All Goals, Strategies, and Actions

Below is a summarized listing of all 7 goals. Go to Planning for Action: Goals and Strategies for more detailed information.

Goal 1: Collaboration

Creating a more interconnected local food system by building social infrastructure that fosters opportunities for collaboration.

Actions

Integrate Food System Action Plan goals and strategies into work and strategic plans of backbone organizations.
Strengthen shared functions and pursue funding opportunities based on collective impact.

Strategy 1.2: Connect Plans That Address or Relate to Food Systems Work

Actions

Build Food System Action Plan recommendations into future plans and planning efforts, including organizational strategic plans, city/county plans of work, food council action plans, and future comprehensive planning efforts.
Facilitate partnerships between organizations working on farmland preservation in order to collaborate toward shared goals.
Monitor emergence of new plans and related documents for future updates to the Dane County Food System Action Plan.

Strategy 1.3: Align Food Systems Advocacy Efforts

Actions

Enhance opportunities for residents to engage with the Madison Food Policy Council and Dane County Food Council, both as prospective members and as community members interested in these topics.
Promote public involvement in community-led organizations like the Dane County Food Collective.
Identify more local food system leadership opportunities for systemically-excluded community members.
Strengthen opportunities for ongoing public engagement, input, and feedback on food system projects and programs.

Strategy 1.4: Increase Focus on Food Systems Across Local Government

Actions

Develop a food system intergovernmental collaborative, where staff across multiple agencies can convene to monitor progress on Food System Action Plan goals and implementation.
Align city and county government grant programs related to food systems with Food System Action Plan objectives.
Create a Food Policy Director position within the City of Madison or Dane County government.
Explore greater partnership and shared leadership between Madison and Dane County food councils.

Strategy 1.5: Increase Communication, Data-Sharing, and Education

Actions

Identify key data sources and metrics for monitoring the implementation and progress of the Dane County Food System Action Plan.
Increase shared communications amongst government agencies, non-profits, businesses, and the general public in relation to food systems needs and progress.
Invest in information technology to track metrics, increase communication, and report on progress.
Create opportunities for food system leadership and skill development.

Goal 2: Production

Increasing production of food in Dane County, prioritizing the needs of local consumers.

Actions

Increase access to larger agricultural plots on City- and County-owned land for local food production.
Create and expand access to collaborative farming opportunities where individual or organizational land owners work with those seeking land access.
Increase support for programs designed to offset costs for systemically-excluded populations, such as organic certification or new farmer initiatives.
Encourage application of best practices for urban access to green and growing space to new housing and business developments.
Expand opportunities for urban agriculture on public land, and private spaces like lawns and rooftops.
Expand community gardens for personal use or to meet the need of food pantries.

Strategy 2.2: Increase Support for Small Farm Owners

Actions

Develop programs to offset fixed costs of farm ownership and expansion.
Provide connection to existing resources for technical assistance on agricultural topics, particularly through UW–Madison Extension resources.
Survey producers on needs for technical assistance that are not currently available.
Develop farmer training and farm incubation projects to support growth of agricultural skills and reduce barriers to entry for those interested in learning the field.
Explore opportunities for innovative use of space, such as agrovoltaics that allow for food production alongside solar energy collection.
Raise awareness of opportunities to provide public comment and input on federal rulemaking and legislative processes like the Farm Bill.

Strategy 2.3: Expand Market Access for Local Foods

Actions

Expand “farm to institution” initiatives that create linkages and address barriers between local producers and schools, hospitals, food pantries, and other businesses.
Support development of skills and investment in equipment for value-added production methods that can increase storage or appeal of local products.
Strengthen connections between local retailers and local producers.
Support growers and value-added producers to partner with marketing programs like Something Special from Wisconsin and Dane Buy Local.

Strategy 2.4: Increase Consumer Experiences With Regional Food Products

Actions

Expand school- and community-based programs that offer opportunities to grow and try local fruits and vegetables.
Increase distribution of resources and training for families to learn how to prepare local ingredients.
Create a website that hosts digital resources available to consumers related to accessing nutritious, local food.

Goal 3: Access

Improving access to affordable, healthy, and culturally-relevant food.

Actions

Support increased investment and other non-financial support for local programs that enhance small retailer opportunities to procure and sell healthy food.
Increase SNAP (FoodShare) and WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children) availability at retailers of all sizes to bring down costs and encourage stocking of the key items needed for a healthy diet.
Provide technical support to emergency food providers that are interested in improving healthy options.
Increase access to growing space and initial costs like seeds/starts, soil, and containers or raised beds that can help households grow some of their own food at home or in the community.
Improve options to address transportation barriers, such as taxi/ride-share vouchers, bulk distributions, neighborhood-based refrigerated storage lockers, grocery delivery, and mobile sales.
Invest in expanded Food as Medicine programs at area healthy care systems.

