But the Wisconsin Farm Bureau would like to prioritize the positions of integrated specialist roles that would hold a joint appointment between UW-Madison’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and UW-Extension. Those specialists perform and teach the specialized research that is essential to Wisconsin farmers.
Buffalo County officials are estimating that 235 cattle, 4,800 hogs and 2,000 turkeys have been killed there by collapsed roofs since the winter storm, according to Carl Duley, the ag agent for UW-Extension’s Buffalo County office.
Randy Shaver, a UW-Madison professor in the Department of Dairy Science and Extension dairy nutritionist, will be honored as the Industry Person of the Year.
He is among hundreds of farmers who were in Madison this week for the annual business conference of the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin.
Administered by the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the program consists of a full-time staff of experienced professionals dedicated to ensuring thoroughness and impartiality in inspection and certification procedures.
But little by little, supply management is rising to the surface of the national conversation. University of Wisconsin-Madison director of dairy policy analysis Mark Stephenson told radio station WPR in January that he believed it could be an effective way to increase the price of milk paid to farmers — despite governmental hurdles. “Some version of that program… [could] be a little softer than a Canadian system and certainly might help moderate these prices when we get into these deep downturns,” he said.
Right now, Goldman is the nation’s only plant breeder at a public institution who works on table beets, making UW–Madison a key resource for all things beet research and breeding. This includes the development of new and improved varieties and serving as a repository for one of the world’s best collections of beet seeds.
If you are concerned about tar spot this year but haven’t been able to get to a winter meeting to learn more on how to control it, the University of Wisconsin has a solution.
Larson is an assistant professor in the Biological Systems Engineering Department at UW-Madison and a biowaste specialist with UW-Extension. She performs research and extension/outreach applications of biowaste management including handling, treatment and processing of biological waste streams, including manure.
But Steven Deller, agricultural and applied economics professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said it won’t offset the 17.8 percent decline in farm income last year.
Carl Duley, a former farmer, and now a University of Wisconsin-Extension agent with Buffalo County, helps farmers like Weisenbeck. Duley said he’s working with the state government to try to get local farmers some low-interest loans to help pay for their losses.
Futures prices are relatively flat and may be too pessimistic toward the end of this year, UW-Madison dairy market experts Bob Cropp and Mark Stephenson said in their February dairy outlook podcast. Price improvement is coming, and Cropp looks for Class III to reach the $16s by the fourth quarter.
Noted: University of Wisconsin-Madison agriculture and applied economics Professor Paul Mitchell said the university has a lot of research to do before they fully understand the crop, and his department is considering hiring someone to study it.
When is a farm not just a farm?
Monica M. White’s new, impressively researched book Freedom Farmers: Agricultural Resistance and the Black Freedom Movement (University of North Carolina Press, $28) highlights historical examples of black farmers using agricultural cooperatives “as a space and place to practice freedom.” And White explains how similar strategies are helping today’s underserved communities pool resources and alleviate poverty.
That will take some of the pressure off the UW Extension, which has struggled to staff ag agents at many of their county offices after deep cuts in recent years to the UW System budget.
The UW-Extension Program, “Your Farm Future: A blueprint to move your farm forward,” is intended for farmers interested in planning and preparing for the future of their farm business in the context of current challenging economic conditions. It offers an opportunity for farmers interested to further develop and/or re-evaluate their plans and goals for their farm with consideration for family business dynamics and current economic conditions.
The Southwestern Wisconsin Community Action Program started a farmer suicide-prevention project this past month. The effort, funded by a $50,000 grant from the University of Wisconsin-School of Medicine and Public Health’s Wisconsin Partnership Program, was prompted by an increase in stories about suicides or suicidal thoughts among farmers, said Wally Orzechowski, executive director.
The food-science department has been a part of the UW–Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences for more than 100 years. Originally housed in Hiram Smith Hall at its founding, the food-science department moved into Babcock Hall when the building opened in 1951.
Quoted: Dr. Aleksandra Zgierska, a family doctor who practices and researches addiction medicine at UW Health, remains skeptical of CBD. “The research on CBD oil has not been sufficient to say that this is evidence-based treatment for x, y or z,” she says.
