REAP Food Group
What is Farm to Business?
Our Farm to Business program works to promote and increase the success of local, sustainable food and farm businesses across the state of Wisconsin. Through fostering statewide collaboration and connections, we aim to support lasting, sustainable relationships between producers, buyers, and consumers.
Spotlight On the Farm Fresh Atlas
What Does Farm to Business (F2B) Do?
When the Farm Fresh Atlas launched in 2002, we couldn't lean on our mobile phones' Google Maps to help us navigate. The first Farm Fresh Atlas was a folded booklet printed on a sheet of newsprint with 50 farms, 11 businesses, and 20 farmers' markets put together by REAP Food Group, Dane County Farmers' Market, and UW-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems. REAP printed out a few thousand copies of the first Farm Fresh Atlas and handed them out at the local farmers markets.
Interest rapidly grew throughout the Dane County farming community, and the number of farmers listing in the Atlas quickly doubled, then doubled again. The Atlas continued to expand over the next 20 years as regional Atlases launched in Southeast, Southern Northern, Central, Eastern, and Western Wisconsin. A statewide website at FarmFreshAtlas.org launched in 2017.
By 2022 there were over 500 farms, farmers’ markets, restaurants, retail businesses and organizations across Wisconsin listed in six regional Farm Fresh Atlases. In 2024 those regions combined in a single Farm Fresh Atlas of Wisconsin, serving all 72 counties. We're thrilled at the connections the Atlas has been able to foster over the years, and will continue building that community through our 25th publication coming in 2026!
Join us for Nourishing Wisconsin: A Farm to Institution Conference in Madison, WI on November 10th and 11th, 2025. This conference brings farm to institution efforts, resources, and connections together from across the state to collaborate and learn from each other. REAP Food Group, FairShare CSA Coalition, and Wello are hosting. Visit the conference page for more detailed information!
Frustrated by the disconnect between local farmers and wholesale buyers? REAP Food Group is here to help. We created wholesaleready.org as a landing page for both buyers and sellers to assess their wholesale knowledge and find resources to improve and grow. This project was supported by the USDA Local Food Promotion Program (LFPP).
2019 LFPP - Vegetable Processing Pilot Feasibility Study