There is growing consumer interest in dairy products from grass-fed cows. Consumers are increasingly aware of the environmental, health and taste benefits of eating dairy and other animal products from livestock fed using managed grazing. If this interest translates into demand, it may open new value-added markets for farmers who use managed grazing. [...more]

Case studies of four innovative enterprises—Country Natural Beef, CROPP/Organic Valley, Shepherd’s Grain and Red Tomato—offer models of how mid-sized farms and ranches can prosper through producing and selling high-quality, differentiated food products into a variety of markets. [...more]

Whether you are cooking at home or enjoying a meal out on the town, the 2009 Southern Wisconsin Farm Fresh Atlas can steer you to local, sustainably grown food. The 2009 edition will be available for free in Madison and across southern Wisconsin beginning April 18. [...more]

CIAS houses the Great Lakes Region Farm to School Program Network, one of eight regional lead agencies of the National Farm to School Program. Its mission is to institutionalize and catalyze farm to school programs in order to provide viable models for improving the economic sustainability of family-scale farmers and supporting child nutrition efforts. [...more]

Eating locally is going mainstream. For years, committed eaters have gone out of their way to source local food from farmers’ markets, farms, roadside stands and Community Supported Agriculture drop-off sites. With more and more people wanting to incorporate local food into their meals, however, how do we make local food affordable and convenient for [...] [...more]

If you‘re into locally grown food, southern Wisconsin is a great place to be. With farmers’ markets every day of the week, pick-your-own farms, Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms, and grocery stores and restaurants that offer local fare, the only trick is to find them all. And that’s really no trick, thanks to the newly released [...] [...more]

The UW-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems has been awarded a grant from the Ira and Ineva Reilly Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment that will help feed Wisconsin’s growing appetite for locally grown food. The project will look at tackling distribution challenges that make it difficult to get more regionally grown food into mainstream grocery chains. [...] [...more]

Support local food, farms and communities. Take the Wisconsin Eat Local Challenge from September 14-23. During these ten days, spend at least 10% of your food budget on locally grown and locally made foods. If local food is new to you, then 10% of your food budget is an easy starting point. If you spend [...] [...more]

The last decade has seen rapid growth in the number of farm-to-school initiatives in the United States. Despite the proliferation of farm-to-school programs and the significant energy and resources that have gone into their implementation, there have been few systematic assessments of these initiatives. We use the experience of the Wisconsin Homegrown Lunch [...] [...more]

Printer-friendly version (PDF) How do you get kids to eat their vegetables? Americans are bombarded with news about childhood obesity and the importance of replacing junk food with healthier fare. But this is no easy task when children are enticed with empty calories by advertisers, restaurants and even schools. When you look at the big picture, [...] [...more]