Learning about the state we serve
For decades, Andy Diercks, a fourth-generation potato farmer from Coloma, Wisconsin, has worked closely with vegetable researchers at UW–Madison to improve crops, resulting in healthier yields — and robust friendships. “The research team — they’re just really good people,” says Diercks. Related: Watch Diercks discuss innovations that have benefited his farm with UW–Madison Extension specialist …
Dispatches from Our Own Wisconsin: Al Castro of the United Community Center Al Castro is the Director of Health Research Programs at the United Community Center, a nonprofit Latino community organization in Milwaukee. With an extensive background in social work, Al combines public health issues in his work at UCC, facilitating community-engaged health research in the …
Andy Diercks, a fourth-generation farmer and part-owner of Coloma Farms, helps grow 800 acres of potatoes in Central Wisconsin, among other vegetables. In 2018, the Wisconsin Idea Seminar visited Coloma Farms and learned about the 2,700-acre potato and grain operation from Andy’s father Steve Diercks, third-generation farmer, as part of the Big Lake Tour. In a …
Dispatches from Our Own Wisconsin: Dylan Jennings of Bad River Band Dylan Bizhikiins Jennings, an enrolled member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe, graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2013. He is now the Director of Public Information for the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission and also serves as an …
Dispatches from Our Own Wisconsin: Mitch Breunig of Mystic Valley Dairy Mitch Breunig, owner of Mystic Valley Dairy, LLC, in rural Roxbury, near Sauk City, manages eight employees, oversees the breeding and healthcare of the herd, and analyzes the finances and marketing of Mystic Valley’s milk, cattle, and crops. The farm milks about 450 cows, raises …
Mitch Breunig, third-generation farmer at Mystic Valley Dairy in Sauk City, and Kent Weigel, livestock geneticist and chair of UW–Madison’s dairy science department, passionately explained some current struggles associated with dairy farming in a recent article for Wisconsin State Farmer. Breunig welcomed the Wisconsin Idea Seminar to his 400-cow operation in 2018, where Weigel helped …
Mitch Breunig, third-generation farmer and UW–Madison alumnus, was elected as chair of the Dairy Innovation Hub advisory council. In this new position, Breunig will work to assemble the council, set agendas, and provide guidance to the Dairy Innovation Hub’s faculty director: UW–Madison dairy scientist and WIS’13 alumna Heather White. In 2018, the Wisconsin Idea Seminar visited …
Beginning on February 1 and extending until May 10, the Faculty Exhibition 2020 will be on display in the Pleasant T. Rowland Galleries and throughout the Chazen Art Museum. Wisconsin Idea Seminar participant Tomiko Jones (WIS ’19) is showing three tricolor gum prints over cyanotype, inspired by a collection of Japanese ukiyo-e prints in the Van …
Sierra features Dylan Jennings, a UW–Madison alumnus and elected tribal council member for the Bad River Band of Lakes Superior Ojibwe, and powerful spokesperson for water and land stewardship in northern Wisconsin. Dylan says, “The Bad River in northern Wisconsin has a unique and nationally recognized watershed and estuary,” he said. “It’s also one of the only …
Nancy Langston, a professor of environmental history at Michigan Tech in Houghton, Michigan, shares how she finds inspiration to fight climate change in the collaborative efforts–past and present–of Native communities who live along the shores of Lake Superior, including the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians. Langston is a Wisconsin Idea …