The Wisconsin Local Food Network

Thank you for visiting the Wisconsin Local Food Network’s (WLFN) website.

The WLFN is a collection of individuals and organizations (hopefully you) that all share a common vision for Wisconsin: a state that offers communities and businesses a local food system that supports sustainable farms of all sizes, a strong infrastructure for those farms and supporting food business to thrive, and affordable access to healthy locally grown food for ALL Wisconsin residents. If you support this vision and are working toward such a Wisconsin – then you are a part of the Wisconsin Local Food Network.

You may be wondering, “But what does the WLFN do?” And it would be a great question.

In the fewest words possible: We help local food businesses (whether a farm, a processor, a distributor, a restaurant, a farmers market, or a grocery store) thrive!

Equitable Strategies for Growing Urban Agriculture (Webinar & Resources)

A vibrant movement is afoot in cities across the country − farmers, activists, and community organizations are improving the health, economic outlook, and vitality of their communities through urban farming.   Advocates are illustrating that urban agriculture is a pathway to making healthy food more available for low-income communities, a key to shifting the conversation on traditional economic revitalization efforts, and catalytic for battling the challenges of blight and abandonment. PolicyLink is offering a series of webinars and tools on urban agriculture and improving equitable healthy food access.

• To view an archive of the webinar “Equitable Strategies for Growing Urban Agriculture” click here. With a panel of speakers:
  • Angela Glover Blackwell, Founder and CEO, PolicyLink
  • Mary Donnell, CEO, Green City Growers
  • Ian Marvy, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Added Value
  • Malik Yakini, Chairman, Detroit Black Community Food Security Network

• Check out the PolicyLink Urban Agriculture Tool kit Urban Agriculture and Community Gardens.
• To support the Community Agriculture Development and Jobs Act visit the PolicyLink Take Action page.
• Check out many of the other resources on community based agriculture from Policy Link.

Bill McKibben’s Personal Message to the WLFN

At the 6th Annual WI Local Food Summit in Delevan on January 26-27 2012, we heard from a multitude of keynote presenters and people engaged in making local food more common and accessible. Some of what we heard were stories about the research and good work happening out there right now; other presentations were a rallying cry, a call to action.

One of these calls to action was the personal message so honestly and passionately delivered from Bill McKibben, noted author, educator, environmentalist and founder of 350.org. He is most famous for his research and writing on environmental issues such as global climate change, but in his 2007 book, Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future, Bill McKibben offers a solution to so many of the social, environmental, and economic problems the world is facing: building, nurturing, and investing in community and local economies and re-thinking about the things we buy, the food we eat, the energy we use, and the money that pays for it all.

We are pleased and honored that Bill took the time to deliver such a heart-felt message to the Wisconsin Local Food Network.

Bill McKibben Personal Message to the Wisconsin Local Food Network from Andrew Bernhardt on Vimeo.

Food Policy Councils

There has been recent activity and buzz about food policy councils in Wisconsin.

Milwaukee under the leadership of Martha Davis-Kipcak of the Center for Resilient Cities formed the Milwaukee Food Policy Council in 2007 works across sectors to examine and collaborate on existing policies and operations to build a food system that is ecologically sustainable, economically vibrant, and socially just

Dane County with the leadership of Carrie Edgar, Dane County UW-Extension, dusted off the Dane County Food Policy Council that originally formed in 2005 and had fallen into disuse and with some restructuring in 2011, the council now explores issues and develops recommendations to create an economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable local food system for the Dane county region.

But what is a Food Policy Council and what do they do?

Southeast Region sets up facebook page

At the 2012 Summit in Delevan, the Southeast Regional Meeting was a success. There was a lot of energy and enthusiasm to stay involved together and collaborate in the future. There was an overwhelming desire to have regular in-person face-to-face meetings at least twice a year (spring and fall) so people could come together to learn, listen, celebrate and share both ideas and resources. Stay tuned for more about this meeting; there are plans to send out a doodle.

There was also a group desire to have better means of communicating within the region and such social media tools such as facebook and linked-in were suggest as possibilities. If you have any other ideas, please leave a comment to this post. A facebook page was created, please join this group and post in what projects you are involved with. Search for “SEW LFN,” which is short for SouthEast Wisconsin Local Food Network.

Young Farmers Find Huge Obstacles to Getting Started

By ISOLDE RAFTERY

Published: November 12, 2011 

Emily Oakley, who had worked on an organic farm in California, moved with her husband, Mike Appel, to Oaks, Okla., in pursuit of cheap farmland. But even though they had $25,000 saved, the couple could not get a bank loan. When they applied for a government loan, the loan officer threw back his head and laughed.

“He’d never met anybody coming in for a loan for an organic vegetable production,” Ms. Oakley said. “He thought, ‘These are young, naïve, romantic, idealistic kids who didn’t know what they’re getting themselves into.’ ”

Similar stories prompted the National Young Farmers’ Coalition, a new group that has grown out of the Hudson Valley in New York, to survey more than 1,000 young farmers nationwide in an effort to identify the pitfalls that are keeping a new generation of Americans from going into agriculture.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/13/us/young-farmers-face-huge-obstacles-to-getting-started.html?_r=1#

USDA: ‘Locally grown’ food a $4.8 billion business

Carolyn Anderson likes to chat up the growers at her local farmers market in Missouri, at times hanging out behind the beds of pickup trucks brimming with ears of corn.

For Anderson, 29, it’s all about keeping it “local.” And there’s fresh evidence of just how big of a deal that word can mean for farmers’ finances.

A new U.S. Department of Agriculture report says sales of “local foods,” whether sold direct to consumers at farmers markets or through intermediaries such as grocers or restaurants, amounted to $4.8 billion in 2008. That’s a number several times greater than earlier estimates, and the department predicts locally grown foods will generate $7 billion in sales this year.

Read more: http://host.madison.com/news/state_and_regional/usda-locally-grown-food-a-billion-business/article_99f23d33-6f5b-59e4-8616-b54b301116f6.html#ixzz1di7gZ1Qt