Strategy 3.2: Reduce the Costs of Producing and Selling Local Food

Actions

Explore ways to reduce costs for first-time business owners or scale fees based on projected revenues.
Offset the cost of labor for small farm and food businesses by investing in social safety nets like affordable farmworker housing, affordable childcare, or healthcare options.

Strategy 3.3: Expand Child Nutrition Initiatives

Actions

Align school nutrition programs with larger public health goals of food security and dietary/chronic disease prevention while also connecting to benefits like behavior and learning.
Invest in nutrition education at schools and community centers to replace resources lost with the recent elimination of SNAP-Education/FoodWIse.
Support districts in maximizing the number of students who can access free and reduced-price breakfasts and lunches.
Increase participation in nutrition programs during out-of-school periods like afterschool and summer.
Develop state expansions of child nutrition programs such as increased school meal reimbursements or universally-free meals.

Strategy 3.4: Increase Access to Federal Nutrition Programs

Actions

Explore state submission of federal waivers that could reduce barriers to application, participation, or program complexity.
Increase support for nutrition incentives that can enhance the buying power of individuals using SNAP and other programs, such as Double Dollars.
Expand use of Senior Farmers’ Market Voucher and WIC Farmers’ Market Voucher programs.
Increase education efforts around public benefits and where they can be used.
Increase the number of vendors across the county that accept different forms of benefit currency, including SNAP and WIC.

Strategy 3.5: Increase Skills for Personal Food Production, Preparation, and Preservation

Actions

Expand garden locations and programming at food pantries, community centers, and schools.
Create educational pathways to learn food production, culinary, and food preservation skills.
Subsidize costs of household equipment for students and families that have completed training.

Goal 4: Infrastructure

Enhancing the capacity of our regional food system.

Actions

Inventory existing infrastructure and the demand for services to project capacity needs.
Support expansion of existing facilities to meet the high level of demand.
Develop systems to network and connect existing businesses with similar operations so they can share functions and services to reduce costs.
Align institutional, governmental, and community policy and resources around the need for infrastructure investments.

Strategy 4.2: Expand Local Storage and Distribution Capacity

Actions

Increase access to decentralized spaces for medium-term cold and dry storage for the aggregation of local farm products.
Enhance distribution networks to create efficiencies in driving and route logistics for small farmers looking to offload products.
Advocate for state, federal, and private investment in new facilities that allow retail and institutional buyers to aggregate produce from a variety of farmers in order to fulfill their orders.
Invest in proven and innovative technology to extend the growing season.

Strategy 4.3: Seek Efficiencies in Local Distribution

Actions

Coordinate logistics for similar businesses to share transportation and distribution costs for recurring trips for specialty products.
Explore innovative solutions to address last mile distribution challenges, such as refrigerated lockers or local distribution points.
Work with area growers and producers to develop locally-grown and prepared foods that meet the needs of local retailers.

Strategy 4.4: Increase Production Space Availability

Actions

Inventory underutilized production spaces that could be activated during periods of low activity such as a restaurant in the morning, faith institution on a weekday, or school in the summer.
Invest in new and expanded spaces for processing of products to improve storage or create value-added products that have a longer shelf life.

Goal 5: Efficiency

Reducing and diverting waste in our food system.

Actions

Share educational materials about the scope of community food waste in home and public settings.
Provide materials to business operators to understand the financial and environmental benefits of reducing waste and donating food.
Bolster training, education, and resources to address food waste in school cafeterias and youth organizations.
Raise awareness of public resources and training on food preservation skills.

Strategy 5.2: Increase Capacity for Food Recovery Efforts

Actions

Update local materials that outline the legal, safety, and other considerations for donating food.
Invest in the coordination of community-wide gleaning efforts with organizations such as Healthy Food For All, Second Harvest, and Madison Area Food Pantry Gardens.
Conduct a community-wide appeal for new volunteers to support food recovery efforts.
Support connections with producers and organizations looking into storage and processing capacity, like the FoodShed Partnership.
Strengthen the coordination of the existing gleaning networks to improve logistics and more efficiently capture more food.

Strategy 5.3: Invest in Tools to Reduce Commercial Food Waste

Actions

Develop tools for business-to-business inventory management to limit waste before food expires.
Implement community-wide investments in volunteer recruitment for gleaning and processing of food that can be recovered for emergency food providers.
Develop processes to repurpose bulk food that is close to expiration for use as livestock or animal feed.

