UW-System Getting $8.8 Million for Dairy Research Facilites
Thursday, October 3rd, 2019 -- 9:26 AM
(WRN) -The UW-System will be getting 8 point 8 million dollars to fund new dairy research facilities after those funds were released by the Joint Finance Committee.But committee members spent time discussing USDA secretary Sonny Perdue's comments about small farms needing to consolidate or fail. John Holevoet with the Dairy Business Association says Perdues comments just emphasize a long standing discussion in the industry.
"There's always been this sort of discussion about 'how do we protect small farms?' Do we do that at the expense of big farms? Do we protect big farms at the expense of small farms? At least from our perspective, there's space for both to operate."
Holevoet says the sites in Madison, Platteville, and River Falls can add to their staff.
"They're going to start recruiting faculty positions to help spend those 7 point 8 next year, because most of that is for bringing in top level researchers to all three of those campuses."
The Dairy Innovation Hub was part of the recent state budget, and was a unanimous recommendation from last year’s Wisconsin Dairy Task Force.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.