Chippewa Valley Farm Hosts Mandela Barnes for Roundtable

Former Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes visited the Chippewa Valley for a roundtable on the challenges facing the agricultural industry.

Barnes visited a family farm in Cadott on Friday as part of his Wisconsin Way gubernatorial campaign tour. He spoke with local farmers and agricultural leaders, learning more about the issues they’re struggling with and what he could do to help if elected Governor.

Many of the concerns raised during the roundtable revolved around the effects of tariffs on agricultural markets.

“Our small family farmers are the backbone of Wisconsin’s agriculture economy and folks just want to be respected and compensated for the work that they do,” Barnes said following the roundtable. “That is not happening. There was a lot of talk about the lack of support and help from the federal government. How these tariff dividends are essentially a slap in the face to folks and people don’t even want them. People want to be able to just earn a living for the hard work that they do and that’s pretty reasonable to me. That feels like a simple and fair ask.”

The Chippewa Valley farmers also raised concerns about the prices they are able to sell their goods at compared to the price consumers are paying at the grocery store. With limited options for their products, farmers are selling them at lower and lower prices.

When those goods hit the shelves in stores however, the price for consumers continues to increase. Barnes also shared his thoughts on how to ensure family farmers are getting more of the benefits for the work that they’re doing.

“We need to shift the tax loopholes that allow the wealthy and out-of-state corporations to be able to get away without paying their fair share,” he said. “I think that the bulk of that tax relief should be felt right here with our family farmers, with our small business owners, I think that’s pretty reasonable. And I think we also need to be innovative in the way that we approach farming. I think that Wisconsin has a tremendous opportunity to do so. We feed the world, we build the world, and it’s important that farmers are also a part of the conversation because that’s not always the case.”

Barnes will compete in a crowded field for the Democratic nomination in August, with the winner facing off against the Republican nominee for Governor in November.