AGRICULTURE AND ENERGY RESOURCE CENTER INC

The Agriculture & Energy Resource Center (AERC) is a truly grassroots organization that formed out of a groundswell of community support to keep an abandoned University of Wisconsin Agricultural Research Station from being sold off for commercial development. The historical facility served as a center for agricultural innovation and excellence in northern Wisconsin for nearly a hundred years before its doors closed and its more than two hundred acres of prime farmland were handed over to local county governments.

AERC strives to return the Research Station to its glory as a regional asset for agricultural innovation with a focus on sustainable production of food and energy crops, establishment of local farm-to-market distribution infrastructure, and community education about small scale and sustainable food production.

In our first year of operation, AERC has formed successful partnerships with university extension agents and a local utility provider to implement production trials testing the viability of woody biomass as a cold hardy cash crop. We have partnered with environmentally oriented Northland College to establish a permaculture education and demonstration garden, and we have committed to preserving and expanding the Green Thumb Community Garden project.

With your help, AERC will deliver quality educational programming, such as beginning farmer training and traditional skills workshops. We will educate about the benefits of local food production and work to connect consumers to farmers and farmers to markets. We will promote research that improves crop yields using sustainable practices and explores the crossroads between agriculture and energy production. We will demonstrate that even in a small community, big ideas can develop into a sustainable, self-sufficient, economically resilient future.

Thank you for your support of the Agriculture and Energy Resource Center, Inc.

Richard Lavigne, President