How did the St. Croix Valley Food Alliance get started?
Established in 2022, SCVFA is a grassroots initiative formed out of the Polk/Burnett Chapter of the Wisconsin Farmers Union(WFU). WFU currently serves as our fiscal
What inspired its formation, and who were the key founders?
In 2019, an enormous hog factory proposed a facility in Burnett County. It quickly became apparent that it would accelerate a detrimental shift towards factory farming in Northwestern WI. Many in our community stood up in strong opposition by attending countless county and township meetings, running for office, staging rallies and writing policies to protect us.
At the same time this crisis was unfolding in our community, a global crisis exposed the fragility of food supply chains that are built for an industrialized food system. It also revealed that as small-scale, direct market farmers, we were more equipped, resilient and able to feed our local community in the wake of system failure.
To address these urgent problems, several farmers from our WFU chapter organized and created a collective advocacy and marketing alliance. Key founders include Josh Bryceson, Jason Montgomery- Reese, Kristy Allen, Chris Burkhouse, Mike Noreen, Chris Tou, Molly Tulkki, and Marcia Marquardt.
What does “strengthening a local food system” mean in this region?
Strengthening a local food system means connecting local farms with local markets both in direct sales and wholesale accounts. As direct market “specialty crop” farmers, we do not receive the subsidies conventional row crop growers have benefited from for years. This creates a system where the only onramp for new farmers is to build a business from scratch and break through a highly competitive and narrow market place. Wholesale accounts have moved to larger scale farms through larger scale distributors cutting out smaller, more local farms.
We aim to create a more centralized and accessible marketing platform for our existing member farmers and to foster an expanded marketplace within our underserved rural areas. Through our community and business membership program and by identifying institutional markets, we are creating a strong brand identity for our region and a shared marketing plan. With this, we can help sustainable farmers grow while simultaneously exposing our community to the fabric of our foodshed. We believe that this will have a positive impact on our environment and curb climate change by supporting and promoting farms employing climate friendly practices.
What benefits or supports does the alliance provide?
The SCVFA identifies economic opportunities for SCVFA Farmer Members as well as collective marketing. We help bring awareness to grant opportunities to our farmers, we provide a local Winter Farmers Market 7 times per year and act as a support force of the “why” behind the SCVFA Farmers and Producers. We also host community events and mental health resources for farmers.
How do you foster collaboration among members and the broader community?
We are the connectors. You don’t have to be a farmer to become a member.. We invite the broader community (Local Food Champions) and local businesses (Partners Members) to be a more intentional part of strengthening our local farm economies. When it comes to
farm-to-school and farm-to-hospital we cultivate relationships that farmers frankly don’t have time to dedicate their time to. Our Winter Farmers Market, again, is a great place for farmers to connect with the community.
What key programs or initiatives are active right now?
This year was the pilot year of our Farmer to Food bank program. Three different SCVFA farms were able to provide 4,000 pounds of produce to the St. Croix Valley Food Bank. In collaboration with The Good Acre, Second Harvest Heartland, Whole Farm Strategies and the St. Croix Valley Food we provided $10,000 of sales between Foxtail Farm, First Acre Farm and Blackbrook Farm. In this effort we were able to provide high quality food to individuals that would not typically have access and offer an economic opportunity to the farms involved.
Due to recent SNAP/EBT cuts we’ve been focusing on our food access efforts. At our most recent Winter Farmers Market we raised funds to give $20 SCVFA bucks to all SNAP/EBT card holders. We also raised funds to support farmers in donating perishable produce to the Croix Falls food bank at the end of the market.
Our Winter Farmers Market at Abrahamson Nurseries in St. Croix Falls has been a revered addition to this community. We have outstanding attendance and this market has been an important piece of our winter well-being as a This also provides our farmer members with economic opportunity during the winter which is rare considering the stark seasonality of farming.
POP at the Winter Farmers POP puts the power of buying produce into the hands of our youth! Children receive $4-$6 worth of tokens to purchase produce directly from farmers. This is a great way for kids to meet farmers and make their own decisions around what they’d like to eat.
How do these efforts strengthen local food access or farmer wellbeing?
Each one of our efforts is considering both local food access and farmer wellbeing. The work that we do takes some of the burden of digital marketing and seeking economic opportunities off of the plate of the farmers.
We are doing our best to advocate for the wellbeing of farmers. We are currently developing mental health resources for SCVFA farmer members with a grant that we received from the St. Croix Valley Foundation. We’re starting by talking with farmers to understand their needs, so we can provide support in the most effective way .
What do you see as the long-term vision for the alliance?
Our long-term vision includes a more integrated local food system that can expand far beyond Polk and Burnett counties. We are actively raising money around our programming and to hopefully expand our team. Currently, we have one paid staff person and a volunteer board of farmers and community members. We are developing a toolkit that we hope to share with communities across the state and nation. We envision growing our membership program and partnering with other farmer focused organizations to enhance this work. The St. Croix River Valley is an ideal region for sustainable agriculture to thrive with the right support. We envision expanding markets for small, climate-conscious farmers in our region while at the same time providing a positive vision for the future of agriculture. We believe that a positive future for the St. Croix River Valley Region will rely on a strong and engaged consortium of food producers, providers, and eaters.
How can community members, consumers, or new farmers get involved?
Come to the Winter Farmers Market! Also, we have an affordable three-pronged membership program that includes Local Champion, Partner Member (for businesses) & Farmer Member. We are developing a digital passport that will be exclusively available to our Local Champion members that includes our Partner Members and Farmer Members. We are always looking for volunteers and donations to help with events and our food access work. Please contact us at scvfoodalliance@gmail.com
