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Fall 2003 -
Spring 2004
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| Farm in central Wisconsin |
Evaulation
and documentation become tools
and points of reference to measure improvement. The Wisconsin
Department of Natural Resources hired Madison Environmental
Group to design a baseline documentation process for the
Dairy Gateway project. Our documentation design included
in-depth interviews, a questionnaire of the economic and
agronomic characteristics of the farm operation and a physical
inventory. We identified three dairy farms to participate
in the baseline study, Saxon Homestead Farm and Meadow Brook
Dairy Farm in Manitowoc County, and Payeacres Dairy Farm
in Kewaunee County. The baseline process and the stories
of these three farms are described in our April 2004 report
Dairy Gateway: Documentation, Evaluation and Communication.
This project was generously funded by the Joyce Foundation.
To learn more about Dairy Gateway visit The
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources project page »
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| Farmer who practices
grazing |
The Dairy Gateway
project is an effort to create a regional partnership among
local communities, dairy producers and regulators that can
secure the long-term future of dairy farming as a profitable
enterprise while addressing environmental and community
concerns. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
and the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection
are partnering with non-governmental representatives to
engage stakeholders to develop a vision for the region that
fosters economic growth, environmental gain and community
participation, and ensures the long-term viability of dairy
production in northeastern Wisconsin.
The project hopes
to enhance the dairy sector's role as an active partner
in protecting the natural environment; explore stakeholder-based
processes for managing the social conflicts that arise between
farming and non-farming neighbors; examine how new technologies
can shift the balance between competing demands; and look
at new ways to bring the cultural landscape into deliberations.
In this context,
the goal of the baseline documentation process was two-fold:
(1) to help document the state of the Dairy Industry in
the Gateway region and provide a point of reference to measure
progress; and (2) to gain an understanding of the environmental,
economic and community issues that affect farming operations.
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