Governor Evers visits with a cow and a member of the Breitenmoser Family Farm in Merrill. (Photo courtesy of WAOW-TV).
MERRILL, WI (WSAU-WAOW) — Wisconsin’s Governor was in Merrill to kick off June Dairy month at a local farm.
Governor Evers along with State Senator Brad Pfaff visited Breitenmoser Family Farm Wednesday morning to meet some of the people in the state helping to run the dairy industry. After a tour of the farm, Evers tells WAOW-TV that the state needs to find ways to help local farmers have more workers. “Finding people to work is really difficult for us in this state. I believe that it’s multifaceted. I don’t believe it’s something that frankly we’ve spent a lot of time talking about as a state,”.
To help with the worker shortage Evers has recommended expanding a program that has large businesses work directly with smaller farmers to provide a lunch program for workers. He says there are also other ways the state can help the dairy industry not related to the current worker shortage partially caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The stewardship that I know every single dairy farmer feels as they get up every morning. That is so important to making sure that we are able to sustain the land we’re already using in a good and responsible way. That will also help the dairy industry,”.
With budget discussions continuing in Madison, Evers hopes that those across the aisle will see how important it is to help local farmers with the biennial budget. “Farm to local is a top priority. We have resources in this budget. Hopefully the Republicans will find it valuable,”.
Wisconsin is home to nearly 7,000 dairy farms, more than any other state, and 1.28 million cows. The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection report the dairy industry contributes $45.6 billion to Wisconsin’s economy each year.
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