Dedicated to grassroots change in dairy, rural policy

MERRILL, Wis. — Hans Breitenmoser Jr. is concerned about the changes he has witnessed in rural Wisconsin over the course of his life as a dairy farmer. That concern, and a desire to help change the trajectory of rural communities, led him to membership in the Wisconsin Farmers Union.

“Losing family-owned dairy farms in Wisconsin rips apart the fabric of our communities,” Breitenmoser said. “We have to understand why that’s happening and what role public policy can have in changing that. That’s a reason I feel like I found a home in Farmers Union.”

Breitenmoser is the second generation on his family’s Lincoln County dairy farm near Merrill, where he milks 460 cows. His parents emigrated from Switzerland in 1968, establishing a 20-cow dairy farm. His mother milked the cows while his father worked at the local feed mill.

Breitenmoser is currently the vice chair of the Marathon County Farmers Union and has held a seat on policy committees at both the state and national levels.

“Farmers Union believes in grassroots participation,” Breitenmoser said. “Things happen from the bottom up; the leadership is going to do what the membership wants it to do.”

For his endeavors in helping build that grassroots effort, Breitenmoser was awarded the Bruce Miller Award at the National Farmers Union Convention in March. The award recognizes those who display a true passion for family farming and rural America, while promoting the organization’s work.

“Farmers Union isn’t focused solely on the symptoms facing the dairy industry — thin margins, low milk prices and so forth,” Breitenmoser said. “We have to understand what the impact of those symptoms is on our communities. More importantly, we have to understand why these things are happening to begin with — and that comes down to public policy.”

Breitenmoser has been a Farmers Union member for more than 15 years.

“I didn’t even know Farmers Union existed until my wife and I came across a booth at a renewable energy fair in the Stevens Point area,” Breitenmoser said. “They were promoting Kamp Kenwood. At the time our kids were really small and we thought it sounded like a pretty cool experience for them, talking about social justice and teaching about cooperatives. It really kind of scratched an itch for us, as parents.”

Over the years, Breitenmoser said there has been an evolution in the financial systems of rural communities.

“There used to be an economy here that worked,” Breitenmoser said. “What changed that? How many entrepreneurs do we have? If you look back a couple of decades, all those farms were independent businesses. They all supported a local school district, a bottling plant, the feed mill, the veterinarian, the grocery store. Those businesses are all gone from Lincoln County now — we don’t have any bottling plants or cheese factories, feed mills, implement dealerships or large animal veterinarians left in the county.”

Breitenmoser said he believes the answers to the issues facing farmers and rural America lie in failed public policy — things like unenforced antitrust legislation and money in politics.

“All you need to do is look at public policy that allows these things to happen, to understand the farm crisis,” Breitenmoser said. “Farmers Union really understands we need good farm policy, the same way we need good public policy in general, to turn these things around. And where do you get good policy? From a functioning, healthy democracy where there’s robust debate.”

Favorable policy, both farm and general public policy, is the key to solving the cycle of farm crises, Breitenmoser said, rather than taxpayer subsidies.

“We can’t just sit here saying the milk prices suck, so we need some sort of taxpayer support,” Breitenmoser said. “That’s all good and fine for the short-term, but the reality of it is, for starters, no farmer really wants that. They would rather have a price that’s sustainable.”

Breitenmoser also shared concerns about tax dollar subsidies.

“If your tax dollars are going to support me— there was margin there, and (it) didn’t vaporize,” Breitenmoser said. “It went somewhere else. It went to Wall Street — and why should you be subsiding that? On the surface it might be a subsidy for me, but it’s really a subsidy for processors and retailers, giant multinational corporations who are getting money.”

The diversity that exists among today’s dairy farms makes the creation of equitable supply management difficult, Breitenmoser said.

“Farms were fairly similar 30-40 years ago, in terms of size and who was doing the work,” Breitenmoser said. “Most were under 100 cows and the biggest difference was usually what color tractors were in the yard. Now you have everything from that 25-cow herd to farms with 10s of 1,000s (of) cows. So how do you get those folks together? I don’t know the answer, but I am a fan of some sort of supply management system, where farmers could conspire with one another to make sure their prices were decent.”

While he remains uncertain of the precise answers, Breitenmoser said he believes participation in the system and education of legislators and lawmakers is the best route to finding them.

“It’s not only our right, but also our responsibility, to take the opportunities we have to visit with our legislators,” Breitenmoser said. “We might not always see eye-to-eye on things, but that is all the more reason to walk into those offices and talk to them. … If we don’t, it’s a missed opportunity to tell our story, and I promise you that vacuum will be filled by someone else. It’s a challenge for most farmers to find the time to do that, … but it’s more important than ever because we are losing dairy farming voices every day.”