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Area farmers looking for local markets for small-scale growing operations have a new resource that will help them process, store and distribute produce to restaurants, food pantries and other buyers.
Representatives from four Madison-area organizations gathered Aug. 11 at a near northside facility that is now home to the Foodshed Partnership, a federally funded collaborative effort to match local produce with local markets.
The partnership is a collaborative effort from REAP Food Group, Pasture and Plenty, FairShare CSA Coalition and the Community Action Coalition for South Central Wisconsin. It intends to help farmers in Dane, Waukesha and Jefferson counties overcome transportation challenges and find new markets.
The $6 million program gives farmers an outlet for small-scale crops, some of which might be cosmetically imperfect but still nutritious.
The organization’s new space is at 1902 Wright St. near the Madison College campus. This 10,000-square-foot warehouse was previously used by the Community Action Coalition (CAC) as a food bank for food pantries across South Central Wisconsin. It includes a prep kitchen and a processing room, where produce is diced and washed.
Attendees at the Foodshed Partnership’s ribbon cutting on Aug. 11 tour the facilities.
AVERY WILLIAMS
Farmer Bill Warner from Snug Haven Farm, located in Montrose southwest of Madison, cut a yellow ribbon to inaugurate the space.
“I’m not an administrator, I’m not an academic, I’m not with a nonprofit,” Warner said. “I’m just here to keep pushing.
“The things that are in motion for this project are to grow more food, to get food to people who need it, to have less waste. It’s also so they have a more accessible form of industry. This should help those things.”
REAP executive director Noah Bloedorn emphasized the need for transportation and processing space to bring local produce to local markets.
“We can grow plenty of food here, and the demand for local food is high, but we don’t have the infrastructure needed to make it accessible to the wider community,” Bloedorn said.
REAP Food Group executive director Noah Bloedorn shares remarks for the grand opening of the Foodshed Partnership, a regional food hub on Wright Street.
AVERY WILLIAMS
Bloedorn called this infrastructure gap “the missing middle.” The Foodshed, he said, would let a small farm actually get its food to a pantry, a grocery store or a school kitchen on a regular basis.
The space will house operations for processing, storing and distributing food. Farmers deliver their food directly to the warehouse, but if they are unable to transport produce, Community Action Coalition will do it for them.
Meghan Mietchen, the executive director of the Community Action Coalition, said one of the project’s goals is to increase the amount of produce available to food pantries, as well as reduce food waste.
“We hope that through the Foodshed Hub and aggregation model, the partnership will create greater capacity to collect, store, and distribute locally grown food at a larger scale,” she said.
In the food processing room of the Foodshed Partnership, kitchen processing manager Jeremy Lynch chats with attendees at the facility’s ribbon cutting. The space opened Aug. 11.
AVERY WILLIAMS
“This includes working directly with farmers to recover surplus, excess or cosmetically imperfect produce that may not have a traditional market but is still high quality and nutritious. Rather than allowing that food to go to waste, the Foodshed can help move it into the community through food pantries and other food access programs.”
The Foodshed is funded by a U.S. Department of Agriculture Resilient Food System Infrastructure Grant administered by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection. The RFSI grant was $2.6 million.
Bloedorn said plans for the Foodshed grew along with the Dane County Food System Action Plan, a community-led effort to develop a comprehensive regional food system for Dane County. Bloedorn helped to lead the effort to create the Dane County Food System Action Plan alongside his work with the Foodshed.
Mietchen said she wanted to ensure the project’s benefits extend beyond the work done in the facility and provide a framework for reinvestment.
The Foodshed Partnership, which opened Aug. 11, is a federally funded collaborative effort to match local produce with local markets.
AVERY WILLIAMS
“As we create new opportunities for local farmers and new markets for local food, we have an opportunity to generate resources that can be reinvested back into the work our community needs,” she said. “That means this project can strengthen both our local food economy and CAC’s ability to invest in housing, nutrition and health, and financial empowerment, our three pillars.”
Christy McKenzie is the owner of Pasture and Plenty, a Madison-based cafe and prepared meals business. She was happy with the turnout at the ribbon cutting, which drew government leaders, food industry folks, farmers and nonprofits.
“Building the capacity and infrastructure here to feed our community seems simple, but is a truly transformational investment,” she said.
Dane County Executive Melissa Agard spoke about the disconnect between local agriculture and local consumption.
“I think back to when my children were in school, and the food that was delivered to the school for lunches came in cans, on trucks, from faraway places. Sometimes from other countries,” she said. “We grow an awful lot of food in the state of Wisconsin, and the people who live here deserve to have access to that food.”
Farmers or prospective vendors can become part of the Foodshed’s network by contacting the collective at foodshedpartnership.org.
Dining and Cooking