Wisconsin Watch Media Partners Center (https://partners.wisconsinwatch.org/tag/farming/)
Farmers, experts say reliance on immigrant workers, many of them in the U.S. illegally, will continue unless dairies — and Congress — make significant changes.
The Hernandez family and other dairy workers are heading back to Mexico amid hostile rhetoric and rising immigration arrests in the Midwest and nationwide.
Wisconsin’s proposal to protect bees and butterflies does not do enough to discourage use of the types of pesticides tied to bee die-offs, critics say.
The greenhouse and its veggies are one example of a new cottage industry popping up across the country to capitalize on the waste energy, methane gas and the nutrient-rich solids that are emitted from a digester.
The upshot: “First thing about climate change: Don’t talk about climate change,” said UW-Madison researcher Paul Mitchell. “Whatever language you need to use to work with your audience — that’s the language you would use.”
Grape farmers in Wisconsin are facing a growing threat, and in many cases it is coming from their own neighbors. Herbicides that are used to kill weeds in crops such as corn and soybeans can be deadly to other plants, including grapes. Food or wine grape vines exposed to the chemicals may shrivel up, turn colors and grow strange, elongated new leaves.
Dairy farmer Jeremy Meissner and farm manager Huron Mireles are part of the reason Clark County’s population is growing while nearby counties’ levels are declining. Part three of three in the Center’s Rural Slide series.
For farmer Brian Wickert, the raw milk bill is about having the freedom to live without interference from the government. But for health officials in America’s Dairyland, it’s about potentially exposing unsuspecting citizens to disease-causing bacteria. At the crux of this debate is the age-old question: How much should government protect its citizens from possible hazards?
Dairy farmers say they want access to immigrant workers without getting into legal trouble. But many lawmakers on Capitol Hill are running away from the issue.
Drivers beware: There’s a woman driving a stretch of Interstate 90 between Sparta and Tomah — without a license or any training about Wisconsin’s traffic laws.
They traveled 1,720 miles to work long hours on a dairy farm in western Wisconsin, among people who do not speak their language and in a place where their presence is illegal. Part 3 in our Dairyland Diversity project.
A growing number of Wisconsin dairy farmers are relying on immigrants to milk their cows and keep their farms running smoothly. But experts say farmers are often caught in a “don’t ask, don’t tell” web of federal employment regulations, with a strong incentive to know as little as possible about the legal status of their workers.