No matter how far we travel in life, we all carry traditions with us to keep the memories of where we came from alive. This is certainly true for Marieke and Rolf Penterman who brought their traditions across land and sea to share in Wisconsin. I had the honor of seeing the life they built in our state while visiting Thorp this September. Marieke Penterman was born and raised in the Netherlands where she grew up on her parents' 60-cow dairy farm. After graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Dairy Business, Marieke stayed in the agriculture industry as a farm inspector. Her future husband, Rolf Penterman, emigrated to Thorp, Wisc. and started a dairy farm in May 2002. Marieke followed a year
“What is agriculture?” I often ask youth to define the term for me. Many focus on the second half of the word, culture. They speak of customs that have taken place in Wisconsin’s history that make Wisconsin the dairy state. One bright young man inspired me by saying agriculture is our past and our future. Certainly, our society would not be what it is today without agriculture and the ability to produce food for a continually growing population. While Wisconsin was once a wheat state, special moments in our state’s history helped shape the dynamic dairy industry and create a cheese culture. The decades of Wisconsin’s cheesemaking history have been carefully outlined by Dairy Farmers of Wisco
Weeks after storms left a path of destruction across Wisconsin, their evidence is still present in local communities. Fields are filled with flooded crops. Debris is visible from roadways. Sandbags sit idly where water was once rising. In my travels as Alice, many people have kindly asked how my family’s farm fared in the storms. Fortunately, the position of our dairy on a large hill prevented flood damage, but the same was not true for our neighbors in Southwest Wisconsin. Word quickly spread about friends who were forced to sleep in their hay mow to avoid dangerous water. Several lost livestock, animal feed, and crops. Those working in agriculture understand the storms did not just cause t
Can you imagine a truckload of Wisconsin cheese curds? That sounds like a dream, but it is not too far from coming true. Wisconsin’s dairy industry is part of our state’s economy, society, and future. We dedicate the entire month of June to celebrate the delicious and nutritious products our farmers and processors provide. Every other year in September, we extend that dairy celebration with Green County’s famous Cheese Days. The event has to be a biannual festival because of its size and scale attracting more than 100,000 visitors who eat cheese by the truckload. The Monroe Optimist Club, a local community partner, said it has sold nearly 176,000 pounds of deep-fried cheese curds at the fes
