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UW-Madison Division of Extension Community Food Systems Program is partnering with the Milwaukee Food Council to organize a 2-day summit for Wisconsin food and farming entrepreneurs! The 2024 Food Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Development (FEED) Summit will be held in-person on October 28th and 29th, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The Community Food Systems Program’s FEED Initiative is a statewide program of UW-Madison Extension that promotes food entrepreneurship training and network development for value-added producers and aspiring and small-scale food business operators. UW-Madison Extension’s outreach creates key connection points for families, communities, businesses, non-profit organizations, government, and more. Extension supports local volunteers and leaders to take action and serve as role models in their communities. Extension has a presence in every county in Wisconsin and in partnership with First Nations to make sure Wisconsinites have the latest research, best practices, and educational opportunities.
The local co-hosts for the 2024 FEED Summit are Extension Milwaukee County, Wisconsin Farmers Markets Association, Milwaukee Food Council, Food Finance Institute, and the North Central Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education, UW-Madison Extension Center for Cooperatives, and USDA Rural Development. Watch for additional partners to be listed as our Exhibitors list grows!
Extension and the Milwaukee Food Council will kick off the statewide, in-person conference on Monday (October 28th) morning at 8:30 am with a Networking Breakfast then the first Keynote at 9:30 am. Breakout sessions will go in-depth into business topics ranging from business planning to finding funding to food safety to food justice. Breakout sessions will also include time for summit participants to ask the speakers questions. Additionally, participants will have several opportunities to meet directly with small business development professionals, including legal experts from the UW-Madison Law and Entrepreneurship Clinic. During the two full days of breakout sessions, networking breaks, and visiting exhibitor booths, summit participants will meet hundreds of other participants from across the state, including both service providers and other entrepreneurs.
On Tuesday, conference participants will have the opportunity to tell other participants about their product or business idea in the Entrepreneur Showcase session. The Entrepreneur Showcase is toward the end of the conference so that participants can use what they learn at the conference to prepare how to best showcase their products or ideas.
The FEED Summit networking dinner on Monday night will provide excellent networking opportunities for participants and will highlight Milwaukee food entrepreneurs.
Thanks to exhibitors, Extension is able to offer participant registration starting at $75, increasing to $85 after September 15th. All are welcome to this learning, connecting, and promotional space to ADD VALUE to your food business!
Find more information on the FEED Summit homepage: https://go.wisc.edu/62371s.
Register here: https://go.wisc.edu/h8ya16.
A limited number of scholarships are available through our partnering organizations. For additional information about the FEED Summit email Extension Community Food Systems Food Entrepreneurship Specialist Jessica Jane Spayde at Spayde@wisc.edu.
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