Wisconsin

Wisconsin dairy’s dispute with state regulators part of broader factory farm growing pains

Published

3 years ago

May 29, 2022

Wisconsin dairy’s dispute with state regulators part of broader factory farm growing pains

Joe Kelly

MILWAUKEE (CN) — Almost 75 years after Alvin and Milly Kinnard based Kinnard Farms with 80 acres and 14 cows, the dairy and crop farming operation in japanese Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula employs scores and consists of round 8,000 cows, 7,000 further heifers off-site, and roughly 10,000 acres between it and separate farmland helping the enterprise.

Kinnard Farm Inc.’s growth displays the post-mid-century pattern from small household farms towards corporatized large-scale agribusiness. Whereas in a method Kinnard is undoubtedly a hit story, many condemn it and comparable farms for the financial and environmental penalties inseparable from such progress.

Concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), also called manufacturing unit farms, have exploded nationwide in current many years, Kinnard being one instance, and their market dominance is barely growing. The operations are mainly outlined by their giant variety of animals and the way they’re confined.

Manufacturing facility farms can afford the experience, manpower, know-how and amenities to handle hundreds of animals and acres of crops with mechanized effectivity. Smaller farms typically can’t compete on this financial system of scale, moreover damage by altering client tastes and expensive tariffs in a globalized market.

Nationwide CAFO statistics are irregularly reported by federal companies, however unbiased corroborative research like one from the Pure Sources Protection Council in 2019 confirmed not less than 7,500 CAFOs in 40 states, a fraction of the roughly 20,000 estimated based mostly on EPA studies.

The Wisconsin Division of Pure Sources defines a CAFO as any animal feeding operation with not less than 1,000 animal models or smaller ones which meet sure pollutant benchmarks. DNR at present studies 327 permitted CAFOs within the state, most of that are dairies. In 1985, company statistics present, there was one, and so they have multiplied exponentially since, notably within the 2000’s.

In the meantime, Wisconsin has led the nation lately in farm foreclosures, with 48 farms submitting for Chapter 12 chapter from 2020 to 2021. Dairy farms—the state’s flagship business contributing nearly half to its total $104 billion agriculture business—have steadily shuttered at an alarming price, with greater than one-third of its dairies closing from 2011 to 2018. The U.S. Division of Agriculture mentioned in February that Wisconsin’s farms complete was down 300 in 2021 from the earlier yr.

The EPA delegates implementation and allowing of Clear Water Act oversight to DNR. As a way to function in Wisconsin, CAFOs want an accepted Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) allow from DNR to make sure correct planning, nutrient administration and water high quality safety.

Manure administration is a chief challenge for water high quality management. In a commonplace follow referred to as land-spreading, manure is liquefied with water and used to fertilize fields, because the nitrates, phosphorous and different compounds in manure make nutrient-rich fertilizers at managed ranges.

Massive CAFOs, nonetheless, can produce as a lot waste as a small metropolis, and when there’s not sufficient close by farmland for manure to be promptly used as fertilizer, it typically will get saved in large lagoons, a few of which could be hundreds of thousands of gallons, that may fail and permit seepage into the groundwater.

Kinnard’s web site particulars sustainability and manure administration practices for its cows and fields of alfalfa, corn silage and triticale it says exceed regulatory necessities.

Over the past decade, the farm has been embroiled in litigation and bureaucratic grappling with DNR over these points, which extra not too long ago has resulted in a authorized dispute over current modifications DNR made to Kinnard’s WPDES allow.

In 2012, Kinnard’s Kewaunee County neighbors opposed a DNR-approved WPDES allow permitting the farm so as to add one other website and hundreds of cows as a result of it could worsen air pollution of space non-public ingesting water wells, a selected concern within the area on account of its distinctive karst topography.

Partially based mostly on findings revealing half the wells in an adjoining city had been unsafe to drink from on account of E. coli and nitrates contamination, an administrative regulation choose overseeing the contested case listening to determined DNR might restrict herd dimension and enhance groundwater monitoring for Kinnard, together with at off-site land-spreading fields.

After years of authorized wrangling over DNR’s authority to impose such allow situations, throughout which a settlement settlement was reached within the authentic contested case listening to, the Wisconsin Supreme Courtroom final summer season affirmed DNR’s specific and broad authority to dictate the allow phrases to guard Wisconsin’s waters.

After residents later in 2021 protested new allow situations that may have capped Kinnard’s herd dimension at 21,000 animal models, DNR minimize that quantity to round 11,000 in March and modified Kinnard’s groundwater monitoring necessities.

Kinnard sued DNR in April in Kewaunee County Circuit Courtroom over the modified allow situations. They mentioned the “unreasonably low” herd-size cap stifles progress of its herd past present ranges at the price of aggressive flexibility, the extra groundwater monitoring is pricey and unpracticable, and each violate the events’ earlier settlement settlement.

Not all specialists agree CAFOs are the only downside. Pete Nowak, a retired UW-Madison environmental sciences professor, mentioned a examine through which he participated discovered small and enormous farms had higher manure administration than medium-sized farms, typically mom-and-pop operations unfold skinny by the necessity to compete with restricted sources and human capital.