Quoted: “This downward cycle has been brutal,” said Kevin Schoessow, a University of Wisconsin-Extension agent in Washburn County.
At all locations, Jennifer Van Os, the University of Wisconsin Dairy Welfare Specialist will discuss dairy calf management to foster socialization that improves growth and performance.
The University of Wisconsin’s 2019 Midwest Manure Summit is being held Feb. 27 in the Lambeau Field Atrium, 1265 Lombardi Ave., Green Bay, Wisconsin.
“Specialty crops can add diversity in the long-term strength that really balances our outlook for agriculture,” he said during his presentation at the Wisconsin Agricultural Outlook Forum held in late January on the UW-Madison campus.
Mark Stephenson is director of dairy policy analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He said the 7 cent jump in the average hauling charges likely had a big impact on farms, especially given the continued low price for milk.
An important consideration in early planting is spring-frost occurrence, which can damage or destroy the crop – but only after emergence at 15 to 25 days after planting.
“Very simply, it pays off to get an annual physical exam for your horse because there are conditions that can show up in those exams that, if not detected, can cost owners money for larger veterinary bills (in the future),” said Fernando J. Marqués, DVM, Dipl. ACVIM, clinical associate professor and chief of services at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine’s Morrie Waud Large Animal Hospital.
UW undergraduate Chloe Green moderated the discussion and said they chose to focus on agriculture policy because so many local farmers are suffering due to the low commodity prices in Wisconsin.
Potato breeders doubted the approach was possible for tubers. “I was trained to believe that potatoes can’t be inbred,” says Shelley Jansky, a potato breeder with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Madison.
Quoted: “The problem is that both nations have stubborn leaders,” Mark Stephenson, director of dairy policy analysis at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, said at an agricultural forum last week in Madison.
Some research has been conducted at UW-Madison in regards to white mold-resistant varieties, although nothing is 100 percent immune to the disease. Smith recommended farmers study the yield and white mold score before selecting a variety and consider the environments and fungal populations on their operations as they can differ from field to field.
Mark Stephenson, director of dairy policy analysis at the UW-Madison said that 2018 was “another challenging year” for dairy farmers and that there was a significant amount of stress in the state’s dairy industry.
Paul Mitchell, Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, at the UW-Madison, the leadoff speaker at the recent 2019 Ag Outlook Forum called 2018 “a year of tight margins in farming with income down and expenses up. Total crop income gained a bit (1.5 percent) but dairy income was down some 7 percent.”
In partnership with the University of Wisconsin-Extension, produce growers can prepare their farm for inspections by participating in produce-safety training. The training is required for fresh-produce growers who must meet the federal produce-safety rules.
If we want clean water, reduced flooding, healthy soils and abundant wildlife in rural America, we must move quickly to reconfigure policies and remove financial barriers to incentivize and support transition of livestock production from confined feeding to managed-grazing operations.Prof. Randall D. JacksonUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison
Amaya Atucha, fruit crop specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said grapes, apples and other fruits grown in the state aren’t used to the frigid temperatures brought by last week’s polar vortex.
The Walnut Street Greenhouses were constructed to meet the needs of researchers in the UW-Madison departments of agronomy, genetics, horticulture, plant pathology, soils and entomology.
Jaworski began milking his cows in 2014, using a business plan heavily shaped by the Wisconsin School for Beginning Dairy & Livestock Farmers, one of several “Short Courses” Jaworski started at the UW–Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences in November 2008.
Milk prices paid to farmers are expected to be better this year but not by much, University of Wisconsin dairy economist Mark Stephenson said. He predicts an increase of about a $1 per hundredweight, or hundred pounds of milk.
Mark Stephenson, director of Dairy Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, says he expects prices to be better this year than in 2018, but not by a lot.
U.S. and Canadian farmers will often export chicken wings with the flappers still attached to Asian markets such as Hong Kong, Thailand and Cambodia. Those markets have more of an appetite for the wingtips, according to Ronald Kean, an expert in poultry production at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
One of the resources out there for farms is AgrAbility. AgrAbility is a partnership between UW-Extension and Easter Seals of Wisconsin. This partnership helps farm families that are dealing with a farm injury, disability, or other limitation.
