Midwest Foods’s commitment to the local program surpasses the distributors specific prerogatives. We do not comply only to sell fresh, locally grown produce, but we strongly manifest our dedication through various actions and initiatives.

Midwest Foods Local Committee was created to help strengthen the communication between the Farmer, the Distributor and the Chef. The committee members meet four times per year to discuss important aspects of Midwest Foods local program and to contribute with new ideas and suggestions on how to grow and improve.

OUR LOCAL MISSION IS…
To support local farmers today, to ensure there are farms in our communities tomorrow, and that future generations will have access to nourishing, flavorful food.

To revitalize our local food chain by building the relationship between the Chefs and the Farmers, and by enabling our customers to buy from and support local sustainable farms.

On the 9th of April, Midwest Foods held the first Local Committee of the year, a remarkable gathering at the Brookfield Zoo, bringing together our devoted local team, Chefs and two of our esteemed farms, Windy City Harvest and Parrfection Produce, LLC.

We stopped on Brookfield Zoo as our location, because some of our special guests were children. We strongly believe that children need to be a part of our local food movement. Since early ages, we find it extremely important to influence and guide their choices in the direction of sustainable grown produce, to conduct them towards healthy options.

The main agenda for our meeting was focused on discovering the best strategies to bring our local program closer to the consumer. To discover the most appropriate means to determine the consumer to understand and to value local produce. We joined our efforts to find the most authentic methods to accomplish our purpose and we invite you to follow us closely to see how the results materialize.

Moreover, we consider it quintessential for our mission’s prosperity to bring the consumer closer to the farmer. The interaction between the consumer and the chef  is facilitated by the blessing of good food, vibrant colors, and inviting smells. However, we do consider, the farmer, to be the main piece of the local puzzle. In our attempt to invigorate and reinforce the contact between the farmer and the consumer, we coordinate farm tours, where people can hand-pick their local favorite produce, learn about sustainable farming methods, or simply enjoy a day surrounded by fruits and vegetables, fields, and farm activities.

Windy City Harvest conducts an urban agriculture education and jobs training initiative to help build a local food system, healthier communities, and a greener economy. They provide instruction in urban agriculture best practices, develops collaborations that benefit communities, and produces high-value, nutritious produce. Participants acquire hands-on experience with sustainable vegetable production and learn essential business skills specific to the farm industry.

Rodeo Farm is a major training, commercial crop, and composting production site for Windy City Harvest, which sells the produce grown here to Midwest Foods. Rodeo Farm is a training site for Apprentice and Windy City Harvest Corps employees. For our Local Committee, the Windy City Harvest’s team sustained a beautiful presentation, explaining their specialized programs and courses, and shared the vision that nourished their current activity.

Parrfection Produce, LLC, situated in Monroe, Wisconsin is a wholesale produce distribution company specializing in providing locally sourced produce. David Parr works with many of the Amish and Mennonite farmers in southwestern Wisconsin to provide a wide range of fresh produce throughout the year. At the meeting David spoke with devotion about his passion for sustainable farming and put an emphasis on the life facts that determined him to go along this path.

To conclude, we would like to show our appreciation for our extraordinary guests, and for a day of meaningful conversations, brilliant recommendations, and constructive objectives. We want to thank you for believing with the same zeal in our farmers and in the stories behind their farms.

MWF Welcoming Booth

Sign in, take your badge and enjoy the MWF treatment

Local Committee Gathering

Our agenda is simple and clear… Choose Local!

Local Committee Gathering

Our most special guests

Lunch, great conversations and a prolific afternoon

Mary Ann Fitzgerald – Everyday, she teaches us what true love and commitment  for locally sourced produce means

Thank you Chefs, Farmers and Dedicated Staff

Windy City Harvest Farm presenting their amazing educational programs

David Parr from Parrfection Produce Farm

To celebrate Easter, Midwest Foods set up an indoor farmers’ market at the Alexian Brothers Medical Center, offering high quality, both imported specialty produce and locally grown produce and products. For our second farmers’ market of the season, our goal was to provide a dynamic marketplace, consisting of nutritious, consciously grown and produced local food, education and information regarding our partner farms.

Midwest Foods Farmers’ Market is the perfect place to connect our local producers and farmers to food organizations, chefs, restaurants, but also to the general public. We are strongly committed to support our local family farms, and to promote a healthier society through proper knowledge and appreciation for local, fresh and sustainably grown produce.

MWF Farmers’ Market Guideline:

1.Advocating for the consumption of locally grown produce;

2.Respect for and preservation of sustainable farming methods;

3.A vibrant thriving community of local farms.

What was fresh at the Alexian Brothers Medical Center Farmers’ Market:

Vegetables: Easter Egg Radish, Broccoli, White Cauliflower, Red Peppers, Portobello Mushrooms, Sweet Potatoes, Purple Fingerling Potatoes, Romaine Lettuce, Red Leaf Lettuce, Organic Rainbow Carrots, Green Beans, Yellow Wax Beans.

Fruits: Clementines, Blood Oranges, Pomelos, Black Seedless Grapes

Local Produce: Golden Beets, Red Beets, Candy Stripped Beets, Turnips, Parsnip, from Rice Lake Farms in Michigan.

Local Cheese: Havarti Horseradish, Buttermilk Blue, Original Grand Cru, Van Gogh Vintage Gouda from our partner farm in Wisconsin, Roth Cheese.

Why LOCAL?

