FARMWISE Newsletter: April 2026

Selling into wholesale markets is an opportunity for producers to streamline their markets and potentially achieve more stability than with farmers markets and other direct to consumer opportunities.

FARMWISE Indiana specializes in working in the “intermediated market channel” space. In other words, we work to move food from farm to wholesale buyer.

FARMWISE Indiana is proud to lead efforts in southern Indiana as the Regional Lead for farm to school.

When FARMWISE Indiana relaunched as a non-profit in early April, we were blown away by the positive and supportive responses we received from our partners in Indiana and beyond.

FARMWISE Newsletter: March 2026

After nearly two years housed at Indiana University’s Environmental Resilience Institute (ERI), FARMWISE Indiana is taking the next step to ensure that locally produced food is accessible to more Hoosiers. 

In early March, the FARMWISE Team attended the Indiana Horticulture and Small Farm Conference. Whereas Jodee and Heather have been many times, this was a new(er) experience for our Team Members. Laura Stoltz, Jen Musall, and Becky Landes shared their experiences.

The FARMWISE Team uses data collected and analyzed to inform how we perform outreach and work with partners. What can feel tedious to some is actually quite informative and points to ways we can do more, grow networks, and help build capacity.

Recently Value Chain Professionals Greg Koehler and Audrey Kaul shared a bit of their insight to projects related to organizational and purchasing data.

Our Value Chain Professionals travel hundreds of miles across their regions each month with the sole purpose of learning, connecting, and collaborating. It is through these miles traveled that we discover opportunity. FARMWISE Indiana Value Chain Professional Laura Stoltz shares an opportunity she recently discovered in her region.

The FARMWISE Team spent over a year interviewing buyers in Indiana and Kentucky to learn more about what motivates them to source locally grown and produced foods. From school food service directors to chefs, dieticians to business owners, we gathered background details on the many motivating factors that lay within each connection made and each meal served.

To build a regional food system, and maintain a strong network, you must start with a foundation of communication, collaboration, and listening. This is patient work and can sometimes feel slow or at a pace we are not used to in life. FARMWISE Value Chain Professional shares his impressions of building a foundation to make a connection.

We work to connect growers with buyers and also- with eaters. But what about shaping the purchasing decisions of our growing population? These future decision makers are engaged with their food systems in a variety of ways. Recently, FARMWISE Indiana Value Chain Professional Jen Musall spent the day with our future chefs and food buyers and share her experience.

FARMWISE Newsletter: February 2026

There are no seasonal and weather restrictions in the dairy industry. Cows must be milked and the work must be done- rain, heat, or snow.

Recently, FARMWISE Value Chain Professional Becky Landes visited a farm in her region, and we asked her to share her experience.

We use data to inform our actions and often times the data comes to us in handwritten notes, voicemails, and via a fax. Several of our Value Chain Professionals have been working with and attending their local produce auctions last growing season. Learn more about how we organize that important produce data.

Work with FARMWISE Indiana: stay tuned for upcoming opportunities!