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NOW NEWS
Central Wisconsin Farmers Collaborative invites guests to Hay Meadow Creek watershed
On August 19, the Central Wisconsin Farmers Collaborative Producer-Led Watershed Protection Group hosted an educational field tour of the Hay Meadow Creek watershed in Portage County.
Tracy Hames (fourth from right, pointing), executive director of the Wisconsin Wetlands Association, explains how watersheds work during the Central Wisconsin Farmers Collaborative Field Day in Hay Meadow Creek. Hames described how upper watershed wetlands and floodplains help manage water movement and improve water quality. Above: The Central Wisconsin Farmers Collaborative Producer-Led Watershed Protection Group hosted an educational field tour, August 19, of the Hay Meadow Creek watershed in Portage County. Wisconsin Wetlands Association Executive Director Tracy Hames talked about how water moves through agricultural landscapes and how farmers and landowners are protecting and maintaining the health of their waters and watersheds.
Wisconsin Wetlands Association Executive Director Tracy Hames talked about how water moves through agricultural landscapes and how farmers and landowners are protecting and maintaining the health of their waters and watersheds.
Hames also explained how to apply simple on-farm wetland and water management practices to slow the flow of runoff, improve water quality, reduce soil loss and erosion, and promote the overall health of the watershed.
Hames described how upper watershed wetlands and floodplains help manage water movement and improve water quality.
Titan Machinery & Heartland AG Systems Join Forces
Titan Machinery Inc., a leading network of full-service agricultural and construction equipment stores, announces the strategic acquisition of Heartland AG Systems, Heartland Solutions, and related affiliates for an aggregate $110 million. Heartland AG Systems is the largest Case IH application equipment distributorship in North America, providing application-focused solutions for commercial applicators. The acquisition forms the largest and most capable farm, application, and construction equipment dealer group in the industry. A press release announcing the acquisition was issued on July 11, with an expected closing date of early August. Day-to-day business will not change, and the Heartland AG Systems brand will remain committed to continuing industry-leading, application-focused product sales and service. Heartland AG Systems has been the most focused application equipment distributor in the industry. Since 1965, the company has been committed to one thing: customers’ application business. In 2019, Heartland Ag and AG Systems merged to form the largest Case IH commercial application dealership in North America. In 2021, Ag West Distributing was acquired to create a footprint across 17 states.
FERTILIZER HANDLING EQUIPMENT
In addition to selling a complete line of application equipment for more than 50 years, Heartland AG Systems has also been a manufacturer of dry and liquid fertilizer handling equipment. Heartland AG Systems Equipment offers industry-leading application support products, including tenders, spreaders, liquid trailers, applicators, and parts.
continued on pg. 24
Plainfield, WI 715.366.4181
Titan Machinery has roots spanning over four generations and operates 73 Case IH agriculture, New Holland and Case construction stores in a core footprint that includes Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and eastern Wyoming. Titan serves its customers with a strong commitment to parts and service support. Not only is Titan Machinery Case IH’s largest dealer, but also its biggest dealer in sales and support of self-propelled sprayers to the farm/ranch segment. In addition, Titan Machinery has over five decades of experience working with and supporting commercial application customers with the Case IH Steiger Tractor product. Both companies have been successful and experienced growth in recent years, investing in people, technologies, and facilities. They intend to continue investing in people, facility, tool and vehicle resources to best serve customers well into the future.
Benefits of the acquisition: • Increased inventory of parts and equipment with more locations to better serve customers • Can now facilitate a full line of agricultural equipment, including tractors, wheel loaders, forklifts, etc.
• Provides the most convenient, capable, and efficient customer support footprint in the upper
Midwest, with over 700 qualified technicians throughout 79
Heartland AG Systems and core
Titan Machinery locations Titan locations are currently stocked with parts for Case IH Patriot sprayers and Tridents.
Moving forward, the plan is to include parts for Case IH Floaters, RBR, Salford, New Leader, and the Heartland AG Systems manufactured products. More information on the Titan Machinery acquisition of Heartland AG Systems can be found at www.heartlandag.com or www.titanmachinery.com. If you have any questions, please call the Hutchinson, Minnesota, office at 320-587-4030.
Board meeting held at Glacier Wood Golf Club before players hit the course
On August 23, 2022, an annual tradition continued as the Wisconsin Potato & Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA) held its Past Presidents Golf Tournament at Glacier Wood Golf Club in Iola, Wisconsin.
