Tag: featured

The Wisconsin Farmers Union convention via zoom had over 180 members gathered to discuss policy priorities for 2021, these policies are used to make recommendations to our legislators and other decision makers.  It is insightful to hear the discussions on how we move forward to help farmers and others in rural areas.  Thanks to the delegates from our chapter who attended. To learn more about WFU policy visit: https://www.wisconsinfarmersunion.com/policy

Scroll down to read the following 

• Gerrymandering Update, WFU video, Can You Hear Us Now film information
• Wisconsin Women in Conservation project information
• Natural Resources Conservation Service is a resource for farmers
• An Interview with farmer Emmet Fisher, PP WFU Chapter Treasurer

Gerrymandering update—Can You Hear Us NOW?

Gerrymandering continues to affect our state in an adverse manner.  A recent NBC News article highlighted the ways in which our state’s gerrymandered districts and resulting misrepresentation of the people is hampering the response to Covid. (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/gop-gerrymandering-slows-wisconsin-s-covid-response-n1255684)

Wisconsin Farmer’s Union has produced an excellent video to help us understand gerrymandering and how it is harmful to democracy:  http://bit.ly/WFUFairMaps

A relatively new group, Pierce County GrassRoots Organizing, will be part of bringing the film “Can You Hear Us Now?” to the people of Western WI. The film will be available to view free of charge during a 3-day period at the end of February or early March and there will be a panel discussion a day or two after. The film shows vividly how gerrymandering is preventing the will of the people to be enacted. Worse yet, that in fact, there is concrete evidence that the exact opposite of the will of the people is becoming law. Through this film, we’d like to raise awareness about the need for fair voting districts and motivate people to join the fight. You can watch the trailer here. The full film is currently available for $5 on Vimeo and Amazon Prime.

Wisconsin Women in Conservation—a new project to help you improve your land

by Sara George

Wisconsin Women in Conservation (WIWIC) is a new project working to amplify and expand conservation practices and assistance, funded by the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). The unique three-year initiative utilizes a team of regional coordinators to facilitate educational workshops, field days, mentorships and regional summits. Coordinators will focus their outreach on geographic areas defined as clusters of three counties each, as shown in the map here. They will support conservation plan development and implementation, thus helping women landowners’ increased awareness of NRCS programs, along with building relationships with agency staff at the local level. Workshops will be offered virtually for this year, expanding to more in-person events when possible. 

If you are a Wisconsin woman committed to conservation and curious to learn more from other women in the state, this project is for YOU! The WiWiC website, WiWic.org, has just launched, and you can follow on  Facebook and sign up here to receive WiWiC information and updates.

The project is led by Michael Fields Agricultural Institute with partner organizations Wisconsin Farmers Union (WFU). Renewing the Countryside (RTC), Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service (MOSES).If you have questions about the project, please contact RTC’s regional coordinator: Sara George (sara@rtcinfo.org) for Pierce, Pepin and Buffalo Counties.

Natural Resources Conservation Service is a resource for farmers

by Maureen Ash

We like to think that as farmers we are stewards who grow food and feed people.  Certainly farming is a way to do good in the world, but it is also a way to harm it.  How we care for our soil and water has a lot to do with whether we are doing one or the other.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service, a branch of the United States Department of Agriculture, has been around since 1935.  It was called the Soil Conservation Service until 1994.  The new name is thought to better express the broader mission necessary to protect our nation’s resources.

As Farmers Union members, we strive to care for the land, water, air, animals, and neighbors we affect.  Sometimes doing the right thing is not the most profitable thing in the short term.  That’s where NRCS comes in.  We can get financial help and expertise as we make decisions and take actions involved with our land. 

A corner of our farm, for example, was being eaten away by a gully each time water rushed from that particular slope.  Through NRCS we were able to share the cost of designing and building a dam that has solved that problem, given us a small pond, and turned a little part of our farm into a more pleasant and scenic area.  Through another NRCS program we were able to transform 29 acres of less-productive, highly erodible land into prairie.

