Last week Governor Evers announced his new budget proposal for the state, which also includes a significant amount of money for agriculture. Between now and June 30th, the end of the fiscal year and the start of the new two-year budget period, Governor Evers and the legislature will be discussing what the final budget will look like. That way on July 1st, Evers can sign the new budget bill and the new period can commence.
In his budget proposal, there’s a historic amount of money being set aside for farmers and the food industry. He proposed that an additional $43 million be appropriated to agriculture. To put that in perspective, the annual ag budget is about $100 million and this would be added to that.
Randy Romanski, Evers’ Secretary-designee of the Wisconsin Department of Ag, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) explained that the money going towards ag is put into five sections.
- Encouraging market development for Wisconsin agricultural products. This could be international marketing of the state’s products or it could be finding new ways for consumers in Wisconsin to connect with products that are grown or produced in the dairy state.
- Investing in Wisconsin dairy and meat processing.
- Technical support for producer-driven soil and water conservation.
- Providing resources for farmers so they can maintain a healthy lifestyle. This boils down to making mental health and financial counseling services more accessible.
- Lastly, focusing on DATCP’s internal functions. For example, at meat processing plants they have to have someone from DATCP on-site during slaughtering. If there aren’t enough inspectors to be at each processor to inspect the facility, then that slows down the whole supply chain.
Romanski mentioned that these issues were already around before the pandemic, but during the past year we realized how important they really are. “We had a situation where the supply chain got disrupted when schools and restaurants closed, and dairy farmers were faced with the really difficult choice of having to dispose of milk,” he also gave another example, “when some of the processing facilities had impacts to their workforce because of COVID-19, (that) backed them down on what they could process.”
He explained that meat processing facilities were something that got looked at very seriously over the past year and that’s why Evers made them a priority. “He’s investing in ways to build resiliency into our agriculture industry. To make investments by providing grants to meat processors so that they can innovate their facilities.” Romanski goes on to say that this has been talked about for a while now, but COVID-19 made it a bigger issue that needed to be taken care of.
As of now, the budget has only been proposed. That means that there’s a lot that needs to get done before it’s set in stone. The breakdown is that Governor Evers started the process this month, now it’ll go to the legislature where both houses will debate it and pass it. Then the budget goes through the Joint Finance Committee where they’ll do public hearings. Afterward, it’ll head back to Governor Evers where there could be some vetoes or partial vetoes. Ultimately, the budget will be signed by Evers and put into place on July 1st, 2021.
Romanski said that even though it’s a long process and there are many people who have to look at the budget before it passes, he’s hopeful. “I don’t know every detail in the budget, but what’s in there for agriculture, for the agriculture industry, for food supply, food security, is really innovative, and creative, and timely,” Romanski said he thinks it’ll pass without too many issues, “we’re hopeful that the agriculture proposals will proceed. There’s a lot that the Governor and legislature are going to agree on.”
There’s still plenty that needs to get done because altogether, the budget bill is 1,800 pages long and it all has to be looked over. Officials need to make sure the financials match up with what’s been proposed and the resources that are available. Romanski estimates that they’ll get into the additional details of the budget in April. He said that typically, once May and June roll around there are conversations going on with Governor Evers and then by the end of June he’ll sign the budget.
No matter if you agree with the things Governor Evers has done in the past or will do in the future, you have to admit that he’s putting a lot of focus on the agricultural industry. You can hear the full interview with Randy Romanski right here.
