WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. — Farmers across the country are still waiting on Congress to pass a new Farm Bill.

What You Need To Know

  • Members of the Wisconsin Farmers Union gathered for the weekend at Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin Dells

  • They will be tackling tough topics, such as what they’ll do if migrants are forced to return to their home countries under President-elect Donald Trump

  • Farmers there also talked about the need for a Farm Bill to better support them and the work they do. They say the bill also addresses environmental challenges and guarantees low income families in our country have access to healthy food

  • Farmers used the convention to strengthen their plan to advocate for themselves, their industry and all who rely on it

Many are battling low profits, an aging workforce and weather challenges.

Members of the Wisconsin Farmers Union gathered for the weekend at Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin Dells. They will be tackling tough topics, such as what they’ll do if migrants are forced to return to their home countries under President-elect Donald Trump.

"We need to be prepared,” Tina Hinchley, a dairy and grain farmer in Cambridge, said. “We need to be able to help these people that are working on our farms and in our communities, because it's not just on farms where they're working.”

Hinchley has been farming for nearly 30 years. Like many other dairy famers, she’s had to diversify beyond dairy. For her, that means growing grain and offering farm tours for extra cash.

“Being able to have a living wage for many farmers is not attainable when we have a lot of fluctuations, let's say, in whether it's corn or soybeans, but also our milk,” Hinchley said.

Hans Breitenmoser is also a dairy farmer. His farm is in Lincoln County.

“I can tell you that the dairy industry does not work without immigrant labor,” Breitenmoser said. “And a lot of those folks that are in this arena are here undocumented. That has to be fixed. We can't just send all these people home.”

Farmers there also talked about the need for a Farm Bill to better support them and the work they do. They say the bill also addresses environmental challenges and guarantees low income families in our country have access to healthy food.

“Times are changing, families are changing, communities are changing,” Hinchley said. “And as we lose sight of what's happening in the agricultural community, the impacts of that are felt throughout the cities and also rural communities."

Hinchley also said more mental health support for famers is needed.

"Last thing that we need is to have any farmer choose their life over seeking help," she said. "We definitely need to reach out, reach out to our neighbors, and make sure that everybody in all of our communities are doing okay also."

Farmers used the convention to strengthen their plan to advocate for themselves, their industry and all who rely on it.

“Our staff in Madison can react to and hopefully push the needle on certain topics and bills that come up and so forth that have to do with AG and our rural social fabric and rural economies,” Breitenmoser said.

Farming is a big economic driver for Wisconsin. The agriculture industry contributes more than $116 billion dollars to Wisconsin’s economy every year, according to UW-Madison.

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