Wisconsin's program to jump-start new value-added enterprises has five components:Technical Assistance for Diversification, Grants, Aquaculture Development, New Uses and Agribusiness Consulting. None of these programs involve loans, and the grant maximum is $50,000.

The 101 biotechnology companies in Wisconsin have been especially supportive of and have benifited most from the New Uses Component.

Similar to Iowa and North Dakota, the Department of Agriculture's role is to help fledgling firms organize and conduct feasibility studies to become attractive to financing by other authorities. In Wisconsin these include the state-funded Housing and Economic Development Authority, private banks and the Small Business Administration. SBA has begun making a large number of agribusiness loans under the urging of the present Governor.

Rather than creating a new infrastructure for value-added agribusiness, the Wisconsin approach has been to create a coordinated effort of all the major financial and business infrastructure in the state.