The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) announced 10 Wisconsin companies — two in the New North — will receive a DATCP Buy Local, Buy Wisconsin (BLBW) grant in 2023.
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 fruits and vegetables, hazelnut products, locally grown grain and other value-added products.
“These grants play an important role in strengthening the tie between Wisconsin’s food producers and consumers, thus ensuring more Wisconsinites can gain access to local foods,” said DATCP Secretary Randy Romanski. “The awarded companies will have the opportunity to use these funds to expand their operations and improve the local food marketplace across the state.”
DATCP received 24 funding requests totaling more than $784,000. The two New North grant recipients and their planned projects are:
Park Ridge Organics, Fond du Lac
Improve product branding, enhance farm store customer shopping experience, and launch new wholesale prepackaged product options.
Sullivan Family Farm, Manitowoc
Increase production with season extension infrastructure and expand into new wholesale markets.
Other grants recipients include: Together Farms, Mondovi; Rock Ridge Orchard, Edgar; Artisan Grain Collaborative, Madison; BFF Kombucha, Spencer; Ourganic Farms, Watertown; American Hazelnut Company, Gays Mills; Graves Family Orchard, Brownsville; Bayfield Regional Food Producers Cooperative, Washburn.
Since its inception in 2008, 571 applications have been submitted for Buy Local, Buy Wisconsin grants, requesting a total of more than $19.8 million in funding. Of those applications, 112 projects have been funded, totaling more than $2.8 million. Previous grant recipients have generated more than $13.89 million in new local food sales, created and retained more than 406 jobs, and benefited more than 4,800 producers and 4,972 markets.
