Our Mission: Cultivating connections with communities to build a resilient local food system.
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The REAP Timeline
2025
REAP continues to to connect eaters, producers, buyers, community members, and policy makers. From helping lead the statewide effort to provide free school meals for all students, to drafting a Food Plan that listens to all voices across Dane County, REAP remains committed to building a food system that nourishes all.
2020
COVID abruptly changed REAP's programming. We lost our ability to reach students in classrooms through AmeriCorps, but gained a community through direct aid programs like Farms to Families in collaboration with Roots4Change. When the nation faced bare grocery store shelves, we we dug into our efforts to strengthen the local food supply chain.
2013
Growing interest in local food and sustainability from our community and staff helped REAP grow by adding more annual events, and programs like Buy Fresh Buy Local and Farm to School. We also changed our name and officially became REAP Food Group, no longer an acronym.
2002
REAP volunteers created the Farm Fresh Atlas in partnership with the UW Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems (CIAS) and the Dane County Farmers’ Market. The online version launched in 2017 at farmfreshatlas.org.
1999
Planning for the Food For Thought Festival begins. For the first time, all of the passionate people and groups engaged in sustainable food work presented together publicly, raising awareness of what it means to build a sustainable food system.
1997
REAP Food Group was originally founded under the name Dane County Research, Education, Action and Policy on Food Group. A diverse group of academics, elected officials, and citizens concerned about food issues came together to discuss galvanizing civic engagement through local sustainable food.