The UW-Madison’’s School for Beginning Dairy and Livestock Farmers has received its biggest contribution ever—a gift of $50,000 pledged by FCS Financial Services, a farmer-owned financial services cooperative based in Wausau. The gift will support increased programming and initiatives, such as distance education classrooms, internships and mentoring, for this one-of-a-kind program for beginning and transitioning farmers. Program [...] [...more]

CIAS is proud to announce an invaluable resource for high school teachers. Toward a Sustainable Agriculture is a free curriculum that addresses the social, environmental and economic impacts of agriculture. The curriculum provides a critical analysis of agricultural and food systems and helps students understand new concepts through hands-on examples. What is it? The curruculum includes six [...] [...more]

“I must say it was the hardest I’ve ever worked for free, but somehow I really didn’t mind. I knew that the knowledge I gained was priceless.” Those are the words of Mike Tomandl who recently completed a dairy farm internship in New Zealand. He and fellow intern Joe Heimerl went to New Zealand in July [...] [...more]

Learn about grass-based dairying from the comfort of your home with the Wisconsin School for Beginning Dairy Farmers CD set! You can view the Grass-Based Dairy Seminar sessions taught by grass farmers, UW and Extension faculty, and other professionals right on your home computer. This seminar is designed to familiarize you with the principles and practices [...] [...more]

Wisconsin has suffered dramatic losses in numbers of dairy farms. While the decrease in part includes large numbers of retiring dairy farmers, the lack of young people entering dairy farming is an even more significant factor in the decline. To reverse that trend a creative approach is needed to make dairy farming more attractive. The Wisconsin [...] [...more]

Successful farmer-to-farmer networks assume that each person has valuable knowledge and experience to contribute. — Stephanie Rittmann Farmer-to-farmer networks are thriving in Wisconsin as a way for farmers to pool ideas, exchange perspectives, and learn from each other. Some 20 Wisconsin networks focus on management intensive rotational grazing, weed and pest management, soil fertility, herd health, [...] [...more]

Radially organized research teams can bring together researchers, farmers, consumers and policy makers to do systems level work. A small hub manages the team, with the remaining participants linked to task forces or satellite projects. Radially organized teams can attract diverse people with different time commitments and reward incentives. Read the full report (pdf [...] [...more]

As one of its first projects, in 1989 and 1990, CIAS collaborated with the Wisconsin Rural Development Center and the Department of Public Instruction to produce a high-school teacher’s guide to sustainable agriculture. This guide and its supplement continue to be recognized as valuable resources for teachers who want to learn more about sustainable agriculture [...] [...more]