“It’s important to eliminate this stereotype that it’s giant farms, it’s CAFOs, which might be inflicting all the issues,” Nowak mentioned, cautioning in opposition to a simplified good-guy-bad-guy outlook.

Melissa Scanlan, a professor at UW-Milwaukee’s Faculty of Freshwater Sciences and director of the college’s Middle for Water Coverage, sees the manure administration downside with CAFOs like Kinnard as rudimentary.

“There are specific contaminants the place there are gradients for acceptable ranges. Manure will not be one in every of them,” she mentioned. “Nobody has a proper to place manure in anybody else’s ingesting water, interval.”

Adam Voskuil, an lawyer with Midwest Environmental Advocates, a gaggle that has participated within the company and courtroom proceedings between Kinnard and DNR, mentioned whereas smaller farms can have manure administration points, “the most important perpetrator is these mega-operations which might be producing hundreds of thousands of gallons of untreated waste to be unfold on fields.”

Voskuil and Scanlan each mentioned that, in Wisconsin, a part of the difficulty is laws, pointing to a 2004 livestock facility siting regulation that restricts native governments’ energy to manage CAFOs and a 2011 regulation limiting state companies from placing into permits any phrases not explicitly required by a statute or rule.

Wisconsin additionally has a “right-to-farm regulation” defending livestock outfits from nuisance lawsuits over issues like odors and air pollution. All 50 states have some model of the regulation.

Amid a decade of combating in courtroom, Voskuil identified that “the individuals of Kewaunee County are persevering with to undergo with contamination of their non-public ingesting water wells.”

“This has gone on for much too lengthy,” he mentioned.

Kinnard didn’t reply to a number of requests for interview. Taylor Fritsch, a lawyer with Milwaukee agency Michael Greatest & Friedrich representing the farm within the Kewaunee County Circuit Courtroom lawsuit, additionally didn’t reply to a request for remark.

The Kewaunee County Circuit Courtroom lawsuit, which narrowly offers with the settlement settlement from Kinnard and DNR’s earlier contested case listening to and the brand new allow phrases, has been stayed pending Kinnard’s petition for one more listening to. If DNR offers the go-ahead, the state Division of Hearings and Appeals will assign an administrative regulation choose, extra public hearings will probably be scheduled, and the battle will proceed.

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Wisconsin

Balanced scoring key for Badgers heading into matchup with Minnesota

Published

3 hours ago

January 10, 2025

Press Room

Balanced scoring key for Badgers heading into matchup with Minnesota

MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) – Wisconsin men’s basketball is set to take on Minnesota at the Kohl Center for another rendition of the border battle on Thursday night. The Badgers have owned the series recently– 8-2 over the last 10 game against the Gophers.

Wisconsin is coming off their first true road win of the year. This was actually their first win on the road since late January of last season. The 75-63 win over Rutgers was their fourth straights.

The Badgers are sixth in the conference in scoring, averaging 83.3 points per game. The Gophers are dead last in scoring, averaging only 68.8 per contest.

The Badgers scoring is quite balanced this year. In their 15 games so far, four different players have lead in scoring and it is come from both guards and big men. The players said the balance makes the Badgers a difficult matchup.

“Yeah, it’s fun cause that gives other team’s like it’s hard to scout us when you know who don’t know when can go off on any given night,” said senior guard Kamari McGee. “That’s a nice threat to have to have as a team you know not being able to have that many guys that can go off like that, cause some night It might be all of them going off and that’s when we really be clicking. But you know it’s really good to have guys that you can fall back on like that.”

Wisconsin looks to go over .500 in conference play, while Minnesota looks for their first conference win of the season. Tipoff is at 6:00.

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Wisconsin

John Blackwell Hitting His Stride as Wisconsin's Starting Point Guard

Published

11 hours ago

January 9, 2025

Press Room

John Blackwell Hitting His Stride as Wisconsin's Starting Point Guard

MADISON, Wis. – Kamari McGee is as close to being an expert at point guard as the University of Wisconsin has on its roster.

The fourth-year senior excelled at the position at Racine (Wis.) St Catherine’s High School and won a state championship in 2020, thrived as a true freshman when he earned freshman all-conference honors at Green Bay, and been a steady contributor as the reserve at Wisconsin. He knows what works at the position.

That’s why McGee continues to be in awe of sophomore John Blackwell’s impact as the Badgers’ primary facilitator, ball handler, and igniter in his first season at the position.

“I’ve been seeing it game by game,” said McGee, answering the question sitting next to Blackwell after the sophomore scored a career-high 32 points in a win over Iowa. “He wasn’t used to playing the point guard for us specifically. He was coming off the bench (last year), getting into that role of just being a scorer, but each game he’s gotten better each time.

“People may say he’s not a point guard. Honestly, in today’s game, there aren’t really any point guards. He’s just a good playmaker and a great scorer for us.”

