Posted: 02.01.2012

The Wisconsin Farmers Union will be taking the lead on developing a business plan for a regional foods packing house in the Madison area.

You can listen to the interview with Dane County Executive Director, Joe Parisi, here.  He told Pam Jahnke that the county will provide staff assistance through UW-Extension plus $28,000 in county money for the development of a business plan.  The Wisconsin Farmers Union will specifically work on developing the plan, and looking for regional partners with interest.

Parisi says their survey's show that a regional food packing house in the Madison area could generate $18 million of transactions annually and move 800,000 pounds of locally produced foods a week during the growing season.

Parisi says he views the project as a win-win situation. "This is one of those issues that really brings the rural, urban and suburban together.  We have different hospitals, schools - different people from all walks of life and all types of businesses that see the benefit in this kind of project.  It's really nice to see,"

Parisi says the group is excited about getting this project moving.  He says they're hoping that once the business plan's been developed, that they'll be able to break ground on an actual facility that could act as the regional food packing hub.

Parisi says he's very impressed that, despite all the enthusiasm for the project, we're not going to "jump off a cliff" before they have the true business facts in place.  He said he'll be monitoring the project not only for short-term growth, but long term viability as well.

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