Strategy 5.4: Divert Organic Material From the Landfill

Actions

Expand promotion of existing food scrap drop-off locations.
Develop programs to offset some of the costs for home composting operations.
Work with homeowners and landlords to increase home composting opportunities, especially for renters.

Goal 6: Resilience

Strengthening our preparation for future food system challenges.

Actions

Expand and make permanent programs that purchase local food for emergency feeding organizations, such as Dane County’s Farms to Foodbank Initiative or the state’s Food Security and Wisconsin Products Grant Program.
Strengthen local production of products that are imported into the region, when possible.
Connect Dane County’s regional food system with other regions to enhance coordination and reduce the supply chain footprint while also creating redundancies that can support emergency needs.
Increase community-wide food production and donation through initiatives such as Grow Your Own, victory gardens, food pantry/faith-based gardens, and the national Plant a Row for the Hungry campaign.

Strategy 6.2: Align Food System Planning With Emergency Preparedness Goals

Actions

Connect strategies from production and infrastructure goals into longer-term, community-wide emergency preparedness goals.
Expand membership of Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD) to include emergency food organizations, mobile food businesses, and agricultural producers.
Identify Community Resiliency Hubs and ensure they have food distribution plans in place.
Build off the success of FEED to Go and other initiatives to develop plans for deployment of mobile food businesses and grocery delivery to reach areas of the community that could be cut off from access to food in an emergency.
Prepare for unique crises that would tax the system such as community-wide shortages of key products like infant formula, dairy, meat, or shelf-stable protein options.
Inventory the critical food resources in our community and map out scenarios for community responses if one or more were made unavailable (e.g. flooding in a supermarket or fire at a food pantry).

Strategy 6.3: Anticipate the Needs of a Growing Dane County Population

Actions

Identify future demographic trends and population growth to project future needs of emergency food providers.
Connect municipal development plans with Food System Action Plan goals to align future development with food access considerations.

Strategy 6.4: Increase Availability of Food, Funding, and Volunteers for Emergency Food Providers

Actions

Develop coordinated strategies across all food access partners for community-wide donation campaigns of both financial resources and food.
Support strategies for strengthening the capacity, training, and retention of volunteers while also recruiting new volunteers to offset the aging volunteer workforce.
Develop and expand anticipatory mutual aid strategies and infrastructure.
Build mutual aid platforms for direct person-to-person aid to food insecure families, offsetting emergency need.

Goal 7: Prosperity

Improving opportunities for sustainable food system careers.

Actions

Support innovative business plans that account for fair wages while keeping customers aware of the true costs of consumption.
Develop no-interest or forgivable loans and grant programs to offset startup fees for first-time food business owners.
Help new businesses navigate the competitive commercial rent marketplace in Dane County by encouraging creative partnerships such as lease-sharing ventures, rental of commercial kitchen space in faith-based institutions, or connecting businesses to more affordable spaces in rural Dane County.
Expand finance, marketing, and product development programming for small-business owners and entrepreneurs.

Strategy 7.2: Improve Labor Conditions and Wages in Food Service and Agriculture

Actions

Provide living wages and benefits for farm laborers, food service workers, school food service, and other full- or part-time roles.
Share impacts of overuse and incorrect application of chemical inputs such as pesticides on human health among farm-owners in the region.
Expand programs that support farmworker housing in Dane County.
Increase advocacy efforts for expansion of affordable healthcare, child care, paid family medical leave, and similar programs.
Help employers and employees navigate “benefit cliffs” to set employees up for long-term financial success.

Strategy 7.3: Develop Sustainable Career Pathways in Food Systems

Actions

Increase awareness of innovative ownership models like worker cooperatives, employee ownership and profit-sharing models that can be mutually beneficial for businesses and employees.
Invest in vocational training, youth employment opportunities, and other professional development for agricultural and food service workers.
Expand access to training and certificate programsin culinary arts, agricultural sciences, and related fields at the high school, technical school, and university levels.
Improve access to health care, childcare, paid time off, and other employment benefits.
Build personal finance programming for agricultural and food service workers and connect workers to community resources.

Strategy 7.4: Strengthen the Food Economy for Farmers, Small-Business Owners, and Their Employees

Actions

Support value chain coordination across the supply chain from farming to composting activities.
Invest in shared information technology that supports efficiencies in distribution, routing, and logistics including online marketplaces, ordering platforms, route optimization and distribution logistics, and enterprise resource planning software.
Support opportunities for networking and resource sharing between food system actors with similar roles (e.g., farmers market managers).