The financial health of Wisconsin’s farms and agricultural business and emerging issues and opportunities are topics for the upcoming Wisconsin Agricultural Outlook Forum on Thursday, Jan. 19 on the UW-Madison campus. The event is sponsored by UW-Madison, UW-Extension and features both academic and business leaders.

The 2017 forum runs from 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., in Varsity Hall II at Union South, 1308 West Dayton Street, Madison. The program, organized by the UW-Madison’s Renk Agribusiness Institute, starts with presentations on the status of Wisconsin’s farm economy, including the current situation and price outlooks for dairy, corn and soybeans, as well as farm income and input costs.

Lunch is set for 12:30-1:30 p.m. and includes a brief update on D2P (Discovery to Product program) efforts to commercialize agricultural innovations discovered and developed on the UW-Madison campus.

The expanded afternoon program includes two expert panels.  The first panel covers current trends and broad challenges facing the state and agricultural businesses.  The second panel focuses on key agricultural industries in the state – meat, dairy and vegetable processing and fermented foods and beverages.  The mixed panel of industry and academic experts will discuss past innovation successes in these industries and the potential for public/private collaborations to help address these challenges.

Registration closes Jan. 12.  The registration fee of $20.00 covers both the lunch and the Forum. For a more detailed agenda and to register, visit: http://agoutlook.cals.wisc.edu/.

For more info, contact Maggie Brandenburg at mbranden@wisc.edu, (608) 263-1810 or (608) 263-1800