Recognizing a decade of sustainability, conservation efforts

Jennifer Much

Contributor

November 29, 2023

GREENLEAF – For the past decade, a handful of farms within the Fox River Basin have implemented sustainable agriculture practices (such as cover crops), which showcases and demonstrates conservation practices that improve Great Lakes water quality by reducing phosphorus and sediment from entering Green Bay and Lake Michigan. 

Through the Lower Fox Demonstration Farm Network (or Fox Demo Farms) – the Great Lakes Basin’s first demonstration farm network – initiative, farms researched or demonstrated agricultural techniques aimed at reducing erosion and sedimentation, maintaining and restoring the health of the soil and improving water quality.

Late last month, about two dozen agricultural professionals, project partners and farmers gathered at Brickstead Dairy (1734 Wayside Road in Greenleaf) – one of the network farms – to commemorate the network’s 10-year anniversary. 

“We’re here celebrating farmers helping us do our work, sell our practices for us and to work together in this partnership to impact and grow large-scale adoption of conservation,” Melissa Bartz, assistant state conservationist at the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), said.

The project is part of the United States Department of Agriculture’s NRCS and is funded through Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GRLI) funds. 

“NRCS started in the ’30s during the Dust Bowl era out of a need for farming practices to change,” Bartz said. “Folks recognized we were losing soil and our resources would be impacted. So, there had to be a better way.”

Bartz said the network’s goal is to also show the importance of sustainability and effectiveness of conservation through partnerships in the Lower Fox River watershed, such as the Brown and Outagamie Land and Water Conservation Departments, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Division of Extension and Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District (NEW Water).

The Lower Fox Demonstration Farm Network received a congressional commendation for 10 years of growth, success. Jennifer Much Photo

Bartz said the Great Lakes region has diverse geology, climate, topography and soil, which can create challenges for farmers when trying to control erosion and nonpoint-source pollution.

The Fox Demo Farms, she said, was designed to work closely with producers to address these challenges at the ground level and provide solutions that can be implemented on a large scale throughout the river basin.

“A lot of the things we are starting across the state are starting on demo farms, and I can’t thank the farmers enough for their time, patience and opening their operations to us and sharing their story with anyone who wants to hear it,” she said.

The program, Bartz said, has also fostered relationships among farmers and has provided opportunities for them to learn from each other.

Bartz said Fox Demo Farms has a total of seven farms throughout Northeast Wisconsin – including Brickstead Dairy (Greenleaf), Dairyland Farms (New Franken), Nettekoven Farms (Black Creek), Neighborhood Dairy (Kaukauna), New Horizons Dairy (De Pere), VandeWettering Farms (Greenleaf) and VanWychen Farms (Kaukauna).

Other farm networks since then, Bartz said, have started throughout the country in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania and New York.

Commitment leads to progress
Dan Brick, owner of Brickstead Dairy, said the practice has made a big impact on his fifth-generation, 1,200-acre dairy farm.

“It’s a great undertaking – a big undertaking – over the last 10 years to get us where we are today,” he said. “In the last five years, we feel we have changed everybody’s mindsets as to how and why and the reason we have to do things differently than we have in the past.”

Participating farms, like Brickstead Dairy, enacted a no-till plowing system and plants cover crops to help with soil health.

Brick said raising awareness on these practices is important and he is noticing change.

“There’s more cover crops across the area,” he said. “Driving by these fields, anywhere in Northeast Wisconsin to sometimes even through the United States, a lot of it came from ideas here in Brown County. I think that is a testament to what everyone has been able to do and farm participation.”

Celebrating success, growth
In light of the Fox Demo Farm’s anniversary, Congressman Mike Gallagher, the U.S. representative for Wisconsin’s 8th congressional district, shared his congratulations through a video message that was viewed at the celebration.

Dan Brick, owner of Brickstead Dairy, said being a part of the Lower Fox Demo Farm Network has made a big impact on his fifth-generation, 1,200-acre dairy farm. Jennifer Much Photo

“I have always been proud to say the first farm demonstration network started right in the 8th district,” Gallagher said. “It took remarkable vision and courage from NRCS, Brown County and, of course, for farmers, to go down this path and disrupt the status quo of farming practices. Everyone should be proud of the work we have done to get us into the spot we are today.”

Gallagher, a Green Bay native, said he will continue to support the Fox Demo Farms project, as well as the Healthy Farms, Healthy Watersheds Act in Congress, which addresses phosphorus in watersheds. 

“This is a remarkable milestone and a testament to your perseverance, your tenacity and more importantly, your success in elevating and expanding conservation farming practices across the Great Lakes,” he said.

For more information on the Fox Demo Farms Network, visit foxdemofarms.org or follow the project on social media.