U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin is proposing significant improvements of crop and dairy insurance for Wisconsin farmers. She says her changes would create new customizable insurance tools for farmers, and improve the dairy margin protection program. > News 8000 La Crosse
The state Supreme Court removed a hurdle Tuesday for a large-scale dairy farm in central Wisconsin, ruling that the farmers’ right to use the land was locked in with their building permit application. The dairy sued when the town of Saratoga re-zoned the land due to resident concerns about manure runoff contaminating wells. > AP News
U.S. Rep. Ron Kind returned to Washington Tuesday with bipartisan amendments he’s proposing in the battle over the 2018 Farm Bill, which is to be taken up this week. Speaking in La Crosse, Kind said the bill must buoy low commodity and dairy prices, and highlighted three of his seven proposed amendments. > La Crosse Tribune
AG Brad Schimel’s office now says it’s okay for authorized industrial hemp farmers to process it into cannabidiol, or CBD, oil. The stance represents a reversal from a DOJ memo sent last month that said only doctors and pharmacies can distribute the oil and people can possess it only with a doctor’s certification. > ABC 27 Madison
Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation officials plan to meet with the state Justice Department to discuss the agency’s stance that hemp farmers can’t produce CBD oil, even though Gov. Scott Walker signed a bill in November allowing farmers to grow industrial hemp. > AP News
Gov. Scott Walker said he wants lawmakers to consider a solution to allow CBD oil to be manufactured in the state because of the health benefits. This comes one day after the Wisconsin Farm Bureau raised concerns over the DOJ’s move to block farmers from growing industrial hemp for CBD oil purposes. > WKOW-TV Madison
The Wisconsin DNR announced this week that it has approved a permit for a controversial dairy feedlot that would generate an estimated 95 million gallons of manure and waste water annually in the Sugar River watershed about 40 miles south of Madison. > Wisconsin State Journal
