Noted: While milk prices were bleak to end the year, UW-Madison dairy analysts Bob Cropp and Mark Stephenson are optimistic that 2019 will be better, with only weak increases in milk production forecast and, hopefully, a resolution to trade issues with Mexico and China, which both are big buyers of U.S. dairy products.
Anti-trust laws have been on the books for decades in the United States, but their enforcement has been lax, said Peter Carstensen, law professor emeritus, University of Wisconsin Law School.
An unusually long economic down cycle in the dairy industry is taking its financial toll on area farmers and businesses.
This one-half day meeting is designed to help agribusiness professionals and agency staff feel more comfortable and confident working with families in distress, and to connect with others to provide support for the farming community.
The coming year will bring some exciting change to UW-Extension as we become the Division of Extension within UW-Madison. We are excited about this return to our historic home at UW-Madison and the potential it brings to tighten connections with the University’s award winning researchers and academic staff.
“In plant pathology, we talk about the disease triangle,” says 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.
The goal is to study the Wisconsin dairy industry and make recommendations on actions needed to maintain its viability and profitability. The task force is chaired by Dr. Mark Stephenson, director of dairy policy analysis at UW-Madison.
Each year the Wisconsin Field Crops Pathology Program conducts a wide array of fungicide tests on alfalfa, corn, soybeans, and wheat. These tests help inform researchers, practitioners, and farmers about the efficacy of certain fungicide products on specific diseases.
University of Wisconsin-Extension will offer a number of meetings across the state for farmers interested in learning about the new Dairy Revenue Protection program, a new federal insurance tool, with a quarterly payout to dairy farms when milk revenue falls below their insured revenue level.
Leaders of the newly created Wisconsin Dairy Task Force 2.0 are opening the doors of their next meeting to the public to hear their ideas on improving the state’s dairy industry. Chairman Dr. Mark Stephenson, who is a dairy policy expert with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says the group will meet December 13 at UW-Oshkosh at 10:00 a.m.
While at student at UW-Madison, Meyer also was a member of the Association of Women in Agriculture. “In addition to the professional contacts I’ve made through my Association of Women in Agriculture sisters, some of my most treasured friendships have their root in the organization,” she said.
As farmers hustle to finish the harvest, there is no sign of a letup in the long-term slump in commodity prices that are now being fed by trade and tariff tensions. The result is “almost a perfect storm,” says Mark Hagedorn, a UW-Madison Division of Extension dairy/animal science agriculture educator in Eau Claire County.
Soil health” is a phrase that has been thrown around a lot lately, but what exactly makes a soil healthy? The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service has their own definition, as do well-known soil scientists John Doran and Timothy Parkin. But according to Richard Lankau, assistant professor in UW-Madison’s Plant Pathology Department, each farmer, too, has their own definition of what makes a soil healthy.
“Soil health is up to us to define,” he said. “Ask yourself, what do you want your soil to do for you?”
Quoted: Schultz says that being a cranberry farmer and establishing a productive marsh is not for everyone, a sentiment reflected by Amaya Atucha, a fruit crop specialist in the Horticulture Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies cranberry vine physiology and how the plants cope with environmental stresses.
“I’ve never heard of anyone ever calling me because they want to start a cranberry marsh,” said Atucha, pointing out that, like Schultz, most growers today come from multi-generational farms and that establishing a new marsh is very expensive.
Paul Mitchell, director of the Renk Agribusiness Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said he thinks that number will be even higher in 2019.
The Wisconsin Crop Innovation Center is now funded by the UW, with funding committed for the next four years. Services offered include plant transformation and editing, helping both private and public entities that need to insert traits into plants and need genetic plant research conducted.
To propagate artisanal cider trees, a producer often needs to graft. That’s exactly what 50 people opted to do on a Saturday afternoon this past spring as participants in the inaugural Hard Cider Apple Grafting Workshop hosted by the University of Wisconsin–Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems.
The Wisconsin School for Beginning Market Growers will be held Jan. 11-13, 2019, on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus in Madison, Wisconsin. The school serves new and beginning farmers, and emphasizes organic-production methods and direct marketing.
Jerome came to Madison to take the UW’s Farm and Industry Short Course, and after completing it in 1928, he became an egg inspector for the state’s Department of Agriculture. He returned to college in the late 1930s and graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in poultry husbandry in 1941.
