— Farm groups led by Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative are getting a $50 million USDA grant for more sustainable, climate-friendly dairy and beet sugar production.
The Green Bay-based co-op and nonprofit Farmers for Sustainable Food yesterday announced Edge has finalized an agreement with the federal agency for the new grant. It will support an effort called the Farmer-led Climate Smart Commodities Initiative: Building Success from the Ground Up, which the co-op submitted for funding last year.
According to the release from participating groups, projects will be organized around an ag sustainability framework developed by Edge and Farmers for Sustainable Food, also based in Green Bay. This model aims to test various “climate-smart production practices” at the farm level, while providing tools to help participants document environmental and financial impacts.
“Edge and its partners have spent over seven years building a nationally recognized model for high-impact, tailored agricultural sustainability projects, and we have proven its success in a network of farmer-led conservation groups,” Edge President Brody Stapel said. “This grant will allow us to greatly expand our efforts, connecting farmers with tools and resources to implement even more climate-smart practices and verify their impact.”
Projects included in the effort include production practices such as cover crops and stripcropping — a farming method that involves growing plants along narrow strips with a rotating cycle of crops — as well as greater use of data and more.
According to the USDA, farmer-led projects included in the proposal are encouraged to provide financial incentives for small and underserved farmers to boost participation.
The initiative includes more than a dozen other partners, including DATCP, The Nature Conservancy, Clean Wisconsin, Southwest Wisconsin Technical College, UW-Madison Division of Extension, the American Sugar Beet Growers Association and others.
See the full list of partners and more project details here:
See more on the farm sustainability framework: https://farmersforsustainablefood.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Sustainability-project-Framework_FINAL.pdf
See the release from Edge: https://www.voiceofmilk.com/news/644465/Sustainability-partners-ink-50M-grant-contract-with-USDA.htm
— The Madison Region Economic Partnership this fall will launch a new effort aimed at reducing economic disparities and supporting innovation among urban and rural communities in the area.
MadREP yesterday announced the Bridge Wisconsin initiative, which is focused on five focus areas: housing, early childhood education, economic equity and investment, workforce development, and sustainability.
To lead the new effort, the organization has brought on entrepreneur and former gener8tor executive Tonnetta Darcel Carter as chief strategy officer for Bridge Wisconsin.
She was the inaugural investment director for gener8tor, where she led the accelerator program’s multi-million-dollar capital fundraising effort. Darcel Carter is also the founder and CEO of consulting firm Carter Wilson Group, and previously worked as chief of staff in the US Army National Guard, according to the release.
In a statement on her new position, Darcel Carter said both rural and urban counties in the greater Madison region are “ripe for development, innovation, and expansion.”
“Bridge Wisconsin is a unique opportunity to lean into our strongest industries and work collaboratively to provide capital and resources to bridge these communities under a shared common goal, advancement,” she said.
Efforts will focus on the eight-county Madison region, which includes Columbia, Dane, Dodge, Green, Iowa, Jefferson, Rock, and Sauk counties.
See more in the release: https://www.wisbusiness.com/2023/madison-region-economic-partnership-announces-rural-urban-strategic-initiative/
— WEDC is providing the town of Cable with a $150,000 grant for a cleanup and demolition project at the site of the former Cable School District building.
The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. yesterday announced the Brownfield Site Assessment Grant for asbestos removal and demolition of the 8,000-square-foot, two-story building. According to the release, the building was built in the 1940s and used by the Cable School District and the Drummond Integrated School District.
After being purchased by J.E. Enterprise Procurement in 1996, the space was used for office and retail purposes until it was sold to other owners in 1999, WEDC says. It’s now been unoccupied for more than a decade, and has “deteriorated to the point where demolition is the only option,” per the release.
Located in the center of Cable, the disused site has had a dampening effect on business development in the area, according to WEDC. Due to the presence of hazardous materials such as asbestos, lead and mercury, it also presents health and safety concerns.
“This project is going to help bring new life to the downtown,” said Bobbi McCauley, the town’s clerk and treasurer.
See the release: https://wedc.org/blog/town-of-cable-receives-150000-state-grant-to-support-community-restoration-project/
— GOP lawmakers are circulating a bill that would guarantee Wisconsin high school students admission to the UW System or tech college campus of their choice if they rank in the top 5 percent of their class.
The measure would require the UW System Board of Regents and tech college district boards to put the programs in place. It would also require school districts to do an annual class ranking of some high school students at the end of their junior and senior years.
The rankings could take into account factors such as grade point average, ACT score and course work to evaluate students’ performance. For high school classes with fewer than 20 students, the highest-ranked student would be considered to be in the top 5 percent.
