Farmers and
industry stakeholders are invited to join the conversation around the future of
dairy in Wisconsin. Local chapters of the Farmers Union and Farm Bureau are
collaborating on a series of Dairy Together events happening around Wisconsin
in late March. The events aim to educate and rally farmers around potential
dairy policy reforms such as the Dairy Revitalization Plan that could be
achieved in the 2023 Farm Bill. Learn how we can work together to save dairy
farms of all sizes.
“Though
Wisconsin’s dairy farm crisis has fallen from the spotlight, the fact remains
that we continue to lose more than one dairy herd per day on average here in
America’s Dairyland,” said Chippewa County Farmers Union President Les
Danielson, who raises crops and dairy farms near Cadott. “Farm organizations
across the country are banding together to advocate on proposals to stabilize
dairy prices and slow the loss of family farms, and we believe it is time to
take a serious look at strategies to keep farms in business.”
“In the late
1990s, there were 20,000 dairy herds in Wisconsin; today that number has fallen
to under 6,500, with fewer than 30,000 dairy farms remaining in the entire
United States,” adds Joe Bragger, Independence dairy farmer and leader of the
Buffalo County Farm Bureau. “To affect meaningful change, it’s going to take a
strong coalition of farm groups and other industry stakeholders. Through these
meetings, we’re pulling together farm organizations, agricultural lenders,
equipment dealers, cooperative leaders and all who are being impacted by the
dairy crisis. We need unity on our priorities for dairy policy reform as we
head into the Farm Bill.”
The events
will include a panel of local farmers and a presentation on the Dairy
Revitalization Plan by leading dairy economists Chuck Nicholson and Mark
Stephenson. Attendees will have the chance to use an app created by the UW
Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems to learn how growth management would
affect their income.
“The bottom
line on what we found through this research was generally positive in terms of
what these programs could do,” Nicholson said. “We saw reduced variation in
prices and also some price enhancement, increased net farm operating incomes,
reduction in the rate of farm exits across farms of all sizes, and a reduction
in government expenditures on dairy programs.”
Upcoming
events include:
● ABBOTSFORD: March
23, Abbotsford City Hall 203 N. 1st St, Abbotsford.
● CASHTON: March
24, Cashton Community Hall, 811 Main St., Cashton.
● CHIPPEWA
FALLS: March 25, 2588 Highway 53, Chippewa Falls.
Each event
will be from 11am-2pm. Lunch will be provided. Please RSVP at www.dairytogether.com.
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