{"id":1468,"date":"2013-09-23T19:12:48","date_gmt":"2013-09-24T00:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uwpowerswi.com\/?p=1468"},"modified":"2015-09-08T10:54:06","modified_gmt":"2015-09-08T15:54:06","slug":"a-fresh-approach-to-fighting-hunger","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/a-fresh-approach-to-fighting-hunger\/","title":{"rendered":"A fresh approach to fighting hunger"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wisconsin has hundreds of diversified, fresh\u00a0market vegetable operations, but there\u2019s one on the outskirts of Franklin\u00a0that\u2019s in a class by itself.<\/p>\n

Most of the state\u2019s market farms are small. They grow produce on a few rural acres, rely heavily on family labor and sell at farmers markets or\u00a0roadside stands. But \u201cthe Farm,\u201d as it\u2019s simply called,\u00a0is different. It\u2019s big\u2014it grows 26 kinds of fruits and vegetables on about 150\u00a0acres\u2014and\u00a0anything but pastoral, being located on the grounds of the Milwaukee\u00a0County House of Corrections. Hundreds of people, mostly volunteers, work the\u00a0fields. And everything they harvest is given away.<\/p>\n

The Farm is operated by the nonprofit Hunger Task Force (HTF) as a way to supply fresh produce to more than 80 food pantries and meal programs in the\u00a0Milwaukee area. HTF leases the former prison farm from the county for a token fee, and with help from hundreds of community volunteers and\u00a0several dozen workers employed through its job training program, provides hunger relief sites with 350,000 pounds of everything from apples to\u00a0zucchini.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s impressive, especially considering that HTF embarked on the project some eight years ago with little expertise in\u00a0horticulture. Farm manager Rich Richardson\u2019s background is in\u00a0information technology.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s where CALS comes in. For the past few\u00a0years, CALS and UW-Extension specialists in horticulture, soils, agronomy, entomology, plant\u00a0pathology and other disciplines have been providing hands-on, in-the-field advice on topics ranging from soil fertility and weed control to\u00a0irrigation and orchard management. And CALS dairy science grad Jay Janowski BS\u00a0\u201907 is Richardson\u2019s second in command.<\/p>\n

The UW experts have been happy to help\u2014the\u00a0project not only serves a worthy cause, it also offers a unique set of challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is very ambitious. It\u2019s not a market\u00a0garden, it\u2019s a very large, diversified vegetable farm,\u201d says CALS horticulture professor Jed Colquhoun. \u201cIt\u2019s a tremendous task when you consider the number of\u00a0crops and that most of them have to be hand-harvested.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re doing a great job,\u201d agrees CALS soil\u00a0scientist Matt Ruark. \u201cLast year they were having issues with\u00a0nutrient deficiency. We reviewed their fertilizer program and helped them make adjustments. Everything looked good this year. Now we\u2019re working with them on\u00a0trying some other management practices, such as cover\u00a0cropping, to improve fertility.\u201d<\/p>\n

HTF executive director Sherrie Tussler says her organization is grateful for the help. \u201cCALS has helped us overcome many of the challenges we\u2019ve faced as new farmers,\u201d she says. \u201cThe expertise CALS provided helped us grow 350,000 pounds of fresh Wisconsin produce this past season. Hungry people in Milwaukee were fed\u2014and for this we are thankful to our friends at CALS.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more about the Farm\u2019s impact on families in need, visit www.hungertaskforce.org\/the-farm<\/em><\/p>\n

\"CALS<\/a>
CALS experts meet regularly with Hunger Task Force staff to help improve farm productivity. Jed Colquhoun (right) discusses crops with Jay Janowski BS\u201907. Photo by Sevie Kenyon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wisconsin has hundreds of diversified, fresh\u00a0market vegetable operations, but there\u2019s one on the outskirts of Franklin\u00a0that\u2019s in a class by itself. Most of the state\u2019s market farms are small. They grow produce on a few rural acres, rely heavily on family labor and sell at farmers markets or\u00a0roadside stands. But \u201cthe Farm,\u201d as it\u2019s simply […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":2307,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[103],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-1468","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-madison"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/1468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=1468"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=1468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}