MID-WEST FARM REPORT - MADISON

It’s almost kidding season at Rainbow Ridge Farm in Onalaska, and you wouldn’t believe the amount of people who are drawn in! It’s not just the cuteness of baby goats that gets people excited, it’s the chance to welcome new life onto the farm and get your hands dirty. Cindy Hoehne runs Rainbow Ridge Farm, a bed and breakfast, farm camp, and agricultural destination. She can...

The movie Green and Gold opened nationwide on Friday.  It's the story of a Wisconsin dairy farmers struggling to hang on to the farm, when he's offered a chance to bet it all on the Green Bay Packers winning a championship.  He takes the bet.  Pam Jahnke visits with one of the Upper Michigan brothers that produced and directed the film.  Davin Lindwall tells Pam about their com...

Can a cooperative be an option for a farm succession plan? In some cases, it can work. It’s one of the areas that the UW Center for Cooperatives is looking into. Kelly Maynard is a cooperative development specialist with the center, which is part of the Division of Extension. In addition to research, outreach, and education, they also help people start new cooperatives. Kelly says while she...

This is an exciting time of year as Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin (DFW) partners with the WIAA (Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association) and WSN (Wisconsin Sports Network).  Dairy farmer, executive board member and WI representative on the National Dairy Board, Gail Klinkner, takes a moment to explain why this partnership is key from a nutritional standpoint, and a "next generation custom...

Tariff developments over the weekend headline the hour.  Wisconsin depends on export sales to Canada, Mexico and China as their 3 big business partners.  Bob Bosold focuses on concentration in agribusiness doing that business with author Austin Frerick.  Frerick was a keynote speaker during the WI Farmers Union state convention.  A little fog this morning starts our week accord...

Dairy farmers are waiting to witness the impact of revisions to the Federal Milk Marketing Orders (FMMO) beginning in June. How can you best prepare your farm for some of the risk that comes with these changes? Leonard Polzin is a dairy economist with the Division of Extension. He’ll be walking us through the what-ifs of 2025 wiuth Stephanie Hoff. But first, he reminds us that the Dairy Marg...

77th Alice in Dairyland Halei Heinzel joins Mid-West Farm Report in-studio for your Super Bowl party needs. She says potatoes can be used in so many ways, whether you enjoy them fried, mashed, boiled, baked, or stewed. They'll make the perfect addition to your indoor tailgate party as an appetizer or a main dish. Wisconsin’s farmers grow six varieties of potatoes – Russet, Ro...

Mass deportation, trade wars – these are phrases that we’re hearing frequently with a new administration that right now are followed with some question marks. Today, we’re getting some perspective on what President Trump’s immigration and tariff stance looks like and how it could impact Wisconsin farmers. Cody Heller joins us from Central Wisconsin Ag Services, which works...

In rural America, agriculture is a way of life and is learned through experiences from a young age, but those who grow up in urban settings don’t get that experience. There is one school in Milwaukee looking to change that. The River Trails School of Agricultural Science offers a unique experience to their students by having an ag focus in all grades starting in kindergarten all the way thro...

77th Alice in Dairyland Halei Heinzel joins us in-studio as she passes the six-month mark of her role as Wisconsin’s agricultural ambassador. Travel is a big part of the job, and she’s put over 20,000 miles on her vehicle so far traveling to local events and classrooms across the state. Her work has also taken her overseas. She just returned from a trade mission in Vietnam with the Gin...

The Trump administration plans on using tariffs – or higher taxes on foreign goods – as a negotiation tool to benefit U.S. consumers. Hiccups could come into play if our trading partners retaliate with their own tariffs. What would that mean for agriculture? Chuck Nicholson is an associate professor in ag economics and dairy science at UW-Madison. He’s created some models to pred...

Tari Costello is the new executive director of the WI FFA Alumni and Supporters.  Costello is a freshly retired former ag teacher from Waupun.  Despite her extensive background with state FFA, she still had to maneuver through some challenges.  Jill Welke gets an update. Near record breaking warmth today for Wisconsin, but the winds stay noticeable.  Stu Muck brings the weather...

