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Wisconsin legislators hear what’s important to agriculture

More than 400 Wisconsin Farm Bureau members told state lawmakers how important water and roads are to agriculture during Ag Day at The Capitol Wednesday.

Roger Sinkula , a farmer and ag lender in Manitowoc was one them. He says it’s important to get the high capacity well repair and replace bill passed soon.  “This has been about five years in the working and we need to have something done because you have a lot of your large dairies who have high-capacity wells for animals, and if there’s a breakdown on that well, that thing needs to be fixed that day.  We can’t wait for permitting processes for that.”

He also talked with Senator Frank Lasee and Representative Joel Kitchens about highway infrastructure costs.  Sinkula is also a supervisor in a town that recently rebuilt two miles of road costing 800-thousand dollars.  “The rural roads, they’ve been deteriorating and it’s not just farm equipment, it’s overall traffic.”

 

Governor Scott Walker’s budget proposal has more dollars for local highway aid, but Dairy Business Association lobbyist Bill McCoshen says the revenues in the Walker budget are not enough to meet the needs of the state.

Ag Day at the Capitol was organized by the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation and included several other agricultural organizations including the Dairy Business Association, Wisconsin Pork Association, Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association, Wisconsin Cranberry Growers Association, the Wisconsin Horse Council, Wisconsin Cattlemen’s Association, Wisconsin Corn Growers Association, the Wisconsin Soybean Program, and the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin.