Empowering Food & Farm Businesses
At the Food Finance Institute, we envision a world where resilient food and farm businesses anchor vibrant communities and a thriving planet.
We help food and farm businesses thrive at every stage through finance-forward training, coaching, and consulting.
Receive quarterly email updates about FFI programs, initiatives, and developments:
Who We Are
The Food Finance Institute (FFI) supports the entire food business sector, from consumer packaged goods and value-added agriculture to beverage companies, consultants, and food systems nonprofits. Rooted in Wisconsin, with a national reach, FFI is a part of the Universities of Wisconsin’s Office of Business & Entrepreneurship.
FFI offers a “continuum of care” model, supporting businesses at every stage, from innovative start-ups to mature, sale-ready enterprises. We prepare food and farm business entrepreneurs to be skilled financial and business managers and to successfully access capital for long-term viability.
Our Impact
2014-2025
Our Approach
We combine sophisticated financial expertise with practical, real-world knowledge gained from decades of experience. Our services include:
- Training: We teach core financial concepts and best practices.
- Coaching: We guide you through customized next steps for your business.
- Consulting: We help with essentials like financial projections and business model strategy, always focused on profitability and resilience.
We Help Food Businesses:
- Build financial skills
- Develop financially viable business models
- Access capital
- Catalyze their community
- Become profitable and resilient
Participants Say…
“Thanks to FFI, we’ve been able to build new tools that improve our processes and help us reach more customers.”
Francisco Guerrero
Redwood St Roasters
“This program gave us the financial management tools to take our business to the next level. It was paramount to us being able to scale our brand.”
Danielle Goss
KUL MOCKS
“The training I’ve accessed through FFI has been magnificent, expanding my knowledge in finance, accounting, marketing and promotion.”
Ryan Sullivan
Sullivan Family Farm
Signature Programs & Initiatives
FFI’s signature food and farm business programs include:
- Our Food Business Fellows Program
- Consultant Training and Certification
- Food business trainings, including Financial Foundations for Food Businesses, Financial Foundations for Farms, Raising Equity, and Navigating Uncertainty
- Our Online Food Finance Learning Center
- Naturally Wisconsin — our state’s Naturally Network Chapter, is a project of FFI
We have led and partnered on food and farm initiatives such as:
- Securing BIPOC farmland access and tenure in the Upper Midwest (USDA Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program)
- Helping farmers’ markets sell, profit, and expand (USDA Farmer’s Market Promotion Program)
- Great Lakes Midwest Regional Food Business Center (Wisconsin Network Coordinator)
and scores of other initiatives.
FFI partnerships:
FFI works with valued partners to further their mission and ours by providing food and farm financial training, coaching, and consulting.