FRI AM News: WisBusiness: the Podcast with Lauren Brey, Farmers for Sustainable Food; State unemployment remained at 3% in March

April 19, 2024

— This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Lauren Brey, managing director of Farmers for Sustainable Food.

The nonprofit organization aims to promote farmer-led solutions to environmental challenges, such as sustainability projects involving dairy farms and other agricultural operations. Multiple pilot projects have a focus on supply chains for farm goods, Brey explains.

“We are part of a $50 million grant through the USDA’s Partnerships for Climate Smart Commodities,” she said. “And while our portion of that work focuses on dairy, we also have beet sugar partners as well as others who are doing different things to think about what the impact of conservation on farm financials is.”

Brey discusses the data collection efforts linked to those projects, noting the program is looking to get more farmers enrolled in these efforts. Documenting the impacts of conservation practices helps the nonprofit promote the environmental and financial outcomes to others, she said.

“We don’t dictate or prescribe practices to the farmers,” she said. “We’re working with farmers who are making those decisions based on their business goals and their priorities in their community, so we’re just helping them gather the data around what they’re doing and what it means.”

That process involves offering technical support and sharing data reports with participating farmers, as well as building on successful pilots. Projects include planting various cover crops, nutrient management plans, reduced till or no-till practices and more, Brey said.

The program also facilitates the sharing of findings between farmers and offers benchmarking to give participants more context for their conservation goals.

“You see where your farm compares with some of your peers, or state and national averages where we have enough data to pull those numbers,” she said.

Brey also shares details on top goals for the program, which aims to bring more farmers in the Upper Midwest region on board and land more grant funding and sponsorships.

“We’re still in that startup, nonprofit phase, and it takes people to provide the support to the farms and to do this work,” she said. “We need funding to continue to be able to expand this … the USDA climate smart grant is a great first step in that direction, but it is a five-year grant so we do have our eye on the future.”

Listen to the podcast and see more on the program.

See the full list of WisBusiness.com podcasts.

— The state’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3% in March as the state saw minor job losses over the month, according to the latest Department of Workforce Development figures.

Wisconsin’s total nonfarm jobs dipped by 1,700 over the month and increased 22,700 over the year, reaching 3,034,400 in March. At the same time, private sector jobs declined by 2,900 over the month and rose by 14,300 over the year, reaching 2,623,400.

While manufacturing alone lost 2,900 jobs between February and March, those losses were offset by the construction industry adding 3,100 jobs over the month, reaching a record high of 143,900 jobs.

Meanwhile, the state’s unemployment rate remained below the U.S. rate of 3.8%. And the labor force participation rate ticked down to 65.6%, which is 2.9 percentage points above the national rate of 62.7%.

Speaking yesterday during an online briefing, DWD Chief Economist Dennis Winters noted Wisconsin unemployment is “running near historic lows” as employers continue to vie for talent.

“So indications are that if you are laid off, pretty good chance that you’ll be hired into another job fairly quickly,” he said.

See the release.

— Six early-stage companies have been selected for gener8tor’s Madison startup accelerator program, which comes with a $100,000 investment.

Along with the investment from gener8tor’s fund targeting Wisconsin-based companies, participants go through a 12-week cohort-based program that offers coaching, mentorship and network connections to investors and others in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

The six companies selected for the program were chosen from among hundreds of applications based on growth potential, domain expertise of their teams and investor readiness, according to yesterday’s release.

Selected companies include:

*Addiction recovery pharmaceutical platform Plumb Pharmaceuticals, based in Madison.

*Data and security company Technova Industries, also located in Madison.

*Madison-based family productivity app Cubby.

*Veterinary records analysis tool Transfur, another Madison startup.

*Dallas-based machine vision manufacturing software TechComb.

*Toronto-based dairy cow microbiome platform Healthy Cow.

“We are proud to say we have made great progress getting the founders connected into the strong local startup, mentor and investor ecosystem, and have already convinced one company to relocate its headquarters to the great city of Madison,” Managing Director Molly Dill said in a statement.

After the program is finished, participants will pitch their companies to members of the public and potential investors during Forward Fest in Madison this August. The next gener8tor program in the state is slated for Milwaukee this fall.

See the release.

— U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin is hailing news that the Biden administration will investigate Chinese shipbuilding after she pushed for a formal inquiry on the issue.

The Madison Dem and Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., had urged the Biden administration to grant a petition by five national labor unions alleging unfair trade practices by China. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai announced an investigation into Chinese shipbuilding this week in response to the petition.

“China has been cheating the rules and it’s hurting American workers and putting our national security on the line,” Baldwin said. “I am glad to see the Biden Administration heed our calls and launch this investigation to hold China accountable, helping protect America’s shipbuilding industry and American workers.”

See more in the WisPolitics DC Wrap.

— Former Dem lawmaker Mark Meyer has been appointed administrator of the new Division of Alcohol Beverages within the Department of Revenue.

The division, created as part of an overhaul of the three-tiered system last year, is charged with overseeing enforcement of Wisconsin’s alcohol laws. The administrator’s powers include appointing special agents and other employees to carry out the division’s permitting, audit, legal and enforcement functions.

Meyer, who represented the La Crosse area in the Assembly and Senate from 1993-2005, more recently served as the principal for Meyer Consulting LLC. He also spent six years on the Public Service Commission after leaving the Legislature.

The administrator’s position requires Senate confirmation.

Top headlines from the Health Care Report…

— State health officials announced $1.9 million in opioid settlement funding for law enforcement agencies that will back efforts to prevent opioid abuse, treat those with addiction and more.

Meanwhile, the UW School of Medicine and Public Health is participating in a clinical trial focused on a new method for removing kidney stones using robotic technology.

For more of the most relevant health care news, reports on groundbreaking research in Wisconsin, links to top stories and more, sign up today for the free daily Health Care Report from WisPolitics and WisBusiness.com.

Sign up here.

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