Three projects led by CALS researchers have been selected to receive project grants and seed grants from the Ira and Ineva Reilly Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment, a competitive grant program is open to UW–Madison faculty, staff and students. Grants of up to $120,000 and seed grants of up to $4,000 are awarded.

Ira Baldwin, a longtime UW teacher, researcher and administrator, served as dean of the Graduate School and the College of Agriculture and as vice president for academic affairs. Ineva Reilly Baldwin taught and served in the university administration as assistant dean of women and associate dean of the College of Letters & Science. Their endowment is one of the largest gifts ever received by UW–Madison.

The projects involving CALS researchers are:

Project Grants:

Advancing the water resource goals of the Red Cliff Environmental Department
Howard Veregin, State Cartographer, Department of Geography, College of Letters & Science
Anita Thompson, Professor, Biological Systems Engineering, College of Agricultural & Life Sciences

The Red Cliff Reservation is located on the shores of Anishinaabe Gichigami (Lake Superior). Red Cliff’s Natural Resources Comprehensive Plan (Wenji Bimaadiziyaang) identifies the objectives of the Environmental Department’s Water Resource Program (WRP) over the next decade. The Wisconsin State Cartographer’s Office, with other UW–Madison partners, seeks to develop a cooperative project with the WRP to help build its capacity to address its long-term objectives. The project will focus on assisting the WRP to augment its hydrologic Geographic Information System (GIS) database layers and apply GIS-based models to derive new data and evaluate surface water concerns. The project will build hydro-enforced digital elevation datasets, identify priority GIS data layers, create or update selected data layers, and explore GIS-based models of surface water flow and the flood vulnerability of culverts. The project will provide training and tools to WRP staff and Red Cliff community members. A key outcome of the project will be increased readiness and resilience to future climate change impacts for Red Cliff, documented through successful creation of GIS and modeling products. The WRP will also come away with the knowledge and capacity they need to continue their own work in these areas after the project period is over. Another key outcome involves developing a workflow that is cognizant of Red Cliff’s data protection requirements, to ensure that all project data and results are shared on a level that the Tribal Council is comfortable with.

Building and sustaining a food entrepreneur ecosystem
Barbara Ingham, Professor, Department of Food Science, College of Agricultural & Life Sciences
Lindsey Farnsworth, Outreach Program Manager, Community Development Institute, Division of Extension

The University of Wisconsin–Madison and the Division of Extension will build a food entrepreneur ecosystem that will reach small food and agricultural businesses that are increasingly seen as the backbone of local communities; spaces that will be vital for engineering and sustaining economic growth. Research has found that in Wisconsin, individuals who are Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC) have disproportionately lower levels of business ownership and have demonstrably weaker relationships with key people and institutions in the small business development field. Using a Food Entrepreneur Ecosystem Development (FEED) approach, this program will apply knowledge from university research and development to form a training and support network that will design, implement, evaluate, and sustain food and agriculture entrepreneurs, with a focus on BIPOC communities across the state.

Project evaluation will ensure that outcomes are effective and sustainable. Knowledge and best-practice guidance from university research and development will inform training. Working with partners such as the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corporation and the Food Finance Institute, we will build a network of informed educators who can support training and provide on-going mentoring and support for thriving, local food ecosystems in all parts of the state. An ecosystem approach to entrepreneurship will: build awareness of best-business practices, increase knowledge of resources available to support business development, and support decision-making that sustains business development and improves business profitability and livelihoods.

Seed Grants:

Gambian Soil Doctors Network
Geoffrey Siemering, Outreach Specialist, Department of Soil Science, College of Agricultural & Life Sciences

The Gambian Soil Doctors Network (GSDN) will focus on soil health as a critical element in sustainable and productive food systems and environmental resilience. The program builds on the newly developed United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) Global Soil Partnership (GSP) Soil Doctors program which builds soil health through a train-the-trainer model. Soil health is defined as the capacity of soil to sustain plant and animal productivity, maintain, or enhance water and air quality, and support human health and habitation over a human time scale. The focus on soil will serve as a force multiplier for improving outcomes in numerous agricultural sectors (e.g., livestock and food crops), and our approach will model how a network of local subject-matter champions can extend the reach of education. UW-Madison Soils Extension staff will provide technical assistance and capacity development in natural resources management (NRM) and agriculture education and training (AET) to a wide range of participants, some who will become Soil Doctors by the end of the program.

Read more about the project grants and the seed project grants.