Wisconsin Local Food Purchase Assistance Program (WI LFPA)
The WI LFPA program aims to strengthen local and regional food systems, support Wisconsin farmers, and distribute fresh nutritious foods to underserved communities. Marbleseed is working with project partners Wisconsin DATCP, Wisconsin Farmers Union and the Wisconsin Food Hub Cooperative to provide program development, coordinate transportation and logistics, and procure food from local producers. For more information about the program, please see the WI LFPA Website.
Marbleseed contracts with farmers and will distribute grants ranging from $5,000-$25,000 to farmers via pre-season contracts based on farmer driven prices.
A total of $2.3 million dollars is available to farmers for food purchasing 80% of farmer grant funding is designated for BIPOC, beginning, and veteran farmers.
Marbleseed Technical Assistance
Marbleseed WI LFPA Specialists Tay Fatke or Nou Thao will provide technical assistance to WI LFPA producers throughout the duration of the program including: Food safety, Supply chains, Institutional and wholesale markets, Farm and business planning, Efficiencies, Meeting contract obligations.
2024 WI LFPA Applications are now closed!
Funding decisions and contract agreements for food purchases will be sent by December 15th, 2023. Contracts will be executed and made public in mid-January. Contracted farmers will have the opportunity to attend a meeting in La Crosse, Wisconsin on February 22, 2024.
WI LFPA Events 2024
Wisconsin’s Local Food Purchase Assistance Program (WI LFPA) has announced a series of public events. These events have a goal of building connections between local food system and hunger relief network partners and providing education for farmers’ success in expanding production for supplying food banks, pantries, and community food access efforts. Below is our 2024 schedule!
View the WI LFPA website's full calendar here.
Farm to Food Access Aggregation & Distribution Webinar
May 30 | 2 - 4 p.m. | Online
As local food systems in Wisconsin continue to grow, so does the need for aggregation and distribution services across the state. Learn from farmers that have added aggregating and distributing others’ farm products into their business model.
Presenters Tracy Vinz of Olden Organics, Shawn Bartholomew of Chippewa Valley Produce, Rufus Haucke of Keewaydin Farms and Heather Toman of Full Circle Community Farm will describe how they balance farming and transporting products from other farmers. They will also cover the vehicles they use, best communication practices with growers and buyers, and how they work with food access programs around the state.
Additionally, Sheri Howard of Seasonal Harvest, LLC will discuss their process for working with farms, specifically how products are listed and sold through Seasonal Harvest, packaging and labeling requirements, and distribution.
Register here.
From Basic to Better (to Best) – Wash/Pack Area Construction
June 5 | 4 - 7 p.m. | Sinsinawa Mound Collaborative Farm
Good post-harvest handling is essential for food safety as well as the appearance and shelf life of your market produce. It doesn’t take a lot of time or money to get started on improving your own farm’s cleaning and packaging. Join us to take at look at how Sinsinawa Mound Collaborative farmers are continuously improving their collective and individual capacity to cool, clean and package the produce they grow and sell.
We’ll see how different cooling and washing methods can be employed from the field to the packshed. With minor investments, farmers can begin to implement good post-harvest practices to ease their workload and improve harvest quality. The farmers at Sinsinawa showcase the creative use of common tools and everyday objects to make harvests easier and more efficient while improving the quality of their produce.
Register here.
Contact our WI LFPA Specialists with questions
sara.mooney@marbleseed.org
715-309-5918 Ext. 716
nou.thao@marbleseed.org
715-309-5918 Ext. 713