Gov. Tony Evers this week signed the 2023-25 biennial budget. The state’s leading farm organization is calling it “a good budget for farmers.”
“From big ticket items like the $150 million to fix farm roads, to more targeted initiatives like meat and dairy processor grants and funding for the state’s Ag in the Classroom program, this was a good budget for farmers,” says Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation President Kevin Krentz.
Members of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association are celebrating the $1 million for the Wisconsin Initiative for Agricultural Exports. This effort started in December 2021 to increase sales of Wisconsin dairy, crop and meat products overseas.
“Our sincere thanks go to Governor Evers and legislative leaders for their steadfast, bipartisan support of Wisconsin’s dairy industry,” said John Umhoefer, WCMA Executive Director. ”Their willingness to listen to dairy processors’ voices and invest in this $46 billion economic engine helps ensure a bright future for all those in the dairy supply chain, from farm to consumer.”
WCMA also champions the budget funding $1 million over the biennium for the Dairy Processor Grant program at the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. These grants are awarded to dairy businesses each year to fund innovation and plant modernization projects. Legislators also voted to provide $7.8 million per year to support the Dairy Innovation Hub.
More Agricultural Budget Items
- $12.5 million to assess local bridges and culverts that are 20 feet or less in length.
- $2 million for meat processor grants.
- $500,000 per year for grants to dairy processors.
- Farmer mental health funding of $100,000 per year.
- $2 million for nitrogen optimization pilot program grants.
- $70,000 per year for livestock premises registration.
- Additional $50,000 per year for Wisconsin Agriculture in the Classroom program.
- $1.6 million for cover crop rebates.
- Maintained funding for producer-led watershed protection grants.
- $22,176,500 in funding for county conservation departments.
- $125 million to address PFAS contamination.
- $1 million in 2024-25 for well compensation and well abandonment grants.
- $6.5 million for rural nonpoint source water pollution abatement grants.
- $200,000 per year for Targeted Runoff Management grants.
- $3 million reallocated to fund the Food and Farm Exploration Center in Plover.
“This funding will go a long way in helping programs and initiatives that support what our members do every day –- feed families in their communities, across the state and around the globe,” says Krentz.
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