Organic Agriculture in Wisconsin: 2005 Status Report

Posted February 2006

Wisconsin continues to be a national leader in organic food production, despite the fact that certified organic farms, acreage and production represent only a small fraction of agriculture in the state. This report provides a snapshot of the current status of organic agriculture in Wisconsin, and summarizes some of the opportunities and challenges in the organic marketplace. In it, we discuss recent state government involvement in organic agriculture in Wisconsin. It also summarizes statistics on organic agricultural production in Wisconsin and presents research on organic processing and marketing.

Read a summary of this report (pdf file)

Read the full report (pdf file)

Download selected figures from the report (high resolution .jpg files):

Vegetable Storage Crops Workshop

Learn how to extend your marketing season by growing and selling winter storage crops like carrots, beets, winter squash, cabbage, potatoes, onions, garlic and more. This workshop will be held on December 4 in Hudson and December 11 in Madison. For details, see the workshop flyer. Hope to see you there!


CIAS in the community

CIAS Hosts Annual Meeting of Eco-Apple Growers

On Thursday, November 12, CIAS hosted its annual meeting of apple growers engaged in its Eco-Apple pesticide reduction program. Notably, the group of 48 growers celebrated the successful completion of a six-year effort designed to reduce the use of pesticides on orchards throughout Wisconsin. During the course of the program, all reporting orchards demonstrated a reduced reliance on pesticides in favor of a diversity of IPM strategies, and some realized a near-total elimination of organophosphate applications. CIAS thanks its team of growers for their enthusiastic and committed participation. In particular, CIAS wishes to thank Dave Flannery, Wendy Schafer, Bill Stone and Anna Maenner for their fortitude in seeing this phase of the project through to a successful conclusion. UW rsearchers Dan Mahr, Patty McManus, Matt Stasiak and Teryl Roper have been critical to the project’s success. Thanks also to EPA-V and the USDA for their support and encouragement.

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