A bicycle ride to raise awareness about the crucial need to help Wisconsin”s next generation of dairy farmers get started will take place Friday, June 25 to Monday, June 28. The Ride to Farm will begin at Eau Claire and finish at the opening of the annual Wisconsin Association of Agricultural Educators Conference, Marriot Madison West Hotel, Middleton.

The Ride will raise funds to support the Wisconsin School for Beginning Dairy Farmers (a program of the UW-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems and the Farm and Industry Short Course), whose mission is to help new farmers get started.

Wisconsin high school agriculture/FFA instructors Brad Sirianni of Independence High School and Merle Richter of Bloomer High School originated the idea for the Ride. WSBDF director Richard Cates will ride along with Sirianni and Richter.

“I am extremely fortunate to be able to take part in such an important effort to help raise awareness of the issues that the school is set up to tackle, and to show support for our bright and motivated next generation of farmers,” Cates says. The School is now in its tenth year of helping aspiring farmers to get started.

“The Ride adds momentum and additional meaning to the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board”s second-year endorsement of America”s Dairyland women”s cycling team, which promotes Wisconsin”s dairy industry, by focusing on the industry need to help beginning farmers to succeed,” Cates points out.

Riders will stop at several start-up farms along the 225-mile route through the Wisconsin countryside between Eau Claire and Madison. Although the number of riders will be limited to about 12, everyone is encouraged to attend one or more of the route stops along the way. Local radio stations and newspapers will announce these locations prior to the event.

To contribute to the ”Ride”, or to obtain a brochure and find out how to collect pledges, please contact:

The UW Foundation-Friends of the WSBDF Fund, Attn: Jodi Wickham, (608) 263-2027; jodi.wickham@uwfoundation.wisc.edu or Carol Chapa, (608) 265-4049; carol.chapa@uwfoundation.wisc.edu

Or mail to:
The UW Foundation
Attn: Jodi Wickham; Friends of the WSBDF Fund
1848 Univ. Ave., PO Box 8860
Madison, WI 53708-8860