Why Wisconsin Farmers are Protesting Gov. Walker's Budget Bill

Joel Greeno was thrilled when his daughter, Annamarie Rose, was born April 20. But Greeno, a dairy farmer in Monroe County, Wis., was also worried. He and his family rely on state-funded health care, and Greeno says he’s uncertain what kind of coverage Annamarie will receive if Gov. Scott Walker cuts funding to Medicaid.

“You worry about things like that because you never know how things are going to go,” Greeno said. “You could very easily end up in severe financial trouble if all the sudden you’re stuck with high medical expenses.”

Greeno and his family are enrolled in BadgerCare, the state’s health insurance plan for low-income working families unable to afford private insurance. About 11,000 members of family farms use the program, according to the Wisconsin Farmer’s Union.

But those people could lose their health care if Wisconsin lawmakers pass Walker’s budget repair bill. The governor’s proposed changes could eliminate health coverage of up to 70,000 adults earning above 133 percent of the poverty line, or about $14,000. The administration could also increase premiums and co-pays and cut benefits such as dental care, prescription drugs and physical therapy. Wisconsin is expected to cut $500 million in overall Medicaid funding over the next two years.

Greeno said the cuts to BadgerCare would put family farms in dire financial straits and make it harder for them to compete with large agriculture companies.

On March 12, he took his fight to the Capitol. Riding his 1935 Allis-Chalmers tractor, Greeno led a procession of 51 tractors, one fire truck and one combine harvester machine around the