Dane County  
Minutes - Final Unless Amended by  
Committee  
Food Council  
Consider:  
Who benefits? Who is burdened?  
Who does not have a voice at the table?  
How can policymakers mitigate unintended consequences?  
Wednesday, March 20, 2024  
5:30 PM  
Hybrid Meeting: Attend in person at the Lyman  
Anderson building 5201 Fen Oak Dr; Meeting Room  
Moraine attend virtually via Zoom  
A. Call To Order  
6 -  
Present  
Chair BILL WARNER, Vice Chair SHIRLEY NENNIG, Supervisor RICHELLE  
ANDRAE, ERICA JANISCH, SEBASTIAN HASSELL, and ADDI FAERBER  
3 - CARL CHENOWETH, Supervisor MICHELE RITT, and DANIEL CORNELIUS  
Excused  
OTHERS PRESENT: YGP member Aariya Gopal, YGP member Hannah Machleidt,  
Jess Guffey Calkins, Melissa Bublitz  
B. Consideration of Minutes  
2.28.2024 FOOD COUNCIL MINUTES  
2023  
MIN-555  
Attachments: 2023 MIN-555  
A motion was made by ANDRAE, seconded by JANISCH, that the Minutes be  
approved. The motion carried by a voice vote 6-0.  
C. Public Comment on Items not on the Agenda  
Some members of the public registered to join or comment, but they haven’t joined the  
meeting.  
7 -  
Present  
Chair BILL WARNER, Vice Chair SHIRLEY NENNIG, Supervisor RICHELLE  
ANDRAE, ERICA JANISCH, DANIEL CORNELIUS, SEBASTIAN HASSELL, and  
ADDI FAERBER  
2 - CARL CHENOWETH, and Supervisor MICHELE RITT  
Excused  
D. Action Items  
A discussion was held about the final draft of the 2024-2025 DCFC Action Plan  
DCFC 2024-2025 Action Plan Final Draft  
DCFC 2024-2025 ACTION PLAN FINAL MARCH 2024  
2023  
PRES-223  
Attachments: 2023 PRES-223  
A motion was made by JANISCH, seconded by NENNIG, that the DCFC Action  
Plan be approved. The motion carried by a voice vote 7-0.  
E. Reports to Committee  
Regular Business Reports  
- Regional Food Plan (Regional Food System Partnership grant) – WARNER, Guffey  
Calkins  
RFSP/Food Plan project is in early planning phases. Project manager is Noah Bloedorn  
at REAP. Bill and Jess are involved on the core team, and will provide regular updates to  
DCFC, as well as share information about input/feedback opportunities.  
- Wisconsin Food Systems, Inc – CORNELIUS, FAERBER  
WFS submitted a RFSI grant to expand digital infrastructure for food buying.  
Addi – future month: have a conversation about awarded-RFSI grants in our community.  
FAERBER – Another RFSI grant being submitted is a partnership between REAP Food  
Group, Community Action Coalition, and Pasture & Plenty to create a terminal market  
warehouse where growers can rent space for cold storage, aggregation, a full minimal  
vegetable processing line, and food waste recovery.  
- Regional Agriculture & Food Sovereignty; Community Gardens – Guffey Calkins  
Regional Ag & Food Sovereignty (RAFS) meetings are open to all: 2nd Fridays, 1-2:30,  
zoom.  
Rooted's community gardens team, along with staff from Marbleseed, Groundswell  
Conservancy, and Fairshare CSA coalition, are partnering with the United States  
Department of Agriculture (USDA), Dane County Land Conservation District, and  
UW-Madison Extension Dane County to host a group visit to the USDA Service Center in  
Madison on April 9th from 4:00 to 7:00 PM at 5201 Fen Oak Drive, Madison, WI 53718.  
This visit will provide an introduction to farm loans, grants, conservation and financial  
assistance programs, and insurance and disaster assistance specifically for new and  
minority farmers, and specialty crop farmers. Land ownership is not a requirement to  
participate in these programs. Refreshments will be served. Interpretation services will be  
available in HMoob and Spanish. Other language interpretation is available upon request  
at registration. Additional information and registration is available at  
https://www.gofarmconnect.org/event-details-registration/dane-county-usda-office-visit-intr  
o-to-federal-ag-programs. The event will be facilitated by Go Farm Connect contractors,  
including Nicholas Leete and KO Thao. These Connectors and USDA staff will be  
available during the event to help answer questions, and will follow up with attendees  
afterward. For more questions, please contact KO Thao at 608-338-6982.  
- Food Access; Double Dollars Program – ANDRAE  
ANDRAE – the statewide Nutrition Incentive Bill passed the Senate last Tuesday. The  
governor is expected to sign it in the next couple weeks.  
6 -  
Present  
Chair BILL WARNER, Vice Chair SHIRLEY NENNIG, Supervisor RICHELLE  
ANDRAE, ERICA JANISCH, DANIEL CORNELIUS, and SEBASTIAN HASSELL  
3 - CARL CHENOWETH, Supervisor MICHELE RITT, and ADDI FAERBER  
Excused  
- City of Madison Business Development Specialist  
No report  
- Public Health Madison & Dane County – Nick Heckman via Guffey Calkins  
The recent partial budget bill passed by Congress and signed by President Biden  
provided full funding to the WIC program. Prior to this, it was unclear if WIC would be  
funded at a flat or reduced rate, which would have caused the program challenges in  
serving all eligible families.  
The Wisconsin Legislature has passed a statewide nutrition incentive bill, modeled in  
part after programs like Double Dollars in Madison and Dane County. This will generate  
new resources available for nutrition incentive programs across the state.  
- Extension/Dane County – Guffey Calkins  
Join for one or all of the Food Entrepreneurship Ecosystems Development Initiative  
(FEED) Webinars! These are organized by the UW-Madison Extension Community Food  
Systems Program. The FEED webinars are no-cost virtual workshops for small-scale  
food and farming business start-ups during Mondays in April: from April 1st to April 29th,  
2-3pm. More information is on the FEED Webinars webpage:  
https://foodsystems.extension.wisc.edu/2024-webinar-series/  
Council Discussion  
- PIE Grants  
Review team will meet Friday 3/22 to finalize grant decisions. There will also be a  
debriefing meeting scheduled for April.  
- Youth Governance Program project  
Machleidt – the project scope is being finalized.  
F. Announcements  
Guffey Calkins – Dane County Food Council/Madison Food Policy Council didn’t receive  
Better Food Policy Fund grant.  
CORNELIUS – The Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center will distribute  
over $10 million throughout the region through technical assistance and Business Builder  
grants – information is forthcoming.  
F. Future Meeting Items and Dates  
Next meeting: 4/17/2024  
H. Such Other Business as Allowed by Law  
I. Adjourn  
A motion was made by NENNIG, seconded by ANDRAE, that the meeting be  
adjourned. The motion carried unanimously 6-0.  
Minutes respectfully submitted by Jess Guffey Calkins, pending council approval