Cash grain farmers can improve their bottom line by diversifying crops and reducing chemical inputs, according to a cropping systems trial now in its eighth year of economic analysis. Diversified grain systems at two sites have shown better financial returns than a high-input continuous corn system every year since 1992. These are the results from the [...] [...more]
Can environmentally beneficial crop rotations also improve farm profitability? A long-term study underway in southern Wisconsin aims to find out. It blends systems research with strong farmer guidance to measure profitability, productivity, and environmental impacts of six cropping systems. The Wisconsin Integrated Cropping Systems Trial (WICST) compares three cash grain cropping systems and three forage systems [...] [...more]
Purchasing calves (stockers) in spring and selling them in the fall as feeder cattle may be a way to convert pasture to profit for those with a surplus of grass but not a lot of facilities. But managing pasture, animals, costs, and markets plays a key role in determining the level of profit producers can [...] [...more]
All farm types examined here, particularly the low and medium investment farms with high levels of debt, may find an expansion involving sweat equity to be the best option for them.- Rick Klemme Grazing-based dairy farmers considering expanding their herds and constructing labor- saving parlors need to consider the expansion’s effect on profitability carefully. (See CIAS [...] [...more]
Many successful graziers, confident in their grazing and management skills, are now asking: Will an expansion pay for a labor-saving parlor within a modified seasonal calving system to allow me and my family a better of quality of life? Probably, according to the models formulated by a team of UW-Madison and Extension economists, but it [...] [...more]
A livestock operation in northern Wisconsin won’t make you rich, but it can provide a source of supplemental income. That’s one of the findings from a five-year Hayward Agricultural Research Station study that evaluated the feasibility of northern Wisconsin sheep and beef production. The UW-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences ran the station from 1985 to [...] [...more]
Agriculture and tourism — two of Wisconsin’s most important industries — are teaming up in southwestern Wisconsin. A pilot project has found that tourists, rural communities, and some farmers could benefit from stronger efforts to promote and market agricultural tourism there. In 1990, agricultural tourism project members surveyed 290 visitors to the annual Monroe Cheese Festival [...] [...more]
Learn how to extend your marketing season by growing and selling winter storage crops like carrots, beets, winter squash, cabbage, potatoes, onions, garlic and more. This workshop will be held on December 4 in Hudson and December 11 in Madison. For details, see the workshop flyer. Hope to see you there!
(What is RSS?)On Thursday, November 12, CIAS hosted its annual meeting of apple growers engaged in its Eco-Apple pesticide reduction program. Notably, the group of 48 growers celebrated the successful completion of a six-year effort designed to reduce the use of pesticides on orchards throughout Wisconsin. During the course of the program, all reporting orchards demonstrated a reduced reliance on pesticides in favor of a diversity of IPM strategies, and some realized a near-total elimination of organophosphate applications. CIAS thanks its team of growers for their enthusiastic and committed participation. In particular, CIAS wishes to thank Dave Flannery, Wendy Schafer, Bill Stone and Anna Maenner for their fortitude in seeing this phase of the project through to a successful conclusion. UW rsearchers Dan Mahr, Patty McManus, Matt Stasiak and Teryl Roper have been critical to the project’s success. Thanks also to EPA-V and the USDA for their support and encouragement.
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