Consumer demand for locally grown and processed foods was a widely acknowledged trend before the recession hit last fall. And it doesn’t appear to be tapering off.
“If anything, it’s got people thinking even more—how can I support my local economy?” says Lois Federman, who direct markets beef from her farm outside Mineral Point.
In her day job at the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP), Federman runs the state’s 26-year-old brand, Something Special from Wisconsin™. This fall, she’s partnering with the Wisconsin Grocers Association, UW Extension, and Thrive to enhance the program’s impact in the retail grocery sector.
The initiative will officially launch this Saturday, September 19, from 9am-1pm at Miller & Sons Supermarket in Verona. The event will include product demos by “Something Special” members and an outdoor farm stand featuring organic produce provided by Keewaydin Farms of Viola.
New point-of-sale materials, a stand-alone website, radio ads, YouTube videos and an aggressive recruitment effort have pumped new life into the brand and caught the interest of a wide range of companies.
“Every grocery owner and manager we’ve met with has been excited about this program,” says Greg Lawless, Director of Agriculture Initiatives at Thrive. “They love the new signs. They want to make this work.”
Processors who have joined Something Special this summer include Sugar River Dairy, Blue Farm Organic Corn Chips, Hooks Cheese, Rushing Waters Trout, Sassy Cow Creamery, Tomato Mountain, and Schoep’s Ice Cream.
Having respected local distributors like L&L Foods and Alsum Produce join the program has raised credibility with grocers, and some of them are starting to join too-- including Metcalfe’s in Madison, Millers in Verona, and Franks County Market in Jefferson.
Another new Something Special member is Local Dirt, a Madison-based internet company that launched in 2009. Local Dirt enables farms and food processors to manage real-time inventories on-line and sell directly to local groceries, restaurants and institutions.
For a complete list of Something Special from Wisconsin™ members, visit www.somethingspecialwi.com.
For more information, contact Lois Federman at DATCP or Greg Lawless at Thrive.