Our neighbors have had similar experiences.  The expert staff at our county NRCS office is approachable and down to earth.  They provide financial and technical assistance that can help farmers use their land to be more productive while also protecting the soil and water that are the basis of all future productivity.

It’s worth checking out NRCS to see if there’s anything they can help you with.  Getting to know your NRCS staff might be one of those farming decisions that really pays off in the end.

Start by going to the NRCS website to see what sorts of programs are available and how you can make contact with your nearest NRCS office if you have questions or wish to participate in a program.

https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/main/national/programs/

An Interview with Emmet Fisher, PP WFU Chapter Treasurer

Emmet Fisher, his wife Cella Langer, and their small son Hugo are the owners and workers at Oxheart Farm, a Community-Sustained Agriculture farm located in the Hager City area between Ellsworth and Red Wing.  You can find information at oxheartfarm.com and on Facebook.

1. Emmet, I remember seeing you as a young boy on your parents’ farm.  You had a unique childhood and I wonder if you’d mind just giving us some background on that and your parents’ operation.

I grew up in Stockholm WI on a small diversified farm. My parents market vegetables through CSA and have an on-farm bakery where they sell pizza and bread once a week. They raise all of the vegetables that go on the pizzas, as well as the meat including lamb, pork, and beef. I grew up throwing hay bales and pizza dough–more of the latter, but hundreds if not thousands of both every year.

• What effect did that have on your decision to become a farmer?

I enjoyed both, and knew on some level at a fairly young age that I wanted to return to farming. After graduating from college my wife and I considered various options in the environmental areas we had studied but farming won out and after apprenticing on several farms and landing a job managing a farm business incubator program we started our own farm in Mount Horeb, WI, just southwest of Madison.

• What led you to your current location?

After farming on rented land for three years in the Madison area we decided that we wanted to buy a farm closer to family. We moved ourselves and our farm to family land in Stockholm for two years while we looked for a property to buy and re-established our markets. In the end, a pizza customer and friend connected us with her aging parents and we were able to purchase our current farm in November of 2017.

• What is your farm like?  

Our farm is 35 mostly wooded acres between Ellsworth and Red Wing. We grow about two acres of vegetables that we sell through CSA. In 2020 we had 75 families from mostly Red Wing and Hager City who came to the farm once a week to pick out their box of vegetables from our weekly harvest of in season produce. We also raise hogs, laying hens, and have a small herd of cattle. We have 10 acres or so of silvopasture that we converted from a pine plantation where we rotationally graze our cattle under rows of Ash, Oak, and Pine. We are currently finishing construction of a small Grade A dairy plant on the farm, and plan to sell creamline milk in glass jars from our four Ayrshire cows in 2021. 

• How has it changed over the past few years? 

We moved to our farm three years ago and have changed land uses, put up buildings and grown our business in some meaningful ways. Still, most of what we do has not changed much and our goal is not to grow our business but to maintain it.

• What tools, whether legal, financial, expertise-related, have helped you?

We have had so much help in realizing our farming goals from friends, family, fellow farmers and farm programs. We decided to take the Farm Beginnings and Journey Person courses through LSP and both of those programs have proven extremely valuable in the success of our farm. First, both programs focus on defining success so that you know what you’re working towards. We farm because it’s a lifestyle that we enjoy, and we measure our success not by our gross revenue or even our net, but by making sure our farm is allowing us to live the kind of life we want in addition to paying the bills. This is not to say that we don’t manage our farm finances closely, just that we don’t get caught up in the numbers and lose track of what we actually care about:  Growing good food, working out in the sun, laughing with our loved ones. 

Please reach out if you have any questions. We are looking for ideas on growing our WFU chapter. Have a splendid day.

Pepin-Pierce Chapter Wisconsin Farmers Union Officers:  

Faye Jones, President, faye02@wwt.net  715-495-2064
Bairet Eiter, Vice President, bairet.eiter@gmail.com
Maureen Ash, Secretary, mash76@sbwireless.net
Emmet Fisher, Treasurer, oxheartfarm@gmail.com