KEWAUNEE, Wis.— Improving water quality in Kewaunee and southern Door counties remains a vital priority for Peninsula Pride Farms (PPF), a farmer-led conservation group. Year after year, members continue growing their impact and sharing their accomplishments of improving the environment. At its annual meeting, PPF will feature speakers covering various topics to help farmers accomplish their sustainability goals. Those interested should join the discussion from 9:30 a.m.– 3:15 p.m. on Feb. 14.
Attendees will explore these topics through presentations by:
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Dr. Lee Briese is an independent crop consultant from central North Dakota. He provides agronomic advice to help farmers build customized systems to grow and manage crops profitably. He specializes in helping farmers adopt practices to protect and improve their soil and local environment, including reduced-till, no-till, cover crops, crop rotation and increased plant and economic diversity. Briese earned his doctorate in plant health from the University of Nebraska. He will use a yo-yo to interact with farmers and agricultural professionals to discuss the importance of details in soil health.
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Shawn Wesener, data collection specialist for Farmers for Sustainable Food, works directly with farmers to help track conservation practice outcomes. Wesener has a professional background in agriculture and public planning. As a certified crop adviser, he most recently served as a precision agriculture specialist for Country Visions Cooperative, based in Brillion, Wis. He now supports farmer-led groups in their conservation efforts by working directly with farmers and crop advisers to capture the data needed to drive sustainability projects and support continuous improvement. He will present the findings from SRPF’s 2022 survey results on member conservation practices.
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Nathaniel Baeumler has worked at Houston Engineering, Inc. since 2019 in the water quality division. Baeumler works with farmer-led groups on inputting data and analyzing data outputs from the Fieldprint Platform. Baeumler also works on water quality-related tasks that may accompany the Fieldprint Platform analysis. Before working at Houston Engineering, he was a graduate student at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, where he worked on understanding the relationship between precipitation and nitrate loading to surface waters in various watersheds in the Upper Midwest and understanding how large-scale land use changes have affected potential evapotranspiration values in western Minnesota. Baeumler will share a high-level summary of the PPF sustainability project of on-farm sustainability and its impact on local water resource results.
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Mark Witecha is the Soil and Watershed Management Section Manager with the Wisconsin Dept. of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. Staff in Witecha’s section administer the Producer-Led Watershed Protection Grant program and oversee the department’s nutrient management planning and soil health efforts. He holds a bachelor’s degree in wildlife ecology and management from UW–Stevens Point and a master’s degree in range and wildlife management from Texas A&M University–Kingsville. Witecha has worked on agricultural conservation programs and policy for the last 12 years. He began his career working with USDA-Natural Resource Conservation Service delivering conservation programs and practices to farmers and ranchers in western Kansas. Before coming to DATCP in 2020, he served as the Farm Bill Specialist and Upland Wildlife Ecologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Witecha will give an update on DATCP programs that are helping to keep agriculture strong.
Details
Who: Peninsula Pride Farms
What: Annual meeting
When: 9:30 a.m. – 3:15 p.m. Feb. 14
Where: Kewaunee County Fairgrounds Expo Hall, 625 3rd St., Luxemburg
Agenda
- PPF year in review: Don Niles, PPF president
- Details matter in soil health: Dr. Lee Briese, Centrol Ag Consulting
- SRPF conservation outcomes 2022: Shawn Wesener, Farmers for Sustainable Food
- PPF sustainability project of on-farm sustainability and impact to local water resources results: Nathaniel Baeumler, Houston Engineering, Inc.
- DATCP program updates to help keep agriculture strong: Mark Witecha, Wisconsin DATCP
- Farmer panel discussion: moderator: Barry Bubolz; panelists: Paul Cornette, Duane Ducat, Jacob Brey, Nick Guilette, Eric Olson, Scott Jeanquart
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