Farm Fresh Atlas accepting applications

Photo by kconnors via morgueFile.com

The 2011 Farm Fresh Atlas of Southeastern Wisconsin is accepting applications now for farms and local farm businesses who wish to advertise their products and services.  The Atlas will include a map and guide listing farms such as Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farms, U-Pick operations, and farmers’ markets in Kenosha, Racine, Walworth, Rock, Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee, Washington, Dodge and Jefferson Counties. Farms outside of the targeted counties can be included if they sell their products within these target counties.

Tim Fulton from Old Corbett Road Apiary in Kenosha has a listing in the Farm Fresh Atlas of Southeastern Wisconsin.  He states “The Atlas has been a surprising resource for our business. We always ask where customers heard of us and the Atlas is bringing more and more attention every year. We’ve even gotten calls from Illinois directed to us by the Atlas.”

“The Farm Fresh Atlas is very important to our business,” said Karol Nieman, who, along with Shirley Young, operate Young Earth Farm, a small-scale organic farm in Randolph, Wisconsin.  With advertising dollars tight, the two regard their listing as one of their best values for promoting their business.

“The Farm Fresh Atlas helps educate customers on a basic level, so a farmer can instead concentrate on producing crops,” Nieman said.  “The Farm Fresh Atlas has sparked interest in local foods for many who otherwise may have never realized how close they are to fantastic food sources around the state.”

“The Atlas has brought us newly loyal customers interested in CSA, our farmers’ markets, and also the occasional customer looking for seasonal bulk items for canning and freezing,” Neiman said.

Any food related business that supports farmers such as cheese factories, food co-ops, restaurants, bakeries, meat processors and others can participate as business sponsors.

All farms and businesses that list in the hard copy version will also have their information on the website: http://www.farmfreshatlas.org/southeast/.

Approximately 80,000 Atlases will be printed and distributed for free in 2011.  They can be found in area health food stores, libraries, farmers’ markets, participating farms and businesses, and through tourism and convention bureaus and the like.

The cost to list a farm in the Atlas is $50. Businesses listings are $175. There will be ad space available as well. Applications must be returned by December 3rd, 2010 and Atlases will be available for distribution beginning in March of 2011.

For more information or to request application materials, contact Rose Skora, Agriculture Educator for Kenosha/Racine Counties UW-Extension at 262-857-1945, or rose.skora@ces.uwex.edu.  It is possible to register and pay on-line at http://www.farmfreshatlas.org/southeast/.