1. Meat-ing a need: UW-River Falls program trains animal processors

    Photo of Humane Handling Institute Program Manager Ashlynn Kirk listening to Brandon Clare, owner of JM Watkins meat processing plant in Plum City, as they discuss details of ensuring compliance with federal regulations. Kirk helped Clare individualize a humane handling plan for his plant. UWRF photo.

    Students working in the University of Wisconsin-River Falls Meat Processing Plant had done everything they were supposed to do, had taken every step needed to ensure that animals awaiting processing were as calm as possible. Then the unexpected happened during the processing of beef cattle in the spring. A steer escaped its holding area after […]

  2. Transformational gift to UW-River Falls for dairy plant renovation establishes Wuethrich Family/Grassland Dairy Center of Excellence

    Photo of Chancellor Maria Gallo sharing applause with Trevor Wuethrich, Grassland Dairy Products, Inc. president, during a special gathering Thursday morning in the UWRF Dairy Pilot Plant.

    Contribution brings total Wuethrich-Grassland commitment to $1 million Following a transformational gift, the University of Wisconsin-River Falls Dairy Pilot Plant will now be known as the Wuethrich Family/Grassland Dairy Center of Excellence. The Wuethrich Family Foundation and Grassland Dairy Products, Inc., of Greenwood, dairy industry leaders and longtime UWRF strategic partners, announced today an additional […]

  3. UW-Eau Claire research team works with Eau Claire Downtown Farmers Market to address food insecurity

    Photo of Eau Claire Farmers Market. A UW-Eau Claire research team working with the Eau Claire Downtown Farmers Market on a program that helps community members who are food insecure buy more fruits and vegetables. Dr. Eric Jamelske, professor of economics, leads the ongoing project, which has included dozens of Blugolds as researchers and/or volunteers. (Photo by Shane Opatz)

    As a college student living on his own for the first time, Luke Plagens already was figuring out that it’s hard to eat healthy on a small budget. However, it’s his work as a student researcher and community volunteer at a local farmers market that is helping the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire sophomore understand just […]

  4. A Research Network at the Nexus of Water and Agriculture

    Photo of students meeting with farmers during the Ag-Water Nexus field trip.

    Wisconsin’s abundant rivers, lakes and streams helped the state become an agricultural leader. Yet agricultural processes, including irrigation and pesticide use, also greatly impact our state’s water quality and quantity. One of the biggest challenges facing Wisconsin is determining how to maintain the state’s agricultural prominence while also ensuring plenty of safe water for drinking, […]

  5. UWO partnership with Agra Energy yields new facility to convert dairy waste into biofuel

    Photo of officials from Agra Energy and University of Wisconsin Oshkosh at the groundbreaking for Wisconsin’s first commercial facility to turn dairy farm waste into renewable biofuel. (Photo credit: UW Oshkosh)

    Marked by a groundbreaking ceremony Monday, the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh launched a new effort with biogas partner Agra Energy to build Wisconsin’s first commercial facility to turn dairy farm waste into renewable biofuel. The $20 million facility, located at Dairyland Farm in New Franken, will use pioneering technology to convert biogas waste into an […]

  6. UW-River Falls lands grant to research robotic milking

    UW-River Falls is leading a two-year study to determine the impacts of adopting robotic milking on dairy farms. (Photo credit: UW-River Falls)

    Falcon faculty to lead feasibility study by five U.S. universities A research project led by a pair of University of Wisconsin-River Falls faculty members has the potential to change the face of the signature industry in America’s Dairyland. Assistant professors Luis Peña-Lévano and Shaheer Burney from UWRF’s Agricultural Economics Department were recently awarded a $250,000 […]

  7. UW-Stevens Point: Helping more people access farmers markets

    Photo of alumna Taylor Christiansen (left) and Alissa Lick, graduate assistant in the Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems program at UW-Stevens Point, who are at the Marshfield farm market, one of six where customers and vendors are being surveyed.

    Current and former UW-Stevens Point students are working to improve access to nutritious food at farmers markets in central Wisconsin. Thanks to a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant of $200,000, they are studying farmers markets in Adams, Marshfield, town of Rome, Stevens Point, Waupaca, Wausau and Wisconsin Rapids. The project aims to establish a Central Wisconsin […]

  8. UWO awarded $1.6 million NSF grant for interdisciplinary research on toxic algae

    Photo of algae in a lake

    A sustainability research team at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh begins work this week on a new $1.6 million National Science Foundation study of the social and environmental conditions that contribute to toxic algal blooms in freshwater systems. The project, a collaboration with researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), has broad […]

  9. UW-River Falls agricultural engineering program receives ABET accreditation

    Photo of UW-River Falls campus in autumn

    The bachelor’s degree program in agricultural engineering at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls has been accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET, the global accreditor of college and university programs in applied and natural science, computing, engineering, and engineering technology. ABET accreditation assures that programs meet standards to produce graduates ready to enter critical […]

  10. A world without insects? UWL entomologist says art is a powerful way for us to address the destruction of the planet

    Photo of Professor Barrett Klein, UW-La Crosse biology professor

    Human destruction of the planet is growing. While scientific and media reports continue to outline categories of human-induced environmental damage, these efforts haven’t been enough to lead to substantial policy change to forestall our impact, says University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Entomologist Barrett Klein. Klein says that in addition to science and media, art can serve as […]