• 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.

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.

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?

According to the North American Food Policy Council Webpage, “Food Policy Councils (FPCs) bring together stakeholders from diverse food-related sectors to examine how the food system is operating and to develop recommendations on how to improve it. FPCs may take many forms, but are typically either commissioned by state or local government, or predominately a grassroots effort. Food policy councils have been successful at educating officials and the public, shaping public policy, improving coordination between existing programs, and starting new programs.”

According to the same website, today there are over 100 councils nationwide (see the full list).

Are you thinking about starting a Food Policy Council?

The North American Food Policy Council Webpage provides several documents of how other Food Policy Councils are organized as well as marketing/outreach materials and reports so that you can quickly gain access to different examples of food policy councils to compare and contrast. They also provide examples of different types of policies that have been created by Food Policy Councils.

This 2009 report, Food Policy Councils: Lessons Learned, found that Food Policy Councils tend to encounter similar challenges, challenges that can sometimes stymie progress, and must be countered with careful planning and evaluation. This report contains tips and case studies for successful councils, warns of common red flags, and includes ample resources for citizens and local governments who may be interested in establishing or helping run a Food Policy Council.

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.

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!

How does the WLFN do this? Another good question, and the answer is multifaceted.The WLFN is the collection of all the work accomplished by on the ground projects, farms, food businesses, and organizations promoting local foods – By helping you succeed, the Network succeeds.

The WLFN helps organizations succeed by:

1. Connecting individuals and organizations, producers with buyers, and by providing a conduit for effective communication and collaboration.
2. Helping raise funds for organizations.
3. Provide education and training to help organizations build their capacity to create the sustainable equitable food system we envision.
4. Evaluating and measuring the collective impact of all the various similar efforts, projects, businesses in Wisconsin.
5. Informing policy that create and benefit the sustainable equitable food system we envision.

Click here to learn more about the WLFN, who we are, what we do, and how we do it.

Please get involved and continue to stay informed via this website and WLFN listserve.

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#

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

GAYLE WORLAND | gworland@madison.com | 608-252-6188 |Posted: Sunday, October 2, 2011 11:00 am

The 10-day Fermentation Fest that begins Friday near Reedsburg is being  marketed in cities such as Chicago, Minneapolis and Milwaukee as, at the very  least, an autumn drive through some of the prettiest back roads in southern  Wisconsin.

But the multi-faceted event — billed as a “live culture convergence” that  celebrates the “culture” in “agriculture” — also is designed to introduce  visitors to cheesemakers and writers, picklers and sculptors.

In other words, a rich, bubbling mix of farmers, foodies and artists.

“We call it Fermentation Fest because the concept of fermentation includes  thought and philosophy and poetry, as well as beer and chocolate and wine and  bread,” said Donna Neuwirth, whose organic vegetable farm and artist retreat  near Reedsburg, the Wormfarm Institute, is helping to get Fermentation Fest off  the ground.

Read more here