….The Buy Local, Buy Wisconsin grant program was part of former Gov. Jim Doyle?s 2008 budget and was designed to connect local food producers with local buyers. It has awarded about $220,000 annually in development grants over the past three years. Recipients in 2010 included the Bayfield Apple Co., Perfect Pasture in Ashland, the Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition and Green & Green Distribution in Mineral Point.
Quoted: Steve Deller, a professor of agricultural and applied economics at UW-Madison
But the grant program is on Gov. Scott Walker?s budget chopping block and was not included in his proposed 2011-2013 budget ? a development that some are calling short-sighted and contrary to Walker?s goal of growing the private-sector economy.