KEWAUNEE, Wis. — Nearly 80 farmers, community members and agricultural industry professionals gathered on February 3 for the Peninsula Pride Farms annual meeting.
The meeting centered on current soil health research and water quality progress in Door and Kewaunee counties.
The farmer-led group president, Duane Ducat of Deer Run Dairy, welcomed attendees and shared the group’s accomplishments from the previous year.
“It was great to see our group grow to 79 members in 2024, 64 farmers and 15 corporate members,” Ducat said. “We’re excited to continue this momentum throughout this year through ongoing outreach and collaboration with our partners.”
Peninsula Pride Farms was honored with two awards last year, including the 2024 Lake Michigan Champions of Conservation award and Field to Market’s 2024 Collaboration of the Year award in partnership with Houston Engineering, Inc. and Farmers for Sustainable Food for their sustainability project.
Lance Gunderson of Regen Ag Labs explained the Haney test and discussed how it could be a more useful tool for addressing soil fertility on the farm than other traditional methods.
“Soil, much like farming, is a giant puzzle,” Gunderson said. “We continue to discover more and more about soil health, and we know we have a lot left to learn.”
Over time, the agricultural community has continued to learn more about the complexities of the soil ecosystem. In certain instances, the Haney test can be a helpful indicator for determining soil fertility recommendations because it takes a more comprehensive look at the soil, measuring soil nutrients, organic matter, microbial biomass, water-extractable carbon and carbon and nitrogen balance.
“Each field is unique, but using conventional tests to determine soil fertility requirements can sometimes lead to excess fertilizer applications, in comparison to using the Haney test,” he said.
Marti Viste, sustainability project specialist with Farmers for Sustainable Food, shared the group’s 2024 Member Conservation Practice Survey results. With six years of data, the 2024 survey shows the group’s use of various conservation practices, including soil sampling, planting cover crops, utilizing no-till and reduced-till methods, split nitrogen application, low disturbance manure application and planting directly into cover crops, also known as “planting green.”
Local water quality experts, including Kewaunee County Conservationist Davina Boness, Wisconsin DNR Private Water Reporting and Compliance Enforcement Coordinator Sara Fry, Chair of the League of Women Voter’s natural resources committee Virge Temme and Door County Conservationist Tim Dahl, shared current updates about the area during a panel discussion. They also shared public concerns they receive regarding water quality and their role in addressing these concerns when they arise.
“We are a farming community, and more and more people are moving to rural areas like ours,” Boness said. “These new community members often have limited understanding of agriculture and agricultural practices.”
Many people, especially those without an agricultural background, often have misconceptions when it comes to manure management and farming, Dahl says.
“The more we can help people understand what’s going on in our community, the better our community will be,” Temme said.
Jamie Patton, state soil health coordinator with NRCS, provided a more in-depth look at how manure can influence soil health.
“If you want to increase microbial activity in your soil, manure will do that by promoting existing microbes in the soil,” Patton said. “Manure soils have richer networks of microbial activity and have long-lasting impacts.”
She explained that soil systems have a complex, functioning food web, and farmers need to ensure that they feed and promote microbial activity within all parts of that system.
In addition to the planned agenda, State Senator Andre Jacque addressed attendees and acknowledged the work of PPF and its group members.
“There are several other states looking to learn from the work you’re doing here at Peninsula Pride Farms, and you’re all doing tremendous work,” he said.
During the business portion of the meeting, Duane Ducat, president; Chris Schneider, treasurer; Nathen Nysse, secretary and Eric Olson were re-elected to the board. Ben Kinnard and Jeff Kohnle were also elected. Outgoing board members include Scott Jeanquart and Keith Braun.
Other board members are Jacob Brey, vice president; Lee Kinnard; Mike Vandenhouten; Paul Cornette; Nick Guilette; Jeremy Heim and Adam Barta. Dave Rueckl and Don Niles serve as board advisors. The Door-Kewaunee Watershed Demonstration Farms Network representative is Barry Bubolz.
About Peninsula Pride Farms:
Peninsula Pride Farms is a nonprofit organization of dairy farmers, crop farmers and corporate members committed to protecting and improving ground and surface water in Kewaunee and southern Door counties in Wisconsin. The group leverages the ingenuity of the agricultural community, university research and scientists to implement practices with measurable outcomes. More information peninsulapridefarms.org.
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