The garden, which is a joint effort among the Spooner Agricultural Research Station, the Spooner Area UW-Extension Office and UW-Extension North Country Master Gardener Volunteers, completed against entrants in its category from across the U.S. and in Canada.
Sarah Mills-Lloyd is a licensed veterinarian who serves as the UW-Extension Oconto County agriculture agent, specializing in dairy and livestock. She recently shared suggestions for remodeling “retired” dairy facilities for beef herds, noting that the state has more beef farms than dairy farms.
The training program consists of two tracks veterans can choose from: a two-year certificate program through the UW-Madison Farm and Industry Short Course, in partnership with the UW Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems; and a one-year and one semester technical diploma program through Madison College.
AgrAbility of Wisconsin is a program designed to help farmers who have physical limitations or disabilities continue to farm. The program is primarily funded by a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant and is a collaboration between UW-Extension and Easter Seals Wisconsin.
The Oct. 31 event, a forum that brought together people from around the globe to explore organic agriculture and how the University of Wisconsin can best contribute to the advancement of organic agriculture, also served as a venue to share ideas and create more cooperative solutions world-wide.
Quoted: “Basically, they’re going to destroy 25 percent of the crop,” said Paul Mitchell, a University of Wisconsin-Madison agricultural economist.
New collaborating partners will aid UW Discovery Farms in research efforts. The new partners will assist in sample collection, area outreach and education.
With the downturn expected to stretch into a fifth year, many farmers already have eaten through their financial cushion, said Mark Stephenson, director of dairy policy analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
To use data that applies specifically to their dairy, producers can use an online “Heifer Replacement” tool developed by Victor Cabrera, a dairy science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Farmers who are hesitant about transitioning to no-till practices might consider doing a test and hiring someone to do the no-till planting. The Uplands Watershed Group has a no-till drill available to rent at an economical cost, said Daniel Smith, southwest regional specialist for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Nutrient and Pest-Management Program.
Wisconsin pork farmers are invited to join University of Wisconsin-Extension, the Wisconsin Pork Association, and the UW-Agriculture Colleges (Madison, Platteville, and River Falls) for the Badger Swine Symposium on Friday, November 9, 2018. The Badger Swine Symposium is being hosted at the Arlington Agricultural Research Station.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the City of Madison have a long history of collaboration, including strong ties with the UW-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. The collaboration may continue in the future in a new way as the City of Madison and UW-Madison are being considered as the new homes of the USDA’s Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
The new arrangement with Canada likely won’t pull U.S. dairy farmers out of the ditch, said Mark Stephenson, director of dairy policy and analysis at the University of Wisconsin.
“On paper, there’s a lot of grain out there, in these fields that are harvesting that haven’t been flooded out,” said Paul Mitchell, director of the Renk Agribusiness Institute at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “The big question is how good is (the grain) and is it all usable.”
Mitchell says recent wet weather has delayed harvest and caused widespread mold problems in the field this year. While some soybean fields have been affected, Shawn Conley, soybean and small grains specialist at UW-Madison, said disease problems have been more prevalent in the state’s corn fields.
Masatsugu Toyota led the work as a postdoctoral researcher in a UW-Madison laboratory. Those two collaborated with researchers from Michigan State University, the University of Missouri and the Japan Science and Technology Agency.
The mid-April snowstorm that buried parts of east-central Wisconsin in more than 30 inches of snow left numerous collapsed barns and dead cattle in its wake. But those staggering Blizzard Evelyn snowfall totals — some of which were twice as high when factoring in drifts — didn’t cause the collapses, said David Bohnhoff, emeritus professor in the Biological Systems Engineering Department at UW-Madison.
UW-Madison agronomy professor and corn production expert Joe Lauer’s agronomy program includes 14 growing locations around the state. While he and his students have been able to make good progress on a lot of their trials, three locations, as of the middle of last week, had not been harvested yet as they haven’t been able to get into those fields.
Our laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is also interested in the effects that fungicides might have on mycotoxin accumulation in silage corn hybrids. We are especially interested in the accumulation of deoxynivalenol (DON or vomitoxin).
The cooperative received a USDA Local Food Promotion Program grant in September to further work on building a regional food distribution system. Project partners include the UW-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, Willy Street Co-op, Epic Systems and Second Harvest Food Bank, among others.
“Students wanted to know where they could find positive internships and training opportunities for hands-on learning,” said Julie Dawson, University of Wisconsin-Extension horticulture educator and UW-Madison assistant professor of horticulture. “This really brought out the need for a more comprehensive training program.”