Though current WPVGA Board President Alex Okray chose the course this year, as is tradition, he was unable to attend with the busy harvest season underway. The annual tournament honors the current and past presidents of the WPVGA Board of Directors, who often invite their spouses and family members. The event is a good opportunity for the potato and vegetable growers to catch up and have some fun.
In addition to other WPVGA members who joined in, the past presidents participating in the golf tournament included Larry Alsum of Alsum Farms & Produce, Mark Finnessy from Okray Family Farms and Bob Guenthner of Guenthner Potato Company. A day that began with a WPVGA Board meeting continued with a four-person scramble golf outing and ended with dinner at the course and anticipation of playing another round in 2023.
Past WPVGA Board presidents participating in the golf tournament included, from left to right, Mark Finnessy of Okray Family Farms, Bob Guenthner from Guenthner Potato Company, and Larry Alsum of Alsum
Farms & Produce. continued on pg. 26
Above: WPVGA Board Vice President Randy Fleishauer of Plover River Farms hits a solid chip shot during the Past Presidents Golf Outing. Above: While Shannon Finnessy (left) putts, her teammates, WPVGA Executive Director Tamas Houlihan (center) and Randy Fleishauer of Plover River Farms, wait their turns.
continued from pg. 25 Research Summit Pinpoints Priorities
WPVGA bumps up meeting a year to zero in on areas of scientific urgency
“We have a very compressed day today,” began Wisconsin Potato & Vegetable Growers Association (WPVGA) Executive Director Tamas Houlihan. “We didn’t want to take a whole day away from growers, some of whom are harvesting, but we have some new emerging issues.” “We typically hold the Research Summit every five years,” Houlihan noted, “but we moved it up a year.” The WPVGA Research Summit, held August 17 at the Farm Operations Technology and Training Center of Heartland Farms in Hancock, Wisconsin, is an every-five-year gathering of University of Wisconsin (UW) scientists, professors, retired researchers, potato and vegetable growers, and association members and staff. The goal of the summit is to identify research priorities and areas of urgency at a local and then national level.
“So, if there are primary issues that
During the WPVGA Research Summit, August 17, Dr. Russ Groves (right) asks his fellow researchers and potato and vegetable growers to identify and rank scientific priorities. From left to right are Professors Emeritus Larry Binning and Walt Stevenson, and WPVGA grower members Corey Kincaid and Dennis Zeloski.
are being unrepresented,” explained Dr. Russell L. Groves, UW-Madison Department of Entomology, “we want to pinpoint them and think about large, challenging questions facing our industry, whether regionally or nationally.” “Every year, the Research Committee prioritizes assessments, so an outcome today will be a renumeration of those to see what will come out from our conversations,” Groves added.
IDENTIFYING DIRECTIONS
“If you think insect pest management is falling short, taking my own area as an example, or there are underrepresented directions, we want to get it down on paper and identify them,” he concluded. Prior to the Research Summit, Houlihan had surveys sent to WPVGA member potato and vegetable growers asking them to rank research priorities. The rankings identify 13 categories grower members pinpointed. The 2018 survey did not include some of these topics, so a few were added, with some being placed in an “other” category. The 13 topics are: Soil Health; Potato Breeding; Variety Development; Disease Management; Insect Management; Weed Management; Potato and Vegetable Production; Seed Production and Certification; UW-College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and UW-Extension Restructuring; Water Research; Sustainability/Healthy Grown/ Regenerative Ag; Storage Research; and Other Topics. With 22 researchers, growers and WPVGA members in the room and another eight on a Zoom conference call, there were plenty of ideas, opportunities, challenges, and
Researchers and professors in attendance at the WPVGA Research Summit include, from left to right, Jeff Endelman, Matt Ruark, A.J. Bussan, and Yi Wang.
Dr. Jeff Endelman (left) stresses a point during the WPVGA Research Summit, August 17, held in the Farm Operations Technology and Training Center of Heartland Farms in Hancock, Wisconsin.
priorities shared for each topic, with the end result being the start of a gameplan for the next five years of research.
With the information gathered and areas of concentration identified, a more inclusive roadmap to research priorities and a solid scientific plan can be developed and implemented for the next few years and beyond.
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