This year’s Wisconsin Agriculture Outlook Forum was held on Tuesday at UW-Madison. One of the main concerns touched on is that Wisconsin is losing twice the number of farms compared to years prior.
Oversupply of milk and persistently low commodity prices have hurt farmers, said Mark Stephenson, director of the Center for Dairy Profitability at UW-Madison. He said tariffs are a factor in the slow markets, but not the whole story.
Hoff is helping to give more people a glimpse into the farming experience with “The Lands We Share,” a collaboration of faculty and students at four UW campuses — Whitewater, Oshkosh, Milwaukee and Madison.
Speaking earlier this month at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 100th annual convention in New Orleans, John Shutske, UW-Madison professor and Extension agricultural safety and health specialist, outlined the causes of stress and the best practices for coping with a lot of it.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences has developed a series of online tours featuring many of the college’s research contributions to the agricultural and life-sciences industries in Wisconsin and beyond.
Diversity simply means “a range of different things.” It was not long ago when our Wisconsin farms, while largely centered on dairy production, were typically also home to chickens, hogs, and sheep. These other enterprises may have been minor, but they provided a level of insurance when dairy proved less than profitable.
Quoted: “Exports as a percentage of U.S. milk production have been climbing,” said Mark Stephenson, director of dairy policy analysis at University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Every major downturn in the U.S. all milk price corresponds to times when export growth has been off trend or down.”
“Exports as a percentage of U.S. milk production have been climbing,” said Mark Stephenson, director of dairy policy analysis at University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Every major downturn in the U.S. all milk price corresponds to times when export growth has been off trend or down.”
Agricultural economists and commodity specialists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and UW-Extension will talk about the financial health of Wisconsin agriculture and the outlook for the year to come at the 12th annual Wisconsin Agricultural Economic Outlook forum in Madison next week.
Dave Daniels began farming in 1977 after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in dairy science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
…he wanted to serve on Wisconsin Dairy Task Force 2.0. He serves as chairman of the generational succession/transition subcommittee.
The financial health of Wisconsin’s farms and agricultural businesses, with a special focus on consolidation in the state’s dairy industry, are topics for the upcoming Wisconsin Agricultural Outlook Forum, which will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 29 on the UW–Madison campus.
Quoted: Brian Gould, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of agribusiness, expects this degree of excess to be a temporary situation.”The industry … is not alarmed to a large degree, I mean there is some concern of course if these stick around, but I haven’t seen a tremendous drop off in those cheese prices over the last six, seven months,” he said.
Forty people, including students from Fox Valley Technical College and New London High School, heard Dr. Laura Hernandez from the Dairy Science Department at UW-Madison about her research on the mammary system of dairy cows.
“In plant pathology, we talk about the disease triangle,” said Damon Smith, an associate professor of plant pathology at UW-Madison, who led development of apps and models focused on diseases of turf, soybean and corn.
UW-Extension and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources are co-hosting a series of concentrated animal feeding operation update meetings throughout the state in early February.
To keep farmers and industry professionals abreast of the latest technologies and techniques in animal waste management, University of Wisconsin-Extension is hosting the 2019 Midwest Manure Summit, February 27, 2019, Lambeau Field Atrium, Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Above-average temperature and late-season precipitation were two major players in the outcome of the 2018 growing season, according to UW-Madison Corn Agronomist Joe Lauer. Lauer presented his highlights and summaries of last year’s growing season at eight agronomy update meetings held across the state last week.
The bad news is that they still “won’t be great,” Mark Stephenson, director of dairy policy analysis at the UW-Madison Center for Dairy Profitability, told agricultural bankers attending the 36th annual Western Wisconsin Ag Lenders Conference Jan. 10 in Menomonie.
Mark Stevenson, a dairy industry expert, said supply management programs like those in place in Canada and other countries can be effective.”If you restrict the amount of milk that gets to the marketplace, you can keep prices much higher, but if you do that, there has to be a lot of restrictions in place,” said Stevenson, director of Dairy Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
