FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 11, 2025
Contact: Kelly Mella, Public Information Officer, (608) 440-0294, kelly.mella@wisconsin.gov
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MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) announced 11 Wisconsin companies received nearly a quarter of a million dollars total in 2024 Buy Local, Buy Wisconsin (BLBW) Grants to help grow the local food economy.
BLBW is a competitive grant program designed to strengthen Wisconsin's agriculture and food industries by helping farms and businesses more efficiently process, market, and distribute locally grown food products. BLBW grants provide consumers with access to more Wisconsin-grown food products, including organic vegetables, hops varieties, hazelnut products, locally grown grain, and other value-added products.
"Buy Local, Buy Wisconsin grants help diverse sectors of Wisconsin food producers sell their products to local distributors, which in turn helps Wisconsin communities get access to more local foods," said DATCP Secretary Randy Romanski. "We are pleased to help support the innovative projects funded in this round."
DATCP received 24 applications requesting more than $761,000 total. The grant recipients and their planned projects, totaling $248,840, are:
- B&E's Trees, LLC, dba Embark – Increase Wisconsin Local Food Sales by Exploring Wisconsin with Wisconsin Maple Energy
- Driftless Farms, LLC – Expanding the Impact of Local Maple Products
- Fondy Food Center, Inc. – Advancing Milwaukee's Hmong Urban Farming Economy: Value-Added Agricultural Products Pilot
- GreenGold Gardens, LLC – Fresh from the Garden to Your Kitchen Table
- Hundred Acre, LLC – Scaling up Pesto with Purpose
- Laxey Creek Sheep Ranch, LLC – Raising Local Lamb for Local Markets: Replacing Imported Lamb with Wisconsin-Grown Lamb
- May Hill Farm – Regenerative Farm Marketing Expansion
- Misty Dawn Farm – Agroforestry Food Forest: Demonstration Farm and Processing Facility
- Ney's Premium, Inc. – Seal and Freeze Project
- Philadelphia Community Farm, Inc. – Direct to End-User Expansion and Demonstration of Mid-Scale Production for Emerging Farmers
- Vitruvian Farms, LLC – Expanding Promotion and Distribution of Locally Grown, Produced, and Aggregated Food from Vitruvian Farms to Wisconsin communities
Since the inception of BLBW in 2008, more than 600 applications have been submitted for the grants, requesting a total of more than $21 million in funding. Of those applications, 128 projects have been funded, totaling more than $3.227 million. Previous grant recipients have generated more than $14.7 million in new local food sales, created and retained 544 jobs, and benefited more than 5,600 producers and 5,500 markets.
For more information on DATCP's Buy Local, Buy Wisconsin Grants, visit https://datcp.wi.gov/Pages/BuyLocalBuyWisconsinGrants.aspx.