Building a Stronger Local Food System, 25 Years and Counting

By REAP Food Group

REAP Food Group has spent the past 25 years focused on the same goal: to nourish the roots that allow communities, economies and lives to thrive. From our new perch on the second floor of the historic Garver Feed Mill on Madison’s east side, our work continues to evolve.

Farm to School

Understanding that Farm to School works best in conjunction with strong school nutrition programs, REAP partners with area schools to support their individual needs, while assisting in research and advocating for local, state and federal policies that benefit students and school nutrition programs as a whole. Our current priority, Healthy School Meals for All Wisconsin, would provide universal free meals to all Wisconsin students.

Through a longstanding partnership with Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD), REAP has worked to feed the students with knowledge and curiosity. The REAP Farm to School Snack provides a weekly fruit or veggie snack to elementary schools participating in the MMSD Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program. Throughout 2022, interactive virtual farm tours and local foods celebration videos, produced through a USDA grant with MMSD, brought farms to the classroom.

Farm Fresh Atlas

Since 2002, the Farm Fresh Atlas has showcased local food growers, producers and processors committed to building a stronger local food system in Wisconsin. In an effort to streamline all five Atlas regions operating independently throughout the state, REAP will create a single, comprehensive resource servicing all its Wisconsin member farms and food businesses.

By expanding the Farm Fresh Atlas’s services, REAP Food Group hopes to more seamlessly connect consumers to local food, increase demand for specialty crops, and enhance marketing and networking opportunities for our growing roster of members.

Dane County Food Collective

The same hospitality workers who feed and serve our communities also need to feel nourished. The Dane County Food Collective (DCFC), established in 2021, addresses the needs and concentrates the efforts of service industry workers, farmers, nonprofit organizations and community members to improve the well-being of food system professionals through advocacy, resource-sharing, health and wellness efforts and collective action.

When you support REAP, DCFC’s fiscal sponsor, you allow us to further our mission to transform the food system by building meaningful relationships and bolstering the efforts of like-minded food systems organizations, like DCFC.

Make a donation today at reapfoodgroup.org/give

When summer rolls around, there’s nothing we want to do more than pile a dozen different vegetables into a bowl and call it lunch. Pair raw, roasted or gently sautéed veggies with a grain (maybe even a local one!) and that dream is complete. Enjoy these simple, nourishing summer grain salads on their own or add fried eggs, tofu or some grilled fish if you need a bit more heft.