Rep. Tranel Tours UW-Richland Foundation Farm
 
Madison – On Monday, February 27, toured the Richland County Campus Foundation Farm (UW-Richland Foundation) located just west of Richland Center in Dayton Township. Rep. Tranel has been monitoring the progress of the Foundation farm as vice chair of the Assembly Agriculture Committee and was invited to visit the farm by a member of the Foundation’s Board of Directors. Rep. Tranel has been assisting the Foundation Farm since last fall by working with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to erect several roadway signs guiding visitors to the farm.
 
Foundation Executive Director Darlo Wentz said, "We were excited to share with Representative Tranel how we are making progress with the campus farm." In October 2011, the Foundation farm hosted a Regional Collegiate Soils Contest which brought in schools such as Perdue and colleges as far away as Oklahoma. Foundation Board member Duane Simonson, a former USDA soil specialist, explained to Rep. Tranel how the soil contest was conducted and he showed Rep. Tranel the farm’s integration of innovative geothermal utilities and the set of solar panels that have been placed on the farm.
 
UW-Richland Dean Patrick Hagen and Professor Norlene Emerson touched on how the farm is currently being used for academics and that there are ideas in the conceptual stages on how to increase the academic use of the Foundation farm.
 
Rep. Tranel said, "I am proud to have two campus farms in my Assembly District and the UW-Richland campus and its Foundation should be commended for its efforts to promote curriculum that involves using a local farm. Many classes at UW-Richland should be able to benefit from the farm and it has a lot to offer the local community too."
 
Rep. Tranel will be following up with the Foundation and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to obtain a progress report on how the Foundation farm signage project is progressing. Rep. Tranel wants the treasure of the campus farm to be easy to find and he looks forward to supporting future progress of the farm.