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Investing in Partnerships to keep Wisconsin's
Agriculture Strong and Profitable
Agriculture and Natural Resource Extension (ANRE)
In 2004, County government invested
about $3.2 million in Agriculture
and Natural Resource Extension (ANRE) staff and support, primarily
county-university cost-shared faculty and staff.
What does this investment buy?
It is very difficult to calculate the total value for these programs,
but here are examples of several dividends.
- Research conducted by campus-based state
specialists and county-based faculty and staff is made available
to farmers, consultants, processors, nursery operators, landscapers,
and others involved in Wisconsin’s agriculture and horticulture
industries.
- Milk quality education programs conducted
in Dodge County by Bob Kaiser (in partnership with Pam Ruegg,
UW-Madison’s Dairy Science Department) were able to realize almost
$3000/month in economic benefits from improved milk quality and
higher milk prices. And this example is just for two farms in
one component of one agricultural industry.
- In many counties, the investment results
in incalculable benefits when ANRE faculty and staff use their
training in teaching and facilitation to help communities develop
effective public policy.
- State and federal funds that pay salaries
and support educational programs add at least five million dollars
in salaries alone not to mention funds received from grants.
- State and federal funds allocated to UW campus-based
ANRE personnel in 2001 totaled $4 million. In addition, these
personnel successfully competed for about $5-10 million per year
in research grants.
- Citizen volunteers, mobilized by the Master
Gardener program volunteered 74,725 hours to UW-Extension and
their communities. That time, calculated at a modest $6 an hour,
was worth about $448,350.
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Agriculture/Horticulture enterprises
are technology-based manufacturing firms that are almost exclusively
family-based businesses. Those food, fiber, and flora industries are
a critical part of the Wisconsin economy, worth several billion dollars
worth in raw and value-added economic activity.
ANRE faculty and staff help families
operating agriculture and horticulture enterprises achieve their personal
and business goals. They provide technical/management related information
based on university research and address many public policy or public
works areas including:
- Environmental quality: Nutrient
management programming leads to whole farm nutrient plans that
reduce the threat to water quality and improve farm profitability.
- Food quality: Food safety programs
for processors reduce the threat of e coli contamination of the
food supply.
- Public policy: Educational
programming on foot & mouth disease resulted in improved awareness
of the potential impacts on the livestock industry and farm biosecurity.
The ANRE program draws its strength
from the technological expertise of its faculty and staff and from
its strong partnerships with applied research programs on the UW campuses.
These assets help Wisconsin’s agriculture and horticulture enterprises
keep pace with the rapid changes in technology and the marketplace.
They help keep Wisconsin agriculture strong and profitable.
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© 2004 Board of Regents
of the University of Wisconsin System, doing business as the Division
of Cooperative Extension of the University of Wisconsin-Extension.
All rights reserved. If you require this information in an alternative
format because of a disability, email Rick Mills, rick.mills@ces.uwex.edu
or call 608-263-4985 or 1-800-974-6644-TTY.