Local and Regional Food Distribution Project
The Local and Regional Food Distribution project was developed in response to a rise in inquiries from Wisconsin farmers looking for high-volume local markets and wholesale buyers seeking reliable local suppliers. The project has worked to support a variety of emerging regional distribution systems to provide a diverse array of Wisconsin producers with the means to deliver their product to high-volume markets. They have done this by facilitating conversations between producers and buyers, producing case studies of successful aggregation and distribution models, and educating Wisconsin growers and agricultural entrepreneurs about innovations for overcoming the major barriers to reaching local mainstream markets.
Outcomes
The project’s case study research culminated in the publication of Scaling Up: Meeting the Demand for Local Food. The publication identifies eight recurring challenges to scaling up local food distribution as well as innovations that have emerged to address them. The Baldwin project has also yielded a number of other positive outcomes through its network development, including expansion of the amount of local food sold to grocery stores in southern Wisconsin. UW Madison staff and faculty and partners from other UW campuses also helped to identify how local food can be integrated into sustainability practices on campus and a new model was created for expanding the use of Integrated Pest Management. In additon, private sector partners in collaboration with UW-EX created outreach and education materials to help local growers increase business profitability in local markets.
Focus Areas
Project Leader
Brent McCown
Gottschalk Distinguished Professor of Cranberry Research
- Department/Unit
- Department of Horticulture
- School or College
- College of Agricultural and Life Sciences