The Farm and Industry Short Course has a new leader.  Mary Holle is the new program director at UW-River Falls Farm and Industry Short Course.  Mary and her husband operate a 480-acre farm in Baldwin, Wisconsin, where they manage a herd of 50 registered Holsteins. She tells Stephanie Hoff about the 16-week course which is specifically designed for the "slow season," running  from the last week of October to the second week of March. Students  spend roughly 80% of their time at the Mann Valley lab farm, working directly with cows, silages, and industry professionals. While the current curriculum is dairy-focused, there are plans to add business, horticulture, agronomy, and soil science electives by the 2026–27 school year. Mary aims to rebuild the FISC advisory board and restart the agricultural tour to connect current students with successful program graduates. Prospective students can reach out directly to the program via a dedicated email address: fisc@uwrf.edu.

Snow totals continue to impress on a Tuesday morning.  Stu Muck runs down tally's from around the state.  He also cautions that more snow could be coming back around.  Drifting will continue to be a challenge.

As agriculture grows, so does the size of the buildings it's using.  Ben Jarboe finds out about some of the challenges that have to be met in constructing those buildings from Jason Ullmer.  Ullmer is an ag construction advisor in the Fox Valley.  In Wisconsin, current milking parlors were probably built around 2000.  That means it could be time for an upgrade. He explains that expansion projects take time and a lot of attention to details.

Soybeans moved limit lower yesterday in Chicago.  John Heinberg, market advisor with Total Farm Marketing in West Bend says it was sparked by rumors that the US/China meeting will be postponed.  He says that there was also a brief comment made by China that they were interested in almost everything except U.S. soybeans.  If you're looking for a positive from all the snow - think river levels.  Heinberg says at least for the upper Mississippi River transports, levels are good.