Encourage dairy farmers to participate in the state budget process
Stevens Point, Wisconsin – Over the next several weeks, members of the Wisconsin State Legislature will work on developing the next biennial budget. During that time, they will receive requests from various interests across the state looking to spend the surplus and the current $7 billion in revenue that will be generated over the next two years.
Jennifer Wakeman urges everyone in productive agriculture, especially dairy producers, to participate in this important legislative process by personally contacting their Assembly representatives and senators, and by attending public hearings on the budget.
“If you’re not at the table in the process, you could end up on the list,” she warned.
Wickman is the Wisconsin Director of Governmental Affairs for the Cooperative Network, an organization that advocates for 18 agricultural, electric power, health care, and insurance cooperatives and their members in the Wisconsin and Minnesota state capitols.
The goal of the collaborative network is to ensure adequate and increased funding for producer-led watershed grants, cover crop insurance, nitrogen improvement grant program, dairy processor grants, agricultural imports, farmland preservation, and the Wisconsin Food Commodity Bank.
Education of the legislator
Wichman stressed the need to help state legislators recognize the important role agriculture plays in the state’s overall economy. “Agriculture generates $104 billion for Wisconsin’s economy, creating 435,000 jobs. Dairy products have an economic impact of $45 billion, twice the impact of tourism.
She says it’s critical that farmers help legislators learn about the needs of rural Wisconsin since there are so few farmers in the legislature. “Currently there are only six active farmers who are members of the legislature. There are 26 new legislators elected in 2022 and only two are farmers.”
Because there are fewer farmers in the legislature, this means that fewer elected officials know what farmers do and what they need to do. “Many of them don’t understand how important farming really is,” Wichman stated.
“When the Chairman of the Agriculture Committee of the Assembly told the caucus that more money was needed for rural roads, some of the other members said that more money should be spent on the roads where people actually live,” she said. “They don’t seem to understand that people who live in cities need food and other great things that come from rural Wisconsin, and those things wouldn’t get to them if we didn’t have good rural roads.”
Wichman noted that Republicans have long wanted to reduce the tax burden on Wisconsin residents as a way to attract more people to our state and, hopefully, prevent more retirees from leaving.
“In the last session, the legislature eliminated several tax brackets in the legislation that the governor eventually signed,” she said. Lawmakers are currently looking at some kind of revenue sharing – to find the best way to return more money to individuals and local governments. One proposal that seems to be gaining traction is to return 1% of the state sales tax to local units of government.”
The Wisconsin Policy Forum research group’s analysis of Governor Evers’ latest budget proposal called it “the largest increase in spending ever, exceeding revenue by nearly $5.3 billion in 2024 and $1.3 billion in 2025.”
Assembly Speaker Robin Foss said that legislative Republicans, who control both the Senate and the House, would “start from scratch, fund the right priorities and make responsible fiscal choices for our state.”
Wisconsin Priorities ag
The Wisconsin Ag Coalition is presenting to the legislature several important proposals that will help Wisconsin farmers become more efficient and more competitive in the global marketplace.
“We require $42 million for agriculture which is just 0.6% of the $7 billion budget surplus,” said Wakeman.
Suggestions include:
• $2 million in grants to watershed producers to improve soil and water quality. “Our goal is to develop practical, farmer-led voluntary programs that will reduce nitrogen and phosphorus that have commonsense rules to facilitate compliance,” Weichmann said.
• $2 million for cover crops to help farmers get a little more money to grow cover crops that help conserve soil.
• $2 million in grants to dairy processors to improve dairy processing facilities.
• 2 million dollars to increase agricultural exports. “In order for us to sell more cheese, we have to export more,” Wichman said. “We want to increase cheese exports by 25% by 2026. To do that, we need to help people apply for grants so they can identify and produce the types of cheese consumers want in different markets.”
• Request additional funding to preserve farmland. “This is a concept that farmers love but many feel the process of registering their land is very long and cumbersome. So we want to simplify the program and add more money to it.”
- Community food banks. “We want to put Wisconsin goods into Wisconsin food banks,” Wakeman stressed.
- $400,000 for feasibility studies related to forming a new cooperative such as mobile meat processing facilities and day care cooperatives. Providing financing to study the feasibility of converting the existing business into an employee-owned business; Increase the number of CDL-licensed drivers with scholarships and apprenticeships, and expand the driving season from 180 to 210 days.
- The Wisconsin Ag Coalition also proposes grant funding for rural roads including rural road lanes with new improved roads that can handle heavy farm machinery and milk trucks.
Wickman encourages all farmers to contact representatives and senators and ask them to support more funding for Wisconsin’s agricultural priorities. Contact information for local legislators is available online at legal.wisconsin.gov. You can also reach your legislators by calling the Legislative Hotline at 1-800-362-9472.