“From the Northwoods to the Fox Valley to the Driftless Area, I’m grateful our partners like Sen. Baldwin are helping bring investments home to Wisconsin to support our farmers and their families, bolster our state’s critical supply chain, build food resilience, and, importantly, help make sure our state’s proud agricultural tradition continues for generations to come.”
-Gov. Evers
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced it has partnered with the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) to award $3.1 million for 41 projects through the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program (RFSI) to strengthen local and regional food systems.
Through this program, DATCP will fund 41 projects with Equipment Grants to support middle of the supply chain infrastructure. Additional projects are still being reviewed and will be announced soon.
“We have a proud tradition of agriculture here in Wisconsin, and it’s critically important that we’re able to get food from our farms and producers to our grocery stores, restaurants, and kitchen tables across our country and the world over,” said Gov. Evers. “From the Northwoods to the Fox Valley to the Driftless Area, I’m grateful our partners like Sen. Baldwin are helping bring investments home to Wisconsin to support our farmers and their families, bolster our state’s critical supply chain, build food resilience, and, importantly, help make sure our state’s proud agricultural tradition continues for generations to come.”
Examples of funded projects include:
- Heartland Craft Grains, a family-owned farmstead mill and grain processor near Lodi, WI, will purchase equipment to automate the handling, batching, and dispensing of their finished, value-added processed grains into packaging. These ingredients are then used to add value, flavor and nutrition to other food businesses, such as bakeries, restaurants, tortillerias, pasta makers, brewers and distillers, and more.
- The Sokaogon Chippewa Community in Crandon, WI, will purchase manoomin (wild rice) processing and storage equipment to provide opportunities for at least 20 underserved, tribal producers. Manoomin production capacity is currently severely limited by lack of larger-scale, collective processing equipment. This project is part of a set of proposals coordinated by the Great Lakes Intertribal Food Coalition (GLIFC) designed to form a statewide network of mid-supply-chain infrastructure-supporting economic opportunities for underserved producers across the state.
