Research, tools, and information on how farmers can build and maintain an economically viable farm business.
Compass tools
Compass Tools help farmers with data-driven decision-making to become more profitable and sustainable. The CIAS Compass Toolbox contains a suite of whole farm profit management spreadsheet tools to help farmers understand their costs of production, identify what products and markets are best for them, and identify ways to improve profitability. Compass Workshops help train farmers and service providers to use these tools.
Veggie Compass
Livestock Compass
Fruit & Nut Compass
Pasture-Based Beef Enterprise Calculator
OGRAIN Compass – NEW 2023 VERSION
Hemp Compass
Grassland 2.0 Grazing Compass Tools
These tools, built in collaboration with the Grassland 2.0 Program, evaluate a transition from a confinement to a pasture-based system of raising animals. They analyze the financials of the grazing season to estimate cost and labor savings. They help estimate the amount of land needed, paddock establishment and operating costs, and also include an evaluation of the nutritional composition of a feeding plan focused on grazing.
Heifer Grazing Compass
Beef Grazing Compass
PUBLICATIONS AND OTHER RESOURCES
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If You Serve It, Will They Come?
The last decade has seen rapid growth in the number of farm-to-school initiatives in the United States. Despite the proliferation of farm-to-school programs and the significant energy and resources that have gone into their implementation, there have been few systematic assessments of these initiatives. We use the experience of the Wisconsin Homegrown Lunch Project, a…
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Farm-to-school program provides learning experience (Research Brief #74)
Printer-friendly version (PDF) How do you get kids to eat their vegetables? Americans are bombarded with news about childhood obesity and the importance of replacing junk food with healthier fare. But this is no easy task when children are enticed with empty calories by advertisers, restaurants and even schools. When you look at the big…
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How is cheese from pastured cows unique? (Research Brief #73)
What makes specialty cheese special? More specifically, what taste characteristics make cheese from pastured cows unique? These are important questions for farmers and milk processors wanting to create specialty dairy products from the milk of pastured cows. Preliminary research from UW-Madison shows that cheese from the milk of pastured cows tastes significantly different from other…
CIAS PARTNERS
Organic Grain Resource and Information Network (OGRAIN)
Ellen Polishuk, Plant to Profit
Jim Munsch, Deer Run Farm
NEWS
These tools, built in collaboration with the Grassland 2.0 Program, evaluate a transition from a confinement to a pasture-based system of raising animals. They analyze the financials of the grazing season to estimate cost and labor savings. They help estimate the amount of land needed, paddock establishment and operating costs, and also include an evaluation of the nutritional composition of a feeding plan focused on grazing.
- Do Farmers Markets Build Community? New Research Says YesUW–Madison Extension Specialist, LSC Professor, and CIAS Faculty Associate Bret Shaw shares recent research highlighting how farmers markets strengthen community well-being. Read the entire article on Project for Public Spaces by clicking the below link:
- AI tools for democratizing food networks: scaling national, regional and localwith Dr. Song Gao, Michelle Miller and Dr. Alfonso Morales,University of Wisconsin Madison, May 21, 2026 The University of Wisconsin-Madison hosted a collaborative web presentation detailingthe development of artificial intelligence (AI) and cyberinfrastructure tools designed todemocratize food networks. Led by Alfonso Morales, a Vilas Distinguished AchievementProfessor in the Department of Planning and Landscape Architecture, the… Read more: AI tools for democratizing food networks: scaling national, regional and local
- Who Shops at Farmers Markets in the US?Who shops at farmers markets? In a new article in The Conversation U.S., CIAS Faculty Associate and Professor Bret Shaw (Life Sciences Communication and Division of Extension), summarizes who shops at farmers markets based on a larger national survey of U.S. residents in a USDA-funded study with implications for marketing and outreach. Read the article here:… Read more: Who Shops at Farmers Markets in the US?
- Food Flows and Digital Twins: Making Food Network Information Actionable (Summary)Food flows and digital twins: making food network information actionable with Dr. Kushank Bajaj, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization Dr. Bajaj presented a comprehensive overview of his research on mapping global and domestic food supply chains to identify systemic vulnerabilities and climate-related risks. The webinar, the third in the “Food Systems and AI” series,… Read more: Food Flows and Digital Twins: Making Food Network Information Actionable (Summary)
- Earth Fest: Tiny Gardens Everywhere: The Past, Present and Future of the Self-Provisioning CityMonday, April 20th, 5pm @ Conrad A. Elvehjem Building, Room L140, 800 University Ave, Madison, WI Register for a chance to receive a free copy of Tiny Gardens Everywhere! Tiny Gardens Everywhere: The Past, Present and Future of the Self-Provisioning City From the eighteenth century to the twenty–first, the surprising history and inspiring contemporary panorama of… Read more: Earth Fest: Tiny Gardens Everywhere: The Past, Present and Future of the Self-Provisioning City