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The Future of Farming and Rural Life in Wisconsin: Findings, Recommendations, Steps to a Healthy Future A Wisconsin Idea Policy Program Report of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters The Future of Farming and Rural Life in Wisconsin report does not necessarily refl ect the poli- cies or views of the Wisconsin Academy’s partner groups, sponsors or funders, or the organiza- tions or agencies that employ the Future of Farming and Rural Life in Wisconsin Coordinating Committee members. The complete Future of Farming and Rural Life in Wisconsin report is available as a pdf on the Wisconsin Academy Web site, www.wisconsinacademy.org. Copies of the report may be purchased for $10 plus $2.50 postage/handling. Contact the Wisconsin Academy at 608-263-1692, or at: Future of Farming Report Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters 1922 University Ave. Madison, WI 53726 While the Future of Farming and Rural Life in Wisconsin report may not be duplicated in total, copying portions for educational purposes, with proper attribution to the Wisconsin Academy, is permitted. See back page for information on becoming a member of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters. Future of Farming and Rural Life in Wisconsin staff: Co-Chair: Stan Gruszynski Co-Chair: Tom Lyon Project Director: Wilda Nilsestuen Communications Specialist/Report Writer: Bill Berry Development Director: Gail Kohl Copyright © 2007 by the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters. This report should be cited as follows: WASAL.2007. Future of Farming and Rural Life in Wisconsin: Findings, Recommendations, Steps to a Healthy Future. Madison, Wisconsin: Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters. Cover photo: Jim Richardson, © Richardson Photography Contents Preface 6 Introduction 8 A Description of the Future of Farming and Rural Life Project ...............................................15 About the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters.................................................20 Executive Summary .....................................................................................................................22 Project Recommendations ..........................................................................................................27 Section 1 Status of Rural Wisconsin 41 Population Trends: Winds of Change in Rural Wisconsin ..........................................................44 Farming Trends in Wisconsin .......................................................................................................49 Infrastructure in Rural Wisconsin ...............................................................................................61 How Public and Private Decisions Have Changed Rural Landscapes ....................................62 Essay Bioenergy and the New Rural Economy: Challenges and Opportunities ....................................67 Section 2 Sustaining Our Communities 71 What is Community? ...................................................................................................................72 Addressing Rural Health Care: Needed Now ...........................................................................77 Moving Forward Toward Change ................................................................................................84 Meeting the Challenges of Rural Education ..............................................................................85 Government’s Role in Serving Rural Needs: Balancing Democracy and Effi ciency................96 Rural Communities, Regions and Residents ........................................................................... 103 Essay Farming and Rural Life: What’s Culture Got to Do with It? .......................................................110 Section 3 Food Systems: The Wisconsin Advantage 113 An Overview of Wisconsin Food Systems ............................................................................... 118 Strengthening Food Systems .................................................................................................... 122 Encouraging Innovation ............................................................................................................. 131 Some Perspectives on the Diversity of Wisconsin’s Agriculture ...........................................134 Essay The Future Farm .........................................................................................................................140 Section 4 The Land We Tend 143 Public Policy and the Future of Our Land .................................................................................150 Sharpening Existing Land Use Tools ........................................................................................ 154 Land Use Education: Opening Doors to Understanding .........................................................158 Protecting Precious Resources ................................................................................................ 162 Forested Working Lands: Challenges and Opportunities ....................................................... 166 Essay Wisconsin’s Working Lands: Protecting Our Core Assets ...........................................................176 Essay The Link Between Healthy Communities and Healthy Rural Areas ...........................................179 Section 5 Production Agriculture: Past, Present, Future 183 Helping Ag in the Middle .......................................................................................................... 186 Investing in the Future ............................................................................................................... 191 Rural Labor Issues: Who Will Do the Work? ............................................................................ 194 Federal Farm Policy: How to Best Serve the Needs of Wisconsin ..........................................200 Regulation and Agriculture ....................................................................................................... 204 Bioenergy: Renewing the Rural Economy .................................................................................206 Issues of Importance in Production Agriculture ..................................................................... 213 A Revival of Hope ...................................................................................................................... 219 Essay Lessons Learned on the Farm ....................................................................................................222 Section 6 Finding Common Ground: Reaching Out to a Broader Group of Stakeholders 225 Essay The Land Comes First ................................................................................................................230 Endnotes and Other References 233 Future of Farming and Rural Life Donors 236 Preface By Rod Nilsestuen Secretary of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection Agriculture and conservation are our heritage. They are also our future. My Norwegian grandparents homesteaded the family dairy farm near Arcadia in 1866. I want my children’s children to be nurtured by the land as my brothers and sisters and I have been. I often quote from “The Land Remembers,” Ben Logan’s book: “Once you have lived on the land, been a partner with its moods, secrets and seasons, you cannot leave. The living land remembers, touching you in unguarded moments, saying, ‘I’m here. You are part of me.’ When this happens to me, I go home again in mind or in person, back to a hilltop world in southwestern Wisconsin. This is the story of that farm and its people. That land is my genesis. I was born there, cradled by the land and I am always there even though I have been a wanderer.” For many of us, especially for those of us who grew up in the country, land is more than real estate. It is nature’s changing seasons and cycles of life. It is a big part of our identity. For many, it is almost spiritual. But today, we are losing that land. The state’s rate of loss of farmland is now number one in the Midwest. We are losing 30,000 acres of farmland a year and even more is “parcelized”: too small to farm, yet too big to mow. This is not sustainable. The population of Wisconsin is expected to grow by more than one million people by 2030, signifi cantly increasing the need for housing and commercial devel- opment. Clearly, Wisconsin needs to look at new and better ways to balance growth with protecting farm and forestland. The state’s food, agriculture and “bio” future depend on it. We cannot continue as a $51 billion-plus food and agriculture economy without a land base. Nor can we have clean lakes and trout streams if we don’t protect our green recharge areas. We will not become a leader in the new bio-economy if we keep paving over more than a township’s worth of farmland every year – farmland needed to produce biomass. 6 The Future of Farming and Rural Life in Wisconsin From the hills and hidden valleys of the Coulee Country to the north woods country with its rich forests, from the fragile eco-systems of the eastern Wisconsin waters to the central river country, ours is a diverse, vibrant and beautiful land. Diversity is our strength. The world is transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy, making our agricultural diver- sity the envy of other states. Wisconsin has 15 million tons of biomass – enough to replace more than 13 million tons of coal if converted to renewable energy. Biomass resources include byproducts of corn and other crops,

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