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Welcome to the FaBseed, a communication produced by FaB Wisconsin.

Laid out in bite-size pieces, each a perfect ingredient to incorporate into a classroom setting for high school, college, and university students. Designed to inspire career pathways and generations of talent to an industry that feeds and quenches the world from farm to factory to fork. 

There's no stopping after your first bite. Enjoy!

Wisconsin is home to 64,100 farms on 14.2 million acres of land, with an average farm size of 222 acres.

Our state has 1,200 licensed cheesemakers that produce over 600 types, styles, and varieties of cheese – nearly double the number of any other state.

Some parasites, such as fish-borne trematodes, are only transmitted through food. Others, like tapeworms including Echinococcus spp or Taenia spp, may infect people through food or direct contact with animals. Some parasites, such as Ascaris, Cryptosporidium, Entamoeba histolytica, or Giardia, enter the food chain via water or soil and can contaminate fresh produce.

These universities have food-related programs:

Milwaukee Area Technical College

Associate's Degree

Food Science Technology

Lakeland

University

Bachelor's Degree

Food Safety & Quality

Mt. Mary

University

Bachelor's Degree

Food Science

On October 12, we held our annual Farm-Factory-Fork Career Discovery at Lakeland University in Plymouth. Over 300 students and their teachers met with an impressive collection of exhibitors, including ingredients producers, consumer product and packaging makers, universities, and technical and professional service firms focused on the industry. In addition, students engaged in a tour of Lakeland's Food Safety and Quality Lab and learned about educational opportunities.

Missed it or just want to relive that amazing day? Check out the photos!



Farm-Factory-Fork participants warmed up with an inspiring interview with Jacob Foss, COO of Agricycle Global. After the event, we sat down with Jacob to get his story — one that deserves to be written down.

Tell us a little about your background.

Prior to Agricycle Global, I created over a dozen supply chains of various dried specialty ingredients, and co-authored the first global industry report for fonio, the world’s most ancient grain.

After graduating, I entered the Peace Corps and worked as an agricultural extension officer in a rural community in Ghana. I worked with my community on a variety of projects including sustainable agriculture, gender equality camps, and small business ventures like jewelry making and beekeeping.

After completing my term of service with the Peace Corps, I created a grain distribution business with my community aimed at providing steady income for isolated farmers in Northern Ghana as well as reliable food sources for boarding schools to begin on time and avoid the typical month long delays.

I might be best known for my ability to act as a mobile jungle gym for kids in the neighborhood.

How did Agricycle Global come to be?

How many times has a story of poverty come on the news during dinner and the extent of our response is a shake of the head, an utter of injustice and a return to conversation as we scoop more food on our plates with a literal silver spoon? For me it’s become far too many.

I realized that areas hit hardest with poverty aren’t necessarily lacking natural resources, they’re lacking opportunity. Reliable market access and improved manufacturing techniques and technologies offer a self-sustaining system for poverty eradication. Cofounding Agricycle has led to me building that system.

Agricycle’s eco-friendly custom engineered solar dehydrators are at the center of manufacturing our three brands. Jali Fruit Co. is a clean-label tropical dried fruit with a QR code showcasing the women who process the fruit and the impact each bag has on their community. Tropicoal Ignition is a coconut charcoal that combats deforestation by replacing trees with coconut shells. Field Better is our plant-based portfolio of 150 whole food ingredients.

What is the most rewarding thing that has happened in your career?

A girl in Uganda named Rehema is emblematic of exactly this. She was a girl living in poverty without a father and attempting to assist her family put food on the table. She found Agricycle and within two months had enough money to feed her family, send her kids to school, and open up an animal rearing business in her home compound. She now has multiple dehydrators and is now processing fruit at a regular basis affording to further expand her income and eventually put herself through nursing school. This is the reason Agricycle exists. It is the Rehemas of the world that simply need an opportunity to bring life changing impact to those around her. Agricycle exists for the Rehemas of the world to help lift themselves and their families out of poverty.

What advice would you give to high school students?

Network, invent, pursue things you are passionate about above all else. You are 100% capable of all of these things and it is doable. Do not fret about external judgment, grow from it. Criticism is currency. Seek it, absorb it, go out of your way to find it. Spend more time creating, ideating, and making connections than you do with your textbooks. Discipline is the greatest benefit you can get from your studies, whereas the vast majority of the actual content is going to be crammed and forgotten. Relationships on the other hand, can be lifelong, and the benefits continually reaped.



8:30-11:30 AM IN-PERSON | 12:00-1:00 PM | VIRTUAL SESSION

Explore Your Career | December 6, 2022 | Hilbert

Communications, Engineering, Finance/Accounting, Human Resources, Information Technology, Maintenance, Marketing, Production, Quality, Sales, Supply Chain, Innovation/R&D, Transportation

Explore Your Career | January 12, 2023 | Plymouth

Communications, Engineering, Finance/Accounting, Human Resources, Information Technology, Maintenance, Marketing, Production, Quality, Sales, Supply Chain, Innovation/R&D, Transportation

Women and Girls in Science Careers | February 9, 2023 | Plymouth

Maintenance, Information Technology, Engineering, Food Science, Marketing

Seasonal and Full Time Entry Level Jobs | March 9, 2023 | Kiel

Seasonal and Full Time Entry Level Jobs | April 13, 2023 | Hilbert

Production

Explore Your Career | June 15, 2023 | Plymouth

Communications, Engineering, Finance/Accounting, Human Resources, Information Technology, Maintenance, Marketing, Production, Quality, Sales, Supply Chain, Innovation/R&D, Transportation

The FaBseed is produced by FaB Wisconsin.