REAP Food Group F2B
Save the Date for Nourishing Wisconsin: A Farm to Institution Conference!
REAP Food Group and FairShare CSA Coalition are hosting a Farm to Institution conference in Madison, WI on November 10th and 11th, 2025.
We’re scaling up local food procurement by bringing together producers and buyers from across the state to build community knowledge and identify gaps for wholesale distribution to regional institutions. We’re lucky to have so many field experts in the state, and are excited to bring the community together for a day of learning!
The conference features panels that will cover relationship-building, production planning and pricing, and wholesale business pathways. Sessions will take place on November 10th, and will be followed by a local tour on November 11th to showcase the Foodshed Partnership – an innovative new program tackling wholesale storage, processing, and distribution in Madison.
Preliminary Schedule for 11/10
9:00 AM – Registration Opens
9:30 AM – Conference Opening
10:30 AM – Farm to Public Institution Panel
Hear from DPI, DATCP and DHS
11:45 AM – Session: Initiating and Building Relationships
Are you interested in market opportunities but do not know where to start or who to connect with? Or, if you’re a buyer, are you having trouble connecting with a potential producer? Join us in this session as we will hear directly from Green Gold Gardens and Wisconsin Food Hub Cooperative on how their relationship was formed and maintained. They’ll cover networking spaces and where to join them, how to initiate with a buyer/seller, and what you should bring into the conversation.
Hear from: Ying Lo of GreenGold Gardens and Tara Roberts-Turner of Wisconsin Food Hub Cooperative
12:45 PM – Local Lunch
1:45 PM – Session: Inner Workings of Wholesale Business Pathways
How do relationships function in the wholesale realm? Should you sell directly to an institution or should you work with an aggregator or distributor? This basic difference impacts how the buyer/seller relationship works and how communications are navigated. Join us for this session to learn directly from farmers, institutions, and aggregators what can be expected in these differing paths of wholesale enterprises.
Hear from: Scott Williams of Garden to Be, Andrea Reasoner of Epic Systems, Cassie Wyss of Crossroads Community Farm, Julie & Daniel Knetter of Rock Ridge Orchard, and Wisconsin Rapids School System
3:15 PM – Session: Determining Crops, Production Planning, and Pricing
This session centers strategies and experiences around crop selection, planning for production, and setting fair prices. From deciding which crops to grow based on markets, soil, and community needs, to developing production plans that balance labor, land, and risk, this discussion will highlight real-world approaches that work on the ground. Speakers will also explore pricing methods that ensure sustainability and profitability while remaining competitive.
Hear from: Ben Auerbach of Second Harvest Foodbank, Tyler Dvorak Fifth Season Cooperative, and Andrew Johnston of Willy Street Co-Op
4:15 PM– Networking
5:30 PM– Wrap
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This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under agreement number 2024-38640-42989 through the North Central Region SARE program under project number ENC24-241. USDA is an equal opportunity employer and service provider. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and should not be construed to represent any official USDA or U.S. Government determination or policy.