Quoted: Bill Tracy, an organic corn breeder and professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, says, “Many CRISPR-induced changes that could happen in nature could have benefits to all kinds of farmers.” But, the NOSB has already voted on the issue and the rules are unlikely to change without significant pressure. “It’s a question of what social activity could move the needle on that,” Tracy concludes.
Wissconsin Brewing Co., Heineken and University of Wisconsin–Madison students are partnering to brew the first wild lager brewed in North America.
AgDay National Reporter Betsy Jibben talks with Harry Van Der Linden, President of Holstein Canada; Chris Galen, Communications Senior Vice President with the National Milk Producers Federation and Mark Stephenson, an Economist and Dairy Policy Expert with UW-Madison.
Maenner plans numerous educational events at which UW-Extension specialists make presentations. She strengthens connections between grower groups and UW-Extension, brainstorms educational-program ideas with growers, and manages research grants through associations, Guedot said.
Jerry Clark, Chippewa County UW-Extension agricultural agent, agreed with Hagedorn that this is good news for local farmers. There is more milk produced in the U.S. than what can be used domestically. Both Mexico and Canada are major buyers of Wisconsin milk and dairy products, he said.
Quoted: “You need a boat to get into some fields,” quipped Kevin Jarek, a University of Wisconsin Extension agent in Outagamie County.
Task Force Chairman Mark Stephenson of the University of Wisconsin says the meetings will provide an opportunity to discuss in-depth the issues that were identified at the group’s first fall meeting earlier this summer.
The project with the UW-Madison interns, overseen by professor Fred Madison, continued from 2010 to 2015. It examined the links between karst topography, groundwater, and dairy farm practices. As a result of those ventures, Geiser reports that mistakes were uncovered in the existing soil survey data.
I just had the best ice cream ever at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. UW Madison makes their own Babcock brand ice cream on campus. Why is the UW ice cream so much better than University of Nebraska?
Lloyd and Daphne Holterman will be recognized for their contributions to the dairy industry, their community and the University of Wisconsin-Madison at UW-Madison’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Honorary Recognition Banquet, along with three other recipients.
Basse, who grew up on a dairy farm in Waukesha and got his degree in agricultural economics at UW-Madison, said marketers within the dairy industry must better promote the benefits of their products at the grocery stores to regain consumers’ interest.
Dr. Van Os’ research focuses on understanding, evaluating, and improving the welfare of dairy animals from a biological perspective. She shared her findings recently with dairy producers at the Dodge-Fond du Lac County Forage Council meeting at Lomira.
Corn is looking pretty rugged in many areas of the Wisconsin corn belt. Areas in southern, southwestern, and south-central Wisconsin have experienced major foliar disease epidemics including the new disease, tar spot.
With partners in Wisconsin, Iowa and Pennsylvania, researchers will have the opportunity to conduct trials at various sites to test planter technologies, cover crop types, planting dates, weed management strategies and more in the first three years of the grant-funded project.
One crucial decision concerns timing a treatment that will eliminate more than three-quarters of the tiny fruits, says Amaya Atucha, a UW–Madison assistant professor of horticulture and Extension fruit crop specialist, who has been leading the effort to introduce the new technology.
Since she joined the University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty last spring as an assistant professor of dairy science and extension animal welfare specialist, she has traveled the state to meet with milk producers, processors and others concerned about the well-being of Wisconsin’s signature farm animal.
There is potential in 2018 for abundant volunteer wheat in late-summer-seeded alfalfa stands, says Mark Renz, University of Wisconsin-Extension weed specialist.
“We hope to define a set of best management practices for maximizing organic grain production yield while minimizing environmental impact and improving soil health,” says Brian Luck, assistant professor of biological systems engineering at UW–Madison and project lead.
Rebecca Blank, UW-Madison chancellor, said the Center for Dairy Research is one of the country’s premier dairy-research and education facilities. The hub for discovery is the result of about 200 individuals and organizations that helped raise funds, she said. John Lucey, director of the Center for Dairy Research and a professor of food science at UW-Madison, thanked the Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin that has funded the Center for Dairy Research for more than 30 years.
Meanwhile, strong yields of corn and soybeans across the Midwest will lead to increased demand for diesel compared to previous years, said Paul Mitchell, a professor of agricultural and applied economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Farmers will need more of the product to haul crops to market.
