Recently the University of Wisconsin - Madison made the decision to end the Farm-and-Industry Short Course (FISC) program, which had been operating for over 100 years to help prepare the next generation of farmers for our wonderful state of Wisconsin. That is why I, along with Senators Joan Ballweg and Rob Stafsholt and Rep. Shannon Zimmerman, recently introduced legislation to save this crucial program and relocate it to UW-River Falls in western Wisconsin.

The FISC program offers students the option to enroll in courses for one or two years. In their first year, students concentrate on the crucial, essential elements of running a dairy farm, placing a strong emphasis on animal management. The second year, they continue to put more of an emphasis on managing the operations of the entire farm while still concentrating on animal management. Under this bill students would also have the chance to study from various UW campuses while taking classes. Students would visit the UW-Platteville campus, for instance, where they would learn how to operate mechanized milking systems, as well as the UW-Madison Agriculture Department.

But one of the most important factors of this legislation is that the program will be headquartered right in our backyard. The UW-River Falls College of Agriculture, Food, and Environmental sciences is well known for its nationally recognized research and education in this field, and it’s the most logical place to house the program. Currently UWRF has over 1,200 students in their agriculture school, who work on a variety of agriculture classes, including working on modern dairy farm with a high producing herd of dairy cattle to get hands-on experience.

Additionally, with the Wisconsin Dairy Hub already located on campus, which was a bill I co-authored in earlier sessions, it is enhanced by having the FISC program here. The Dairy Hub has produced some incredible success stories. The program's resources are being used by Assistant Professor Grace Lewis and Associate Professor Youngmi Kim to do research on the creation of biodegradable food packaging utilizing whey proteins from milk and other food waste items. They will also be developing a milk lactose-derived sweetener that can be added to ice cream and chocolate milk. Additionally, Ellsworth Cheese Coop CEO Paul Bauer underlined how crucial the Hub is to recycling wastewater and ensuring that we continue to enjoy safe, high-quality food.

A number of the state's dairy groups support this essential legislation, including the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, Wisconsin Dairy Products Association, Clean Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Farmers Union, the Wisconsin Agri-Business Association, and the Dairy Business Association. In order to ensure that our farmers have access to the education they need to grow Wisconsin's agricultural workforce. I am eager to continue advancing this crucial initiative in western Wisconsin.