1.More FLAVORFUL: local produce provides fresh taste at its peak;

2.More NUTRITIOUS: local produce contains higher levels of nutrients;

3.GENETICALLY DIVERSE: local produce offers more variety;

4.ENERGY CONSCIOUS: local produce reduces fossil fuel use for transport, machinery, fertilizers and pesticides;

5.SUPPORTIVE OF THE LOCAL FARMER: buying local sets an example for making responsible choices for our health and our environment.

Contact your sales representative, book your farmers’ market today and spread the health!

Farmers’ Market Display

Farmers’ Market Display

Farmers’ Market Display

Easter Egg radishes are a good source of Vitamins A, C, potassium, zinc and dietary fiber

Red Sweet Peppers – Bell peppers have been cultivated for more than 9000 years, with the earliest cultivation having taken place in South and Central America.

Organic Rainbow Carrots

Local Parsnip, Portobello Mushrooms, Easter Egg Radishes, Yellow Wax Beans, Romaine Lettuce, Local Beets, and Tangelo Oranges

Farmers’ Market Display

Farmers’ Market Display

Local Cheese, courtesy of Roth Cheese – A close circle of farmers, explorers, cooks and cheesemakers; wanderers and lovers of adventurous tastes, recipes and pairings, constantly searching for the wonderful, the weird, the “never tasted that before.” And while they search everywhere, they stay close to their roots, close to the earth and even closer to the passions that inspire them.

This March, Midwest Foods was present at one of the most notable events in the industry, the Good Food Festival and Conference, a massive public celebration of the fast-growing Good Food Movement. The Good Food Festival is coordinated by Family Farmed, a non-profit organization committed to expand the production, marketing and distribution of locally grown and responsibly produced food, in order to enhance the social, economic, and environmental health of our communities.

The Good Food Festival and Conference was first held twelve years ago as the Local Organic Trade Show, the first event of its kind. The event plays an essential role in building local food infrastructure and creating lasting relationships that have contributed push the Good Food Movement forward.

The festival helps connect financial resources to farms and Good Food Businesses, helps grow local procurement capacity, engages local school districts, provides a forum to discuss local, statewide and national food policy, and educates the public about the importance and impact of locally sourced food.

The show brought together leading panelists who shared their perspective about the future of our agricultural system, amazing chef demos highlighting local food, and engaged more than 100 farmers, food businesses, and non-profit exhibitors at the Good Food Marketplace. No other event brings together such a wide range of farmers, food entrepreneurs, food policy stakeholders, sustainable agriculture visionaries, and community members all in one place.

Midwest Foods core mission is to distribute as much locally sourced produce as possible, and to emphasize the importance of sustainable farming methods in our community. For this reason, in our attempt to prospect and connect to more of our local farms, on Friday, the 25^th of March, we were part of the Good Food Industry Showcase, exhibiting a large variety of products.

On the same day, visitors to the festival were able to enjoy some of our locally grown gold, red and candy stripped beets, rutabagas, parsnips, turnips, from the Rice Lake Farms in Grant, Michigan, delicious red apples from the North Bay Produce in Traverse City, Michigan, and cello radishes from the Miedema Produce farm in Hudsonville, Michigan.

In regards to our non-produce range, Midwest Foods displayed delicious cherry, blueberry and strawberry preserves, from our partner farm in Michigan, the Brownwood Farms.

Supportive of the local dairy producers, Midwest Foods showcased a few of our cheeses varieties. Part of the Roth Cheese wide selection, the Dill Havarti, winner of the 3^rd place in 2013 at the American Cheese Society, had the perfect creamy delicacy to lace in the flavor of dill for a subtle and savory finish. Courtesy of the Red Barn Family Farms, to honor and sustain Wisconsin’s rich family dairy farming heritage, the smoothness of the white cheddar and its sweet, nutty flavor was the perfect addition to a memorable day. Saxon’s Creamery signature cheese, The Big Ed’s Gouda, due to its creamy and sweet, rich milk flavors was complimented to be the perfect table cheese.

Midwest Foods is constantly working to improve opportunities for our local growers and producers. As a wholesale buyer, we have a very strict quality and food safety guidelines, and we expect the same standards from our partner farms. Recognizing the need for an extensive information and training, our company was also present at the Good Food Festival on Saturday, the 26^th of March, to talk about our local specialized program, Veloccity. Fresh food requires proper handling to insure it is as safe as it is delicious. Each and every grower on Veloccity needs a written food safety document outlining their Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) listing their procedures and own scheduled as well as random audits performed from the field. Midwest Foods is dedicated to conduct onsite visits to help and assist the farmer in document preparation and safe practices.

We are grateful for having the opportunity to represent and promote our local movement at America’s longest-running sustainable and local food trade show. It gave us the most contentment to be part of the Good Food Festival and we are looking with excitement to the next years’ event.

Exhibiting at the Good Food Festival

Fresh Produce – Delicious Red Apples, Acorn Squash, Butternut Squash, Spaghetti Squash, Carrots, Rutabagas, Green Peppers, Green and Red Cabbage, Turmeric, Cello Radishes, Ramps.

Local – Cello Radishes from Miedema Produce in Hudsonville, Michigan, and Rutabagas from Rice Lake Farms, in Grant, Michigan

Local Red Delicious Apples from North Bay Produce farm, in Traverse City, Michigan

Gold, red and candy striped Beets from Rice Lake Farms in Grant, Michigan; Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Green Beans and Celery

Local Cherry, Blueberry, and Strawberry Preserves from Brownwood Farms

Made from fresh, plump, handpicked Michigan Blueberries

Local Cheese: Big Ed’s Gouda from Saxon Creamery, Dill Havarti from Roth Farms and the Red Barn White Cheddar

Our Local Program – Veloccity