The countryside may be coming to the city. While most students only see the farmers in Madison on Saturday mornings at the Capitol Square, we may be treated to some more of their fresh produce.
Today at 5:30 p.m. at the Madison Infoshop, 1019 Williamson St., several groups, including the Madison Fair Trade Action Alliance and Madison Area Community Supported Agricultural Coalition, will come together to trade ideas about the role of food in Madison.
One of the ideas the groups are considering is a Dane County Farmer's Diner. Other ideas include improving locally grown food procurement and redirecting small business support to keep food in the area.
John Peck, executive director of Family Farm Defenders, is enthusiastic about the upcoming meeting. He sees it as an opportunity to bring up ideas that are being tried elsewhere.
\A lot is being done elsewhere in the country, so it's not like we're reinventing the wheel,"" Peck said.
Peck said the idea of a Farmer's Diner came from a Jan. 11 article in The New Times Magazine, ""A Short-Order Revolutionary,"" about Tod Murphy. Murphy runs a Farmer's Diner in Barre, Vt., which uses about 70 percent of its ingredients from local producers.
While Madisonians can take pride in their connections with the rich soil of the rest of the area, Peck says that the city is sometimes disconnected from it. He mentioned that the thousand farms exist beyond Madison's borders.
""We have a lot of agriculture in our back yard that people don't even know about,"" Peck said.
Peck had met with Kyle Richmond recently to talk about bringing food issues to the county level. Richmond serves on the Dane County Board in District 27 and said he is interested in making relations between the city of Madison and the county easier.
""One of the issues we need to look at in Dane County is how to connect people in Madison who want to eat well and buy local with people who want to produce and have a long-term, stable way to market and sell their products,"" Richmond said.
Richmond mentioned that the county's food policy has to encompass food safety, school issues, education and community gardens, among other things. With all those issues to address, the meeting will have to accommodate many aspects of the food issue.
Jack Kloppenburg, a professor of rural sociology, is eager to see several groups come together. He wants to see what many separate voices will bring to the table.
""I'm looking forward to seeing a wide diversity of food groups in Madison and putting all of our ideas in one place,"" Kloppenburg said. ""That's something that has not yet occurred and I think will be very productive.""
He said this meeting is something that has been a long time coming but will also be a step ahead. Wisconsin, and Madison in particular, is a hotbed of people who look to eat sustainably, Kloppenburg said.
As for the idea of a Farmer's Diner, Kloppenburg was optimistic.
""I think it's a marvelous initiative,"" he said.
Hopefully this meeting will go far beyond the ideas that the groups will swap. With the Farmer's Market's success and a revived interest in organic food, food may be a pivotal issue for Madisonians to notice.
A Farmer's Diner would be a great addition to this city and would certainly be a great draw. With a city of this size, there could be more than just one. Should the groups decide to put their efforts toward such an enterprise, here's one customer who will be waiting patiently for it.
Watch for next week's column, which will expand on Ben's interview with Farmer's Diner owner Tod Murphy and detail Murphy's recent appearance in the New Times Magazine.
Ben Schultz is a senior majoring in English and history. He's a farmboy who likes running through hayfields and misses them dearly in winter. He's usually hungry and if he's not, it's because he's sleeping. Contact him at blschultz@wisc.edu.
