products. The template allows users to define plant size and capacity, including the breakdown of processing activities by species and additional revenue opportunities.

“The spreadsheet template is designed to assist livestock producers and food business entrepreneurs who may be interested in owning or operating a meat processing plant. Most do not understand the factors that impact plant operations and ownership, nor do they have the skills or experience to make sound financial decisions for a plant. Plant owners must consider the impacts of balancing a variety of potential business activities under one roof: custom packing for multiple species (cattle, hogs, sheep, goats, bison, etc.), handling wild game (e.g., deer, elk and wild hogs), and possibly operating a retail shop.”

The article also suggests further reading on meat processing for entrepreneurs.

I just heard via Laura Witzting that Black Earth Meats is starting a corporate CSA program. Do you have details you could post here?

Hosted by the City of Dubuque and Sustainable City Network, the 5th annual Growing Sustainable Communities Conference – Midwestern Region  was a one-day educational opportunity for municipal professionals, elected officials and business leaders who have a common interest in sustainability. The general conference held on Oct. 3, 2012 was preceded by several optional half-day workshops, mobile tours and a networking reception on Oct. 2.

Workshops covered four main tracks. I was surprised that food and agriculture was not included. Maybe next year we can add such a track! (Do any of you readers have a contact at Sustainable Cities?)

• Energy & Resource Management – This track focuses on sustainable building practices, energy conservation and waste management.

• Water – This track looks at the vital natural resource from rain to drain, from waterway to kitchen faucet and from wastewater to energy source.

• Transportation and Mobility – This track features the latest trends in infrastructure, alternative fuels and reducing vehicle miles traveled.

• Community Knowledge – This track looks at several examples of citizen and stakeholder engagement, education and team building.

Brightseed posts some interesting articles on food systems. Most recently, they posted a short summary on capital investment in the food supply chain, a report from the Rockefeller Foundation. The full report is also available.

In looking over the site, I found much helpful material geared toward financing. For instance:

The Community Development Financial Institution’s “Financing Healthy Food Options” Resource Bank is now available online. This is a great resource for any CDFIs, other lenders, and investors interested in developing new or expanding existing healthy food finance initiatives.

The Resource Bank includes the “required reading” for all CDFIs interested in financing healthy food enterprises in their target communities. Training curriculum chapters include:

• Food Systems Overview (Developed by Brightseed Strategies!)
• Healthy Food Retail Financing
• Financial Services for Mid-Tier Food Chain Enterprises
• NMTC & Urban Supermarkets
• Understanding the Grocery Industry
• Underwriting Supermarkets & Grocery Stores
• Mid-Tier Food Chain Enterprises Overview & Underwriting
• Capitalizing Healthy Food Retail Initiatives
• Identifying Optimal Areas for Supermarket Development

I found Brightseed through LinkedIn, through the Sustainable Foods Network. If you use this site, consider joining the group and connecting with Nessa @ Brightseed.

 

New Local Food Effort in Northern Wisconsin College
Northland College (Ashland) began a new local food initiative this fall. Local farmers bring food to a nearby coop, and after the product is aggregated, a weekly delivery is made to the college’s food service provider, Chartwells. So far, it’s going great! They sourced 15% local in September and expect to source more in October now that they have added several meat vendors. Student feedback has been positive, and many students are familiar with the farms where the food is grown. Fresh green beans are reportedly a new favorite. Northland serves between 500 and 600 meals per day. Read more in this Superior Telegram article.