Who We Are
Madison Area Food Pantry Gardens, Inc.
We plant. We grow. We feed.
About Us
The Madison Area Food Pantry Gardens, Inc. is a 501(c) non-profit corporation established to provide fresh vegetables for use by area food pantries and meal programs. The work of planning, planting, harvesting, garden maintenance, and delivery of produce is primarily done by volunteers. Land used for garden sites is rented from or given for use by generous landowners. Madison Area Food Pantry Garden volunteers also glean produce from various local growers who agree to donate their excess crops to area food pantries.
Our Mission
Striving to help our neighbors by providing local food pantries with first-choice, fresh, nutritious and culturally relevant produce.
Our History
In the late 1990s, several churches and service clubs began collecting surplus produce from Saturday Farmer's Market on the Square and from the Fitchburg, Hilldale and Middleton Farmer's Markets. Over 2,000 pounds of produce was collected each week, especially in the late summer. Ken Witte approached Emmett Schulte and stated that this was not enough to satisfy the needs of the low-income housing units, meal programs, and the 32 food pantries in Dane county. In 2000, three 1-acre garden plots were then established, which produced an estimated 60,000 pounds of produce during the summer and fall.
Today, two decades after that first growing season, the Madison Area Food Pantry Gardens is able to grow 100,000 pounds of fresh vegetables while continuing the gleaning practice that collects an additional 50,000 pounds of food each year. It is estimated that the Gardens has donated more than two million pounds of produce since its inaugural year.
A brief history of the Madison Area Food Pantry Gardens was compiled in 2010 to celebrate the 10th anniversary. Learn more about where we have been as we continue to look to the future and growing our impact in the Dane County community. Read more about the History of MAFPG (PDF).