The Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation

Lindsay and Brandan Kurth, alongside their three children, are the owners of Kurth Valley Farm near Whitehall. Kurth Valley Farm has been passed down through five generations of the family. Today, the Kurths raise roughly 130 beef cattle alongside a flock of sheep and broiler chickens. Beef is the farm’s primary focus, with the family offering products like beef tallow, wool goods and direct-to-consumer Angus beef.

A Message from David Mickelson The saying goes that all politics are local. This past winter, I decided to explore this myself. While it had crossed my mind to run for the Columbia County Board, I had never thought about it seriously. County Boards are elected in the spring of even-numbered years. Like the Wisconsin State Assembly, they have two-year terms. These are non-partisan positions, which means candidates do not declare a party association.

There’s a lot of exciting news on the H-2A front! Last week U.S. House Agriculture Chairman GT Thompson officially introduced H.R. 9535  “Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act of 2026”, a bill that  would make statutory reforms to the H-2A program — the first significant changes since the program was created in 1986! The bill expands access to year-round operations, reduces employer costs and streamlines the multi-agency application process.

Rob Klussendorf, WFBF District 8 Promotion and Engagement Representative We all have traditions passed down from generation to generation. For many of us in agriculture, one of those traditions is the county fair. I grew up in Waukesha County, home to the oldest county fair in Wisconsin. The Waukesha County Fair began in 1842, bringing families together to celebrate agriculture, community, and hard work long before I was born. Some of my earliest memories are from the week before the fair.

This past weekend, Wisconsinites across the state celebrated America’s 250th birthday with food, fireworks and family. What they didn’t celebrate were the higher food prices when shopping for their holiday meals. This year in Wisconsin, the average total cost of 12 food items used to host a summer cookout for ten totaled $75.50, according to the latest informal Wisconsin Farm Bureau Marketbasket survey. This was a 7.5% increase from last year.

By Rachel Harmann, Door County Farm Bureau member and WFBF Sustainability Committee member On a summer evening, you’ll often find me standing by the pasture fence watching our cattle graze. My sons might be nearby throwing a baseball or chasing each other for one reason or another. My husband is usually fixing something that wasn’t broken yesterday or wasn’t quite high enough on the priority list. The cattle move slowly through the grass, heads down, content and unhurried.

For Sacker Farms, LLC, sustainability is achieved through robotic milking and effective land management practices. Located in Monroe, Wis., Sacker Farms is a fourth-generation dairy farm owned and operated by Sarah Sacker, Josh Schenk and their daughter Wynn. Their farm spans over 200 acres, where they grow corn for their herd of 100 dairy cows. The milk from their cows is sent to Klondike Cheese Company to be processed into dairy products, including feta cheese and Greek yogurt.

A Message from WFBF’s Jason Mugnaini Wisconsin agriculture is one of the most important economic engines in our state. Farmers produce the food and fuel that support more than $116 billion in economic activity and hundreds of thousands of jobs. From dairy and livestock to grains, vegetables, specialty crops and biofuels, agriculture remains a cornerstone of Wisconsin’s economy and a legacy industry in our state.

Kelly Herness has been hired as the administrative and political action coordinator at Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation. Herness will be responsible for overseeing the operations, communications and fundraising activities of the Volunteers for Agriculture® (VFA) Political Action Committee, while also directing the administrative and operational functions of the government relations department.

Earth Day is on April 22, making it the 55th anniversary this year. From picking up garbage to reducing our environmental footprint, protecting the Earth is everyone’s responsibility. For farmers, our livelihood depends on saving the planet. Creating healthy soil while conserving water are just a few ways farmers protect their resources. Implementing no-till or reduced tillage has been a great way to save the soil by not disturbing the soil structure.