Viroqua Wisconsin: A Sustainable Living Community

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Viroqua, Wisconsin, is a sustainable living community. Viroqua’s Fortney Hotel.
Viroqua, Wisconsin, is a sustainable living community. Viroqua’s Fortney Hotel.
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Viroqua’s Saturday farmers market.
Viroqua’s Saturday farmers market.
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Say “Cheese!” You’ll find quite a selection of local cheeses at the Viroqua Food Cooperative.
Say “Cheese!” You’ll find quite a selection of local cheeses at the Viroqua Food Cooperative.

A great place to live you’ve never heard of is Viroqua, Wisconsin, a sustainable living community. A great place to live you’ve never heard of is Viroqua Wisconsin, a sustainable living community. Viroqua is home to heavenly cheese and business savvy.

Viroqua Wisconsin: A Sustainable Living Community

The tiny town of Viroqua, Wisc., 90 miles north of Madison, is a bellwether community in changing times. Despite continuing mainstream focus on growth and the quantity of life, Viroqua emphasizes sustainability, preservation and quality of life. A good example is the Viroqua Food Cooperative on North Main Street.

A walk through the co-op’s aisles is a little like a reception line; you feel like you’re actually meeting the growers, whose names, faces and farms are prominently displayed. “Featured Local Cheese,” says a sign in front of apple-smoked cheddar cheese from a local dairy farm. “Hand-rubbed with paprika. Won first place at the American Cheese Society competition,” the sign explains. What the co-op is selling is a way of life, and Viroqua residents are buying it. In the past few years, co-op membership has expanded from 890 to about 2,000, and the size of its new store is seven times larger than the old.

The Viroqua area has one of the densest populations of organic farmers in the country, many of which are members of the Organic Valley farm cooperative headquartered near Viroqua. When the size and clout of corporate farms threatened the region’s small family farms, growers united to create a market niche for organic food. From its original membership of seven farmers, Organic Valley has grown to more than 1,200 family farms. The strategy works: Small dairy farmer Paul Deutsch is paid 25 percent more per gallon of milk than conventional producers.

  • Published on Jul 9, 2008
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