As Nicole Miller reports for UW-Madison News, the university’s ag expertise recently expanded beyond the traditional countryside:

When Julie Dawson starts making farm visits, she may face a problem many of her fellow UW-Madison agricultural extension specialists don’t: battling city traffic and finding a place to park.

“Much of my work will focus on farmers who are marketing directly to consumers, and they often have farms in or around urban areas,” says Dawson, a new urban and regional food systems specialist who joined the university as an assistant professor and extension specialist in the Department of Horticulture this past July.

Dawson, the first UW-Madison plant scientist hired to specialize in urban and peri-urban agriculture, will focus on the needs of Wisconsin’s small, diversified, direct-to-market farms — including those located in and around urban areas — that sell their produce at local farmers markets, restaurants and grocery stores, and through Community Supported Agriculture shares.

Head here for the full story and plenty of links.