Category Archives: Technical Assistance/Funding

Increasing capacity in the tri-state area

Iowa State Extension just hired Brittany Bethel as the new Regional Foods Coordinator for Eastern Iowa and the tri-state area of IA, WI and IL. She writes,

” We have a vibrant community of farmers, consumers, institutions and agencies dedicated to promoting the use of local foods, and many resources for people interested in the nutritional, environmental and economic benefits of using more food produced in our region. I will be promoting promote resources, partners and programs that will support the further growth of our local foods community.

My position is supported by the Limestone Bluffs  RC&D and the Dubuque County ISU Extension.  The deliverables include: Producer Inventory, Local Food Buyer List, Email Distribution (to share events, information, and news), Training Events, Stakeholder Meetings, Business Development Activities and Development of a Regional Food System Expansion Plan.  Other organizations involved include Buy Fresh, Buy Local-River Bend and Dubuque Eats Well RFSWG.”

Sign up for their site – she is posting many local events that may be of interest, especially for those in the Dubuque area.

Welcome Brittany!

FCI commits $5mil to Wisconsin

Forward Community Investments is committing $5mil to support sustainable agriculture business development in Wisconsin.

The Sustainable Agriculture Loan Program will finance the growth and development of mission-based organizations and cooperatives participating in sustainable agriculture businesses and delivering environmental and social benefit to low-to-moderate income communities in Wisconsin.

Eligible borrowers will include nonprofit mission-based organizations, cooperatives and, eventually, for-profit small businesses operating in or supporting sustainable. This loan option might be right for you right now if you are a:
• cooperative;
• regional land trust promoting farmland conservation efforts;Wheat-sunrise 000
• nonprofit aquaponic enterprise selling to regional markets;
• nonprofit engaged in supplying, distributing to and serving organic or small farms;
• nonprofit developing markets for local and in-state agricultural products;
• nonprofit food producer primarily using products from small farms in Wisconsin; or
• food processing, storage, or distribution nonprofit enterprise working primarily with small farms.

FCI just appointed our esteemed colleague, Will Hughes, to manage this program. Congratulations Will!

Appalachian Food Systems Work

Appalachia is similar to the Driftless in many ways – multi-state, geography, transportation, communications, even culture. So is it any surprise they are actively developing their regional food economy, too? Check out this conference web site to see what people are talking about, who is organizing good works, and how they are funding the work.

Want to sell wholesale?

Looking for a buyer? The Local Food Expo has a couple of display areas for you at its meeting next Tuesday, September 18. Hosted by the Institutional Food Marketing Coalition, this event brings buyers and sellers together to swap business cards and learn about their mutual interests and concerns around wholesaling food grown in our region. They are especially interested in meat and cheese vendors. To register for the meeting. reserve a display table or learn more, go to www.ifmwi.org. Register now!

Need legal?

A colleague of many of ours at CIAS – Rachel Armstrong -  finished law school and set up a legal consultancy business, targeted at farmers. Farm Commons blog has some information that may be useful to you as you start or revamp your business.

For all you CSAers, Rachel is conducting a webinar on December 10th about the legal issues in running a CSA farm. The webinar will emphasize structuring volunteer programs in particular- unpaid interns, worker shares, or casual volunteers- while covering business legal issues in general for the CSA farm.

 

Publication outlines ISU resources for Local Foods

If you think local food stops at the Saturday morning farmers market, think again. Iowa State University offers a host of organizations, programs and classes related to local food systems.

From a year-round class where students earn college credit while operating a direct-market vegetable enterprise, to a 12-week Homegrown Lifestyle course for Iowans who want to produce food in a way that sustains the environment, Iowa State University offers a variety of resources for people interested in local foods. Other examples include an online database to help businesses locate food products and the farmers who grow them, as well as a consortium of Iowa winemakers whose products have passed extensive quality tests.

All are outlined in a new directory published by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, “Learning About Local” at ISU. The directory lists 28 programs and 35 graduate and undergraduate classes that have a local foods component or could be applied to local food production and marketing.

Click here to see the directory.

New retail and small business specialist (ISU Extension)

From Iowa State University’s Extension and Outreach:

Ron Prescott wants Iowans to know that Iowa State is a great source of research on retail trade. As the new retail and small business specialist with ISU Extension and Outreach, Prescott is building relationships with Iowa communities and their small businesses. Anyone interested in receiving assistance in interpreting and using retail trade analysis data can contact Prescott at 515-294-5862 or rprescot@iastate.edu .
 
Prescott also will be working with the Community Vitality Center on the creation of food hubs. He will be developing and then implementing a model in which locally grown food is packaged and distributed to larger markets without sacrificing quality.