Improving water quality in Kewaunee and southern Door counties remains a vital priority for Peninsula Pride Farms, a farmer-led conservation group. Year after year, members continue growing their impact and sharing their accomplishments of improving the environment. At its annual meeting, PPF will feature speakers covering various topics to help farmers accomplish their sustainability goals.
Those interested should join the discussion from 9:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. on Feb. 14 at the Kewaunee County Fairgrounds Expo Hall in Luxemburg.
Attendees will explore these topics through presentations by:
Dr. Lee Briese — an independent crop consultant from central North Dakota. He provides agronomic advice to help farmers build customized systems to grow and manage crops profitably. He specializes in helping farmers adopt practices to protect and improve their soil and local environment, including reduced-till, no-till, cover crops, crop rotation and increased plant and economic diversity.
Shawn Wesener — a data collection specialist for Farmers for Sustainable Food, working directly with farmers to help track conservation practice outcomes. Wesener has a professional background in agriculture and public planning. He now supports farmer-led groups in their conservation efforts by working directly with farmers and crop advisers to capture the data needed to drive sustainability projects and support continuous improvement. He will present the findings from SRPF’s 2022 survey results on member conservation practices.
Nathaniel Baeumler — he’s worked at Houston Engineering, Inc. since 2019 in the water quality division. Baeumler works with farmer-led groups on inputting data and analyzing data outputs from the Fieldprint Platform. Baeumler also works on water quality-related tasks that may accompany the Fieldprint Platform analysis. Baeumler will share a high-level summary of the PPF sustainability project of on-farm sustainability and its impact on local water resource results.
Mark Witecha — the soil and watershed management section manager with the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. Staff in Witecha’s section administer the Producer-Led Watershed Protection Grant program and oversee the department’s nutrient management planning and soil health efforts. Witecha will give an update on DATCP programs that are helping to keep agriculture strong.
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