The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School for Beginning Dairy and Livestock Farmers is recruiting riders and pledges for its ninth annual Ride to Farm fundraiser. Cyclists can opt for a 64-mile (103K) all-day ride or shorter morning and afternoon rides. The ride begins and ends at Dane County’s Goodland Park with a mid-day stop in New Glarus, an optional lunch at Culver’s Restaurant and rest stops on farms along the way. Kate VandenBosch, Dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, will send off the riders at 8:40am.

“We hold this event both to raise funds for scholarships and general program activities, and also to raise awareness of the importance of supporting the next generation of innovative farmers,” says WSBDF Director Dick Cates. “We are grateful for contributions of any amount.”

Pledges for individual riders and teams, as well as general contributions to the WSBDF, can be made at the Ride to Farm website: ridetofarm.dojiggy.com.

Riders can sign up, solicit donors and track pledges on the Ride to Farm website. Participants can ride either as individuals or in teams. Each rider must raise at least $75 in pledges. Rider teams that collect the highest pledge amounts will be awarded traveling trophies. Prizes will also be given to top individual fundraisers and will include 52 free Organic Valley products for a year, two tickets to American Players Theater, a Ride to Farm jersey and a 2012 Trek 1.5 Compact H2 road bike.

The route includes rest breaks on two area farms where participants can sample locally produced cheese, milk and other treats. The morning stop is at the Brooklyn farm of Ruth and Joel McNair, publishers of GRAZE magazine. In the afternoon, riders will stop at the farm of Bert and Trish Paris in Belleville, who have mentored several WSBDF interns. The ride will culminate with an award ceremony at 3:00 pm followed by a potluck picnic at Goodland Park.

WSBDF provides aspiring farmers with classroom instruction, on-farm internships, and business planning and mentoring opportunities, with an emphasis on managed grazing. Most students attend class in Madison, but many participate from classrooms around the state through a combination of local instruction and video links to Madison. The program is a partnership between the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems and the Farm and Industry Short Course, both programs of the UW-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Instructors include UW-Madison faculty, graduates of the program, mentor farmers, farm lenders and other agribusiness professionals.

For more information, visit www.cias.wisc.edu/dairysch.html.

Many thanks to our Ride to Farm sponsors: Culver’s Restaurants for coupons and promotional development; Organic Valley Farmer-Owned for fresh cheese and milk from their farms; Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board for ride t-shirts; Faith Technologies for local food and snacks at farm stops; and American Transmission Co., Family Dairies USA, Wisconsin Cattlemen’s Association, We Energies and Wisconsin Farmers Union for their continued generous support of the WSBDF and Ride to Farm.

For more information, contact Dick Cates: 608-588-2836, rlcates@wisc.edu.

La Crosse, WI

Conference tracks include:

• Marketing
• Business Management
• Accessing Local Food Systems
• Bio-Energy
• Farm Success Workshops

Keynote speakers include Michael Perry, John Ikerd, Laura Jackson and Francis Thicke.

A farmer forum will feature Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) project recipients from Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Visit the River Country RC&D website for more information.

Outagamie County, WI

Visit CIAS in the Progress Pavilion. For more information, see the Farm Technology Days website.

Organic Valley headquarters
La Farge, WI

Celebrate organic food and agriculture at this fair hosted by Organic Valley. Speakers, music, food, educational exhibits, kids’ activities, vendors and more! Visit the Organic Valley website for more information.

Michael Fields Agricultural Institute
East Troy, WI
Cost: $40

This workshop, led by CIAS’s Regina Hirsch, will teach you about some of the species of native pollinator insects and help you understand how to provide habitat for them to encourage their beneficial activities.

For more information, visit the Michael Fields website.
Registration link

CSA Speaker Series presentation by Melinda Hemmelgarn:
F.A.R.M.: Food, Art, Revolution, Media: The Power of Images and Stories to Support Healthy Food, Farmers and Communities.

UW-Madison Soils Building Room 270, 1525 Observatory Drive

Melinda Hemmelgarn, M.S., R.D., is a registered dietitian, “investigative nutritionist,” and award-winning writer and host of the nationally syndicated, “Food Sleuth Radio” program. A former Food and Society Policy Fellow, Melinda connects the dots between food, health and agriculture, and uniquely promotes critical thinking skills to advance food system literacy. Join Melinda and the CSA Coalition for this interesting discussion on food, health and community.

This presentation is sponsored by the FairShare CSA Coalition and CIAS. For more information, visit the CSA Coalition website.

9th annual Ride to Farm fundraiser for the Wisconsin School for Beginning Dairy and Livestock Farmers

Check-in: 7:45-8:30am, Goodland County Park Shelter #2, Madison
Ride kick-off: 8:40am (Sharp!)
Course description: 64-mile (103K) bike ride in southern Dane and northern Green Counties, with two farm stops.
Send-off speaker: Kathryn (Kate) VandenBosch, Dean, College of Agricultural & Life Sciences (CALS), University of Wisconsin, Madison

Proceeds from this ride will support the educational mission of the Wisconsin School for Beginning Dairy and Livestock Farmers.

More information and ride registration are available on the Ride to Farm website.

Wisconsin Grazing Initiative 2012 Report (PDF)

Mills Hall, UW-Madison campus

The UW-Madison Agroecology Program will hold a benefit concert on April 13 to support graduate student research in sustainable agriculture and food systems.

The event, called the Loving of the Land concert, will feature Graminy and The Blue Dog Consort. These two Madison groups offer a unique blend of classical and bluegrass traditions called “class-grass.”

Stephanie Elkins, host of the Wisconsin Public Radio show “Simply Folk,” will serve as emcee for the event. Slow Food-UW will be offering a dinner-show combination, featuring a local and sustainable meal.

The concert will be held on the UW-Madison campus at Mills Hall, 445 N. Park Street. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $12 general admission and $9 students at the door, and $9 general admission and $6 students in advance at www.brownpapertickets.com .