Scaling up our Foodshed - developing a regional food hub

It’s been almost two years since the Vernon Economic Development Association (VEDA) acquired the former NCR building, a 100,000 square foot facility and its fifteen acres of land on the north side of Viroqua.

Since that time Sue Noble, executive director of VEDA, has been working tirelessly pulling together the financial pieces to support the vision of a regional food hub.

In September of 2010, the US Economic Development Administration (EDA) awarded the project a grant for $2 million for structural renovations. This includes items such as dock repair, roof repair, new wiring, new plumbing, new HVAC and upgrading restrooms.

Last month VEDA closed on a $2.3 million financing package including a $1.7 million Midwest Disaster Area Bond and involving five banks across three counties. The bond money finances build-outs for the tenant areas, which is not covered by the EDA award. Now that the finances are in order, work on the building is moving forward.

This project demonstrates the function and value of an economic development organization in growing our local economy. VEDA is able to access and leverage many financial tools and resources in order to benefit local businesses that are not otherwise available to them.

Within the next few months, Fifth Season Cooperative will become a tenant in VEDA’s regional food center, utilizing the infrastructure to aggregate, store and distribute local produce to the institutional markets. Fifth Season Cooperative is a multi-stakeholder cooperative made up of producers, producer groups, food processors, distributors, and buyers from the 7 Rivers Region. Their goal is to build a robust regional food system that supports a healthy environment, a strong economy, and thriving communities.

Since Fifth Season Co-op’s incorporation in August 2010 the board of directors has been meeting bi-weekly to address policies and procedures, pricing, staffing, distribution, financials and just recently hired an operations manager. A business plan, prospectus, marketing brochure and website  have all been developed. Software is in place to develop grow-plans with producers, track value-added processing and all sales transactions of the cooperative.

If you want to get in on the ground floor of an exciting opportunity that supports the local economy, consider joining the Fifth Season Co-op as a Community Supporter and invest in the co-op. Your financial partnership builds up our regional food system. To learn more, contact Nicole Penick at 608-637-3615 or vsnnicole@gmail.com