The Food System Development Program was established in November 2013 to recognize and manage activities that had been occurring with direct support from Cooperative Extension for nearly two decades.

Formerly housed within the UW Center for Cooperatives and later the Agricultural Innovation Center, these activities have included over four dozen public, non-profit, university and industry partners– and counting.

FSDP is presently housed within the Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension branch of Cooperative Extension. Its purpose is to secure and manage internal and external funding to support Cooperative Extension’s role in developing food systems in Wisconsin.

Some examples of previous project activities, with start dates and primary funding sources, include:

• The Farmer-Food Buyer Dialogue Project (1995)
  • Funded by the Sustainable Agriculture Program of DATCP
• Home Grown Wisconsin Cooperative (1995)
  • Funded in part by the Agricultural Development and Diversification Program of DATCP
• River Valley Foods (1996)
  • Funded by the Agricultural Development and Diversification Program of DATCP
• Cooperatives: A Tool for Community Economic Development (1998)
  • Funded by a USDA Rural Business-Cooperative Services Grant
• Wisconsin Community Kitchen Network (1998)
  • Funded by a USDA Rural Business-Cooperative Services Grant
• The Potential Role of Cooperatives in Wisconsin’s Aquaculture Industry (2000)
  • Funded by the Wisconsin Aquaculture Advisory Council
• North Central Initiative for Small Farm Profitability (2000)
  • Funded by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (via Univ. of Nebraska)
• First Midwest Value Added Agriculture Conference (2000)
  • Funded in part by a USDA Rural Business-Cooperative Services Grant
• Direct Marketing Meat (2001)
  • Funded by the USDA’s Federal-State Market Improvement Program
• Options and Strategies for Small Farms CD (2003)
  • Funded by Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE)
• Keys to Success for Food Co-op Start Ups in Rural Areas (2005)
  • Funded by a USDA Cooperative Development Grant via Northcountry Co-op Development
• Farmer Investment Survey (2006)
  • Funded by UW-Consortium for Extension and Research in Agriculture and Natural Resources (CERANR)
• Badger AgVest LLC (Conference 2006, Conference 2007)
  • Funded in part by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (aka Kohl grant)
• First Wisconsin Local Food Summit (2007)
  • Funded in part by the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (aka Kohl grant)
• Business Feasibility: A First Cut Analysis – booklet (2007)
  • Funded by a USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture and a Rural Business Opportunity Grant
• Business Feasibility: A First Cut Analysis – video (2009)
  • Funded by the USDA’s Value Added Producer Grant Program via AgMRC
• Scaling Up: Meeting the Demand for Local Food (2009)
  • Funded by the Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment
• Madison Regional Food Incubator (2009)
  • Funded by the Wisconsin Department of Commerce
• Grocers Buy Local Project (2009)
  • Funded in part by the Madison Region Economic Partnership
• Food Business Innovation Network (2009)
  • Funded in part by the Economic Development Administration (EDA)
• Wisconsin Agri-Business Leadership Academy (2011)
  • Funded by the Workforce Development Board of South Central Wisconsin
• Sustainable Edible Economic Development (2011)
  • Funded through a contract with S.E.E.D. to support their development
• Community & Regional Food Systems Project (2011)
  • Funded by the USDA’s Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI)
• Development of an Multi-Institutional Institute for Urban Agriculture and Nutrition (2013)
  • Funded by the Growth Agenda for Wisconsin Grant Program
• Wisconsin Food Innovation Facility Opportunity Analysis (2013)
  • Funded in part by the Economic Development Administration (EDA)
• A Systems Approach to Food Waste Composting for Urban Agriculture (2016)
  • Funded by USDA’s Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SARE) Program
• Food & the Wisconsin Idea (2018)
  • Funded by UW Cooperative Extension and five UW-Madison units

Partners in the projects above included:

1. Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP), Madison
2. Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, UW-Madison
3. Cooperative Development Services, Madison
4. Wisconsin Rural Development Center, Mount Horeb
5. Michael Fields Agricultural Institute, East Troy
6. Madison Chapter of the Chef’s Collaborative 2000
7. Coulee Region Organic Produce Pool, La Farge
8. Wisconsin Chapter of the Organic Crop Improvement Association
9. Tipi Produce, Evansville (formerly Madison)
10. Home Grown Wisconsin Cooperative, Madison
11. Renaissance Farm, Spring Green
12. USDA Rural Development, Stevens Point
13. University of Nebraska, Lincoln
14. Wisconsin Aquaculture Advisory Council
15. Meat Science Department, UW-Madison
16. Survey Research Center, UW-River Falls
17. Wisconsin Agricultural Statistics Service, Madison
18. River Country RC&D, Eau Claire
19. Northcountry Cooperative Development Fund, Minneapolis
20. Wisconsin Small Business Development Center, UW Extension
21. Badger AgVest, Madison
22. Center for Community & Economic Development, UW Extension
23. Agricultural Marketing Resource Center (AgMRC), Iowa State University
24. Madison Region Economic Partnership (formerly Thrive)
25. Local Dirt, Madison
26. Wisconsin Grocers Association,Madison
27. Something Special from Wisconsin, Madison
28. Metcalfes Sentry, Madison
29. Miller’s Supermarket, Verona
30. Mountin’s Piggly Wiggly, Mayville
31. Daniels’ Sentry Foods, Janesville
32. Farm Market Kitchen, Algoma
33. Commonwealth Development, Madison
34. Leadership Wisconsin, UW Extension
35. Wisconsin Agricultural Education Foundation, Madison
36. Sustainable Edible Economic Development, Racine
37. Soil Science Department, UW-Madison
38. Growing Power, Milwaukee
39. PEOPLE Program, UW-Madison
40. Program Development and Evaluation, UW Extension
41. Cooperative Extension Publishing, UW Extension
42. Milwaukee Food Council
43. South Side Education, Access and Transformation (EAT), Milwaukee
44. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
45. Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
46. Marquette University, Milwaukee
47. Milwaukee School of Engineering, Milwaukee
48. Milwaukee Area Technical College
49. City of Milwaukee, Home Gr/own Project
50. Milwaukee County Extension
51. Urban Economic Development Association, Milwaukee
52. Organic Processing Institute, Middleton
53. Food & Beverage (FaB) Wisconsin, Milwaukee
54. Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, Madison
55. Wisconsin Business Incubator Association
56. Discover Center, UW-Stout
57. Purple Cow Organics, Middleton
58. Compost Crusaders, Milwaukee
59. Elyve Organics, Milwaukee
60. Blue Ribbon Organics, Caledonia
61. Organic Resource Enterprise Development, Milwaukee
62. Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District
63. Groundworks Milwaukee
64. Victory Gardens Initiative, Milwaukee
65. Cream City Farms, Milwaukee
66. Kaleidoscope Gardens, Milwaukee
67. St. Clare Garden, Milwaukee
68. Amy’s Acre and Hunger Task Force, Franklin
69. Contract Comestibles, East Troy
70. Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, Wauwatosa
71. Kohl’s Department Stores, Milwaukee
72. Harley-Davidson, Milwaukee
73. Kohl’s Department Stores, Milwaukee
74. Energy Exchange, Milwaukee
75. Mentoring Positives, Madison
76. Madison Area Technical College
77. School of Human Ecology, UW-Madison
78. Agroecology Masters Program, UW-Madison
79. Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, UW-Madison
80. Kaufman Lab, Dept of Planning & Landscape Architecture, UW-Madison

Videos on YouTube:

Since 2008 the staff of the former Agricultural Innovation Center and the current FSDP have created videos to disseminate knowledge and information. Entering 2017 these videos were viewed by nearly 12,000 times. Here are direct links to specific playlists:

• Food Waste Composting (Ongoing)
• Food Business Incubators in Wisconsin (2014)
• Future Food Trends (2013)
• Farm and Food Business Profiles (Ongoing)
• Local Food and Supermarkets (2010)
• Pricing Your Food Products (2010)

Select articles and publications not included in the grant project links above or on other FSDP tabs:

• Cooperative Ownership Compared to Other Business Arrangements for Multi-Family Dairy Operations (1996)
• Can Food Co-ops Work in Low Income Communities (1996)
• Innovation is a Weed (2007)
• Ten Innovations in Wisconsin Agriculture (2007)
• Ten Local Food Opportunities (2010)
• Pricing Your Products for Retail and Wholesale Markets (2010)