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Ride to Farm Will Help Next Generation of Dairy Farmers
A bicycle ride to raise awareness about the crucial need to help Wisconsin’s next generation of dairy farmers get started will take place Friday, June 24 to Monday, June 27. The Ride to Farm will begin just east of Eau Claire and finish at the opening of the annual Wisconsin Association of Agricultural Educators Conference, Marriott Madison West Hotel, Middleton, on Monday morning. A gala fund-raising event: ‘Graze On! For Local Farms, Local Foods’, featuring local artisan cheeses, micro-brewed beer, and hors d’oeuvres by Madison celebrity chefs, will take place Sunday evening at the Capital Brewery, Middleton.
The Ride and the benefit will raise funds to support the Wisconsin School for Beginning Dairy Farmers (WSBDF), a program of the UW-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems and the Farm and Industry Short Course, whose mission is to help new farmers get started.
Wisconsin high school agriculture/FFA instructors Brad Sirianni of Independence High School and Merle Richter of Bloomer High School originated the idea for the first Ride a year ago. This June up to a dozen cyclists may partake in the Ride, including last year’s veterans, Sirianni, Richter and the School’s director, Richard Cates.
“I am extremely fortunate to be able to take part in such an important effort to help raise awareness of the issues that the school is set up to tackle, and to show support for our bright and motivated next generation of farmers,” Cates says. The School is now in its eleventh year of helping aspiring farmers to get started.
“The Ride adds momentum and additional meaning to the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board’s third-year endorsement of America’s Dairyland women’s cycling team, which promotes Wisconsin’s dairy industry, by focusing on the industry need to help beginning farmers to succeed,” Cates points out. Several members of the celebrity America’s Dairyland women’s cycling team are scheduled to accompany the Ride for the last leg into Madison on Sunday.
Riders will stop at several start-up farms and Culvers Restaurants along the 225-mile route through the Wisconsin countryside between Eau Claire and Madison. (See route and stop details in the sidebar below). Although the number of riders will be limited to about 12, everyone is encouraged to attend one or more of the route stops along the way. Interested public will be treated to complimentary organic milk, locally produced by Organic Valley Family of Farms, LaFarge, and turtle sundaes from Culvers Restaurants. Graduate- and mentor- farmers from the WSBDF, as well as local media will be in attendance at each stop. Stay tuned to your local radio and newspapers for ride details and/or changes.
Business sponsors of the event include Culvers Restaurants (meals for cyclists and turtle sundaes for supporting public), Kwik Trip (T-shirts), Organic Valley Family of Farms (organic milk for riders and supporting public), and Powertex Sportswear (T-shirt logo and design). Agency support comes from the University of Wisconsin- Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems and the Farm & Industry Short Course, the Wisconsin Dept. of Agriculture Trade & Consumer Protection’s Dairy Business Innovation Center, and the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. Covering the Ride will be radio hosts Bob Bosold of WAXX Radio, Eau Claire and Pam Jahnke of the Wisconsin Farm Report.
To contribute to the ‘Ride’, or to obtain a brochure and find out how to collect pledges, please contact:
The UW Foundation-Friends of the WSBDF Fund, Attn: Jodi Wickham, (608) 263-2027; jodi.wickham@uwfoundation.wisc.edu or Carol Chapa, (608) 265-4049; carol.chapa@uwfoundation.wisc.edu
Or mail to:
The UW Foundation
Attn: Jodi Wickham; Friends of the WSBDF Fund
1848 Univ. Ave., PO Box 8860
Madison, WI 53708-8860
SIDEBAR: ROUTE INFORMATION: Riders will meet for breakfast 8:30am Friday morning, June 24, at the River Country Coop Truck Stop, about 12 miles east of Eau Claire on Hwy 29 at Cadott. The trip will begin approx. 9:30 a.m. and head south down Hwy 27 and across on the county roads through Greenwood, Loyal and Marshfield. They will stop for lunch at the farm of Jim and Julie Schweers, WSBDF 1998 Graduates (W4524 26 Rd.; just west of Loyal on Hwy 98 take Cardinal Rd. to the south for 1 mile to 26 Rd.), and for supper at Culvers in Marshfield. Saturday morning they will head east on County Rd. H and then south on N and S to Wisconsin Rapids, then south by the river rd.- County Z- to Wisconsin Dells. Sunday’s ride will start south on County Rd. A, to Baraboo, then Hwy 12 to Sauk City for lunch at the original Culvers Restaurant. From there, Hwy 12east to County Rd. KP and south east to Middleton for the early evening event at The Capital Brewery. Monday morning the riders will arrive approx. 9:30am for the opening of the WAAE Conference at the Marriott Madison West Hotel.