Fresh off back-to-back 20+ point games to get Wisconsin (12-3, 2-2 Big Ten) back to even in the Big Ten conference, Blackwell is starting to emerge as one of the Big Ten’s most complete guards. His 15.8 points per game is 13th in the league. He’s averaging 6.5 rebounds in conference play and has

“He’s just really complete,” head coach Greg Gard said of Blackwell. “He has a nose for the ball and got some toughness to him. He is a complete player. He does everything and he understands that. He understood that day one as a freshman last year. That’s what allowed him to get on the court so early. He understood the importance of little things.”

Blackwell put on a master class on Friday, scoring from all three levels against Iowa’s leaky defense. He was 5-for-6 from two-point range by either showing touch with mid-range pull-up jumpers or putting his shoulder down to get at and finish at the rim.

He was 3-for-21 from the perimeter over his previous seven games but confidently hit 6 of 10 from behind the arc. He made all four free attempts and tied his career-high with five assists against two turnovers, having no problem against a man-to-man or zone defense.

It was more workmanlike Monday at Rutgers but still efficient with an 8-for-15 night (7-for-11 on twos) and 4-for-4 from the line. Entering Friday’s game against Minnesota (8-7, 0-4), Blackwell is shooting 50 percent from the floor.

“I have confidence in my coaches and my teammates,” Blackwell said. “They trust me. They know how good I am, and I know how good I’ve worked.”

The implantation of Name, Image, and Likeness deals and the freedom of movement with the transfer porter have removed most of the guarantees in roster building. So, Gard didn’t have much time to wallow when Chucky Hepburn, his three-year starter at point guard, left for a reported $750,000 deal with Louisville.

The Badgers added Camren Hunter from the portal, but the Central Arkansas transfer didn’t play last season and was slowed by picking up the system and battled illness throughout November. UW inked highly ranked point guard Daniel Freitag but showed in the preseason he wasn’t ready for the role.

The staff also considered starting McGee, but Gard wanted to keep the senior as an energy boost off the bench (it’s worked with McGee shooting 55.2 percent from three with a 3.8 assist-to-turnover ratio).

Wanting a point guard who could push the ball in transition while still having an eye for scoring, Gard and his staff looked toward Blackwell, whose 45.5 3-point percentage was the best of any freshman in program history with at least 60 attempts. Despite playing just 18.5 minutes per game, Blackwell led the team in scoring four times.

While showing flashes in intrasquad scrimmages, Blackwell reportedly took over with the ball in his hands in the second half of UW’s closed scrimmage with Northern Iowa. He pushed tempo, created opportunities for himself and others, and the offense hummed.

“It was a tell-tell sign for us,” Gard said. “We had thought about it as a staff, talked about it, experimented a little bit. We had to stop dipping our toe in the water and really jump in with that and making a full commitment to him having the ball as much as we could.”

One of Blackwell’s first conversations after being informed of his role was with McGee, who has mentored him at every step.

“Killer was just in my ear,” Blackwell said. “Showing me all the support, telling me all the plays from the point guard spot, the ways I can score and still facilitate, and these guys trusting me with the ball in my hands, so credit to them.”

Of course, there have been bumps in the road. Blackwell had five assists to nine turnovers in losses to Michigan and Marquette. In the road loss at Illinois, Blackwell was limited to 22 minutes and fouled out. More frustrating for Gard was Blackwell had zero assists and felt that offense was stagnating for long stretches.

The film review was blunt and straightforward: be aggressive, make things happen with the ball in his hands, and be a confident facilitator.

Over the last four games, Blackwell has responded with 18 assists and only seven turnovers. In his words, he’s helped Wisconsin play “the right basketball” by moving the ball, having high assist numbers, and playing collectively as a unit.

“He’s got a lot on his plate,” Gard said. “It’s easy to try to take a break at times because maybe he needs one. I need to do a better job of getting him in and getting him out. His numbers of assists, even in practice, have jumped. That tells me he’s more comfortable.”

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Wisconsin

Norovirus cases on the rise in Wisconsin; what you need to know

Published

18 hours ago

January 9, 2025

Press Room

Norovirus cases on the rise in Wisconsin; what you need to know

Norovirus numbers up in Wisconsin

Wisconsin is seeing record-high numbers of norovirus cases.

MILWAUKEE – Health experts say a new strain of the norovirus has cases surging across Wisconsin. Norovirus is very contagious and presents symptoms you often associate with the stomach bug.

Common symptoms of norovirus include vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach cramps.

Over the last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded ten outbreaks in Wisconsin. Symptoms usually start one or two days after exposure.

How it spreads

According to the CDC, you can get norovirus by:

Having direct contact with someone with norovirus, like caring for them, sharing food or eating utensils with them, or eating food handled by them.
Eating food or drinking liquids that are contaminated with norovirus.
Touching contaminated objects or surfaces and then putting your unwashed fingers in your mouth.

Additionally, you can still spread norovirus for two weeks or more after you feel better, the CDC says.

How can I protect myself?

Frequent handwashing, handling and preparing food safely, and scrubbing surfaces with household disinfectants can help. The CDC says hand sanitizer does not work well against norovirus.

Additionally, health experts advise that you wash laundry in hot water.