KEIL, WI (Spectrum News One) -- More than 100 people gathered in Keil on Wednesday to talk about challenges facing Wisconsin agriculture.
Six University of Wisconsin Extension Service offices hosted the event centered around solutions and help for people working in agriculture in the state.
Scott Gunderson, a Manitowoc County dairy agent and part organizer of the event, said the goal was to “get a good group of people together to network and help plan for the future so that hopefully we can get through what I'm calling, and what my colleagues are calling, a crisis situation here in agriculture.”
Gunderson said that about two dairy farms per day closed in Wisconsin in 2018.
“More and more farmers are under distress and also the individuals that work with farmers, we take it home with us too it's not a 9-5 job,” Gunderson said.
Speakers focused on three topics: Farm finances, coping with pressures of farm life, and strategies to deal with the new financial normal.
“This is not the time to sit back and say I hope it gets better, this is the time to make some decisions,” said Brad Guse, BMO Harris Bank senior vice president of agribusiness banking.
Guse was the first presenter along with Sam Miller also from BMO Harris Bank. He laid out the issues facing farmers in the state as well as strategies to try and return to financial stability.
“This is not the time to sit back and say I hope it gets better, this is the time to make some decisions,” Guse told the crowd.
Many of the people in the crowd were lenders themselves. Like Cari Sabel, a business development loan officer for Collins State Bank,
“I have customers that are struggling to pay off last year's operating and now are in need of operating funds for 2019, so how do we help them do that? How do we structure things appropriately for those survivors within the dairy industry?” Sabel said.
The next speakers focused on mental health. Laying out the high suicide rates in rural areas and Wisconsin. They provided contact information for the Wisconsin Farm Center — at 1-800-942-2474 — and the Farm Aid Hotline — at 1-800-327-6243.
Tammi Kohlman, a coordinator with CSI Destination Zero also stressed the importance of talking about mental health in farms, arguing that pressures from running a family farm can lead down a dangerous path.
Finally John Goeser, director of nutritional research and innovation at Rock River Lab, delivered a presentation suggesting people pay attention to every detail of spending and track things like feed effectiveness in milk production.
“It's going to be a lot easier to get milk per pound of feed if we do a better job here,” Goeser said.
Goeser told people in attendance the dairy industry may be looking at a new normal of lower volatility in the market leading dairy prices to hover around $15 per hundredweight. He warned farmers may need to figure out how to make money at that price.
In the end organizers hoped the conference and networking of people from around the industry would lead to solutions moving forward.
“The feed mills feel it, the veterinary clinics, the agriculture lenders, the agricultural engineers, whoever works with farmers also feels the stress both economically and emotionally,” Gunderson said.