Under the bill, UW System schools or technical colleges could revoke admission if a student doesn’t graduate from high school, doesn’t maintain a similar “level of academic achievement” to when they were accepted, or misrepresents their class rank or ACT score.
The bill comes amid longtime concerns raised by Republicans over the number of in-state students admitted to the system’s flagship campus in Madison.
According to UW-Madison spokesperson Kelly Tyrrell, the university has to enroll at least 5,200 new in-state undergraduate students annually. That number includes Wisconsin residents as well as Minnesota students participating in the states’ reciprocity agreement. Both incoming freshmen and transfers count toward the requirement.
It is also required to enroll 3,600 Wisconsin resident new freshmen each fall term. This year, the university enrolled 3,787 of those students. Overall, the university had 35,184 total undergraduate enrollment in the fall.
Tyrrell noted the way GPAs are calculated varies across schools, but said the average GPA for the class enrolled in fall 2022 was 3.88.
See the bill:
— A bipartisan group of lawmakers and executive branch leaders announced Wisconsin is partnering with a nonprofit to provide a complete, confidential list of treatment options for those struggling with substance abuse.
Shatterproof Treatment Atlas is a free platform currently active in 11 other states and is now available to Wisconsinites looking for inpatient, residential, intensive outpatient and outpatient sites of care. Prospective patients can fill out a 10 question survey to determine the severity of their issue and recommend a recovery path. The platform also allows patients and their families to review their treatment experiences.
Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, at a news conference yesterday noted only a fraction of those currently struggling with substance abuse will get treatment, adding he’s proud to invest in the new platform.
“Anyone suffering from addiction can find the help they need exactly when they need it,” he said. “The platform can reach and save lives like never before.”
Dem AG Josh Kaul said navigating the health care system is challenging under any circumstance, and it’s now more important than ever to help those struggling with substance abuse disorder.
“But when you add in the stigma and the challenges of finding treatment providers for folks struggling with substance use disorder, that challenge is magnified,” he said. “Programs like this can help people navigate that challenge successfully and get connected with the treatment that they need to help address [their] substance use disorder.”
See more about the platform: https://treatmentatlas.org/
<br><b><i>Top headlines from the Health Care Report…</b></i>
— A Madison-based startup called Amulet has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research grant for detecting histamine in fish, the company announced recently.
Meanwhile, NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes has announced a new supply agreement with Minnesota-based Nucleus RadioPharma for a medical radioisotope called actinium-225.
<i>For more of the most relevant news on COVID-19, reports on groundbreaking health research in Wisconsin, links to top stories and more, sign up today for the free daily Health Care Report from WisPolitics.com and WisBusiness.com.</i>
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#TOP STORIES#
# Grads in top 5% of their high school class guaranteed a seat in UW-Madison under GOP bill
# Ahead of selecting fall cohort, gener8tor reflects on 2-year-old cybersecurity accelerator
# Wisconsin Democrats introduce bill expanding private insurance coverage for postpartum mothers, newborns
#TOPICS#
# AGRIBUSINESS
– Empowering Wisconsin’s agricultural future: Youth Council explores land and water resource management
http://wisconsinagconnection.com/story-state.php?Id=630&yr=2023
# CONSTRUCTION
– Madison’s Plan Commission denies State Street development
– Milwaukee Mayor Johnson announces massive development plans
# ECONOMY
– Milwaukee still looking to challenge provisions included in shared revenue deal
– Wisconsin steps closer to ending pandemic-related support for child care
# EDUCATION
– Wisconsin law enforcement, educators ask Legislature to fully fund Office of School Safety
# ENVIRONMENT
– Dane County air quality reaches ‘unhealthy’ level, expected to worsen
– Milwaukee’s air quality is one of the worst in the world, ‘very unhealthy’ for everyone
# HEALTH CARE
– HPS/Paymedix appoints chief product and innovation officer
# LEGAL
– Wisconsin cities could see payout from 3M’s ‘forever chemical’ settlement
# POLITICS
– Donald Trump threatens to boycott Milwaukee presidential debate over Fox News coverage
– Republican budget proposal reduces Evers spending plan by nearly $7 billion, according to a new analysis
# REAL ESTATE
– Northwestern Mutual’s request for city to vacate Cass Street for $500 million project advances
– Under planned renovation, Oneida Heights may see remodeled units by 2025
– City plans new TIF district around former Shopko site
# TECHNOLOGY
– UNISIG makes $1.5 million investment in newly expanded Menomonee Falls facility
# PRESS RELEASES
<i>See these and other press releases:
https://www.wisbusiness.com/press-releases/ </i>
Wisconsin Oven: Ships custom batch oven to the energy industry
