Gov. Tony Evers was joined by State Ag Secretary Randy Romanski and lawmakers at World Dairy Expo on Tuesday to introduce a package of legislation that invests in Wisconsin's agricultural industries, rural communities and farm families.
Calling it the 'Invest in Agriculture - Build on the Future' package, the measures would allocate funding for workforce development, hunger programs, and mental health offerings; while continuing funding for the Farm-to-School and Something Special from Wisconsin programs.
"From putting food on the tables of families across the globe to supporting countless jobs, Wisconsin's agricultural industry has been and always will be essential to the success of our state, and supporting the industry, our rural communities, and farm families has always been a top priority for me," Gov. Evers said.
Specific elements of the package include the following bills:
** LRB-4244: Invests $20 million to help connect Wisconsin food banks and pantries with Wisconsin producers to provide food to families experiencing food insecurity. These grants will help Wisconsin food banks and other eligible non-profit organizations purchase Wisconsin food products for distribution to people experiencing food insecurity. This investment will bolster Wisconsin's food supply chain by cultivating and strengthening local markets, from producers and processors to food banks and consumers.
** LRB-2865: Creates a Meat Talent Development Program, which provides more than $2.6 million in grants to specifically target meat industry workforce development and help spur growth in Wisconsin's meat processing industry. This program provides financial support to students enrolled in a Wisconsin meat processing educational or training program. This bill would allow DATCP to 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 percent of the tuition cost for enrolling in a meat processing program, with a maximum reimbursement of $7,500.
** LRB-4243: Provides additional funding for Something Special from Wisconsin, a branded marketing program available to businesses who can attribute at least 50 percent of their ingredients, production, or processing activities to Wisconsin. The bill creates a new continuing appropriation and provides $400,000 in fiscal year 2021-22 from the general fund to support efforts to strengthen marketing of Wisconsin-made products. Over the years, this program has offered consumers worldwide a unique and respected Wisconsin brand identity. Whether participants are marketing locally, regionally, nationally, or internationally, this program helps build upon Wisconsin's reputation for providing world-class products.
** LRB-2867: Creates a new Regional Farmer Mental Health Program to help increase farmers’ access to mental health support services, coordinate local and regional peer support programs, and provide counseling and assistance to Wisconsin farmers. This bill provides a biennial investment of $784,000 and an additional 5.0 GPR positions to serve as regional farm support agents within DATCP's Farm Center and increases funding for these positions. Creating a new Regional Farmer Mental Health Program would increase farmers’ access to mental health support services, bolster coordinated local and regional peer support programs, and enhance counseling and assistance to Wisconsin farmers.
** LRB-4328: Provides funding for the Farm-to-School program to get fresh, nutritious, locally-produced foods onto kids’ plates in school cafeterias across Wisconsin. It also creates the Farm-to-Fork program to build connections between farmers and businesses, hospitals, and higher ed facilities interested in purchasing local food for their cafeterias. This bill creates the farm to fork program, providing $553,300 over the biennium, to connect entities that have cafeterias but are not school districts with nearby farms to provide locally produced foods in meals and snacks, to help the public develop healthy eating habits, to provide nutritional and agricultural education, and to improve farmers' incomes and direct access to markets.
Each of the proposals must still clear the committee level before heading to the legislature for consideration.
Categories: Wisconsin, Government & Policy