Switching the produce in a Madison elementary school cafeteria from California carrots to southern Wisconsin carrots takes more than a purchase order.
Say the school district wanted to buy 500 pounds of carrots from Tipi Produce in Evansville or Vitruvian Farms in McFarland. Schools can’t accept massive amounts of full-size carrots; they don’t have the capacity to peel and chop them.
At institutions like schools and hospitals, food services workers want something minimally processed, like carrot sticks or coins. Big distributors have machines to cut carrots. Farmers don’t.
Food system advocates have been working for over a decade to close this gap between regional farms and nearby institutions full of people they could feed.
A new project taking shape on Madison’s north side is intended to address that gap. The Foodshed Partnership is a $6 million, 10,000-square-foot facility designed to receive, store, process and distribute local food.
Leading the project is Community Action Coalition of South Central Wisconsin, which owns the building at 1902 Wright St. where the market could be located, and Christy McKenzie from Pasture and Plenty, a café and meal kit provider on the near west side.
On Monday, the project received a grant for nearly $2.5 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, part of the Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program funded by President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan. The USDA grants aim to “build strength and resilience in Wisconsin’s food system, diversify agricultural markets, create new revenue streams for small and mid-sized producers, and provide economic opportunities for local communities.”
Madison’s “terminal market” is set to include space for dry storage, cold storage (refrigerator and freezer) and offices. Inside, organizers plan to install “the biggest food processor you’ve ever seen,” according to Christy McKenzie, owner of Pasture & Plenty and a partner on the project.
“It can handle everything from triple-washed soft greens, sliced and cut-up lettuces, all the way to processing roots as either shredded, julienned or chopped,” she said.
McKenzie envisions local schools, hospitals, major employers, churches and more being able to buy Wisconsin-grown tomatoes made into bagged, frozen tomato sauce, root vegetables that are par-cooked and frozen, and roasted, julienned bell peppers.
“I’m excited about the flexibility of the line,” McKenzie said. “It will allow us to work with our institutional partners to identify what ingredients make the most sense, and where they are interested and willing to spend local food purchasing dollars.
“We also can find success with the farmers and things that make sense to grow here,” she added. “We’re supporting our farmers, and thinking about how we expand their production in climate-resilient ways.”
‘The need is great’
In 2020, the city of Madison released a 132-page report on the feasibility of a Madison Terminal Market. Recommendations in that report pointed to the need for a “20,000 square foot food logistics facility.” In addition to cold storage, the report mocked up options for specialized food processing, a commissary and space for entrepreneurs.
Wisconsin Food Systems was formed in response to that 2020 report. George Reistad, a business development specialist for the city, said the study “serves as the underpinning for their (WFI’s) work and efforts to bring such a facility to our area.”
The Foodshed Partnership is similar to, but smaller than, the one envisioned in that study. Phil Kauth, executive director of REAP Food Group, called this current plan a chance to prove that a model of scaling up access to local produce can work in south central Wisconsin.
REAP and FairShare CSA Coalition are among organizational partners helping to connect farmers with the project.
“Let’s start small, prove the concept, and go bigger from there,” Kauth said. “It’s piecing all these different parts together, the equipment and people who are running the actual operation,” said Clare Stoner Fehsenfeld, who heads FairShare. “It’s a big, complex effort.
“The grant is looking for multi-prong community solutions that have new ideas and long-term impacts. I can’t imagine a project fitting in better.”
That USDA grant spans three years. In 2025, McKenzie said, the goal is to build out the space, likely at 1902 Wright St., and buy equipment like the produce processing line (fans of Mr. Rogers’ “how-are-things-made?” videos may appreciate how much it looks like a vegetable roller coaster).
Also in 2025, the team aims to launch pilot projects that will run in the space, which will need to include software for tracking inventory. By the second year, McKenzie and Community Action Coalition hope to have the facility up and running, and by year three, “we should hopefully be running at full capacity,” she said.
The Foodshed Partnership has an estimated cost of around $6 million and is not yet fully funded. The USDA grant required a match of 25% to 50% of the total budget, so FairShare, Pasture & Plenty and Community Action Coalition have all kicked in cash as well as in-kind contributions of equipment, infrastructure and staff time. They will be raising more money as working capital for the project.
McKenzie emphasized that a project like this could make local produce more broadly accessible to people who patronize food pantries, for example.
“High-quality local food shouldn’t only be accessible to people with large amounts of expendable income to essentially take food as entertainment,” she said. The goal is to “use this system to do both — to meet consumers like Epic or restaurants who want to do more local food, but also get more minimally processed fruits and vegetables into the food security networks.
“The opportunity, the need, is great.”