Entries are flowing in for the 2025 US Championship Cheese Contest, coming up in March in Green Bay.  Ben Jarboe finds out about new categories and flavors for this year's events from Kirstin Strohmenger from the Wisconsin Cheesemakers Association. Mild but windy - that's the forecast from Stu Muck. Grotegut Dairy in Netwon, WI, has been named 2025 Innovative Dairy Farmer of the Year by the I...

Prof. Steve Kelm chairs the Department of Animal and Food Science at UW-River Falls. This week, classes started back up for Farm & Industry Short Course students. This is the second year that FISC has been at UW-River Falls, and Kelm says enrollment is up. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wisconsin has another voice on the House Agriculture Committee. Freshman member Congressman Tony Wied represents District 8 in the House of Representatives. He gets started on his first full session in office after finishing the remainder of former Congressman Mike Gallagher's late last year. Congressman Wied introduces himself to us today. He also outlines his priorities for his first year in off...

Division of Extension Dean and Director Karl Martin tells Mid-West Farm Report that Extension has lost about 20 percent of its staff in the past decade. He points to funding challenges as the reason for the loss of agents. Most recently, Iowa County has had to cut Extension funding. Martin says this is often because essential services, such as EMS, take precedence in a county's small budget. To re...

Finding volunteers has become like finding a needle in a haystack for many groups.  Ian Hill knows all about it. Community events are something we hold near and dear in rural Wisconsin. Whether it's your town’s summer festival, a dairy breakfast, or a county fair. Those events can’t happen without people willing to give up their time, money, and energy to volunteer, but how do you...

Wisconsin is America's Dairyland and is well known for its ability to produce some of the best cheese in the world. This is why it is picked to host the United States Championship Cheese Contest. Kirsten Strohmenger explains the history of the contest as well as what goes into putting it together. Strohmenger is the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association director of contests and shares how she is abl...

Megan Roberts is the Principal Quantitative and Economic Analyst for Compeer Financial.  Her background as an agriculture economist has included teaching at the college level, as well as work through extension.  Now, she's preparing for a Feb. 19th webinar that will help update producers on the changing terrain of policy in Washington, DC, and how it can impact their operations. Educatin...

Farmers and consumers have been watching the rise in livestock and poultry prices.  One hoping for escalation - the other hoping for moderation. Jeff Swenson, Livestock Marketing Specialist at the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection in Madison, gives his first update of 2025 to Ben Jarboe. Finally, weather you can breath in!  After subzero temps earlier in...

The renewable fuel industry is looking for positive signs in the new Trump administration.  Bob Bosold finds out about it with John Fuher with Growth Energy.  He says that ethanol consumption could use some assistance getting E-15 available year round, nationwide. Warmer weather on the way, but winds will be noticeable this week.  That's the update from Stu Muck. The Wisconsin 4-H F...

Two years ago, Wisconsin started expanding its mesonet - a network of weather stations across the state to track valuable forecast and soil data. Chris Kucharik is a professor of plant and agroecosystem sciences at UW-Madison leading the expansion of what's called Wisconet thanks to dollars from the USDA and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. They plan to have about 80 weather stations plac...

Chris Hesse and Melissa Wolken join us from Variety Attractions out of Ohio. They are entertainment consultants and talent buyers for fairs and festivals. While it’s hard to see yourself standing outside at a concert right now, county fairs already have their entertainment booked. Melissa and Chris tell us what it takes to bring in talent and how far in advance these plans need to be made. S...

Community events are something we hold near and dear in rural Wisconsin. Whether it's your small town’s summer festival, a dairy breakfast, or a county fair. But those events can’t happen without people willing to give up their time, money, and energy to volunteer. Today we talk about the best way to recruit and retain good volunteers for your ag organization. Ian Hill is the CEO of Th...

Charitee Seebecker sits down with Chuck Connor, president and CEO of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives. As we kick off 2025, he says farmers across the country are facing a mix of big challenges and new opportunities. For example, this year, $4 trillion in tax deductions will expire unless Congress intervenes. These include provisions crucial to farmers, such as estate tax relief. Ag met...