Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, along with Democratic lawmakers, announced on Tuesday five bills totaling more than $25 million in investments in the state’s agriculture industry. During a press conference at World Dairy Expo, Gov. Evers noted the package of legislation would allow the state to invest in farmer mental health, rural communities and more.
“Wisconsin farms have been the backbone of our state for generations,” Evers said. “Supporting our farmers and rural communities is critical to the success of our state. That’s why today I’m joining state senator Brad Pfaff and Rep. Dave Considine in introducing this package of legislation. Politics aside, the state can do more and should do more to invest in our farmers and agriculture industry.”
Within the legislative package is a bill bringing in $20 million to help Wisconsin food banks, food pantries and other nonprofit organizations to purchase Wisconsin food products, including milk, cheese and other dairy products.
The second bill introduced, totaling $2.6 million, would provide grants to universities, colleges and technical colleges to reimburse the tuition costs of students enrolled in a meat processing program. Each tuition reimbursement covers up to 80% of the tuition cost for enrolling in a meat processing program.
The third bill, totaling $1 million, would create a farm to fork program, similar to the existing farm to school program, to help provide food grown in the state to kids in Wisconsin. This is designed to help “build connections between farmers and businesses, hospitals and higher ed facilities interested in purchasing local food for their cafeterias,” Evers said. To help market these Wisconsin-made products, a fourth bill includes a funding of $400,000 to help promote these commodities.
Lastly, the legislative package includes $784,000 to create a “Regional Farmer Mental Health Program to help increase farmers’ access to mental health support services. This bill would provide farmers greater access to support services such as counseling services provided by licensed mental health professionals, as well as farmer and farm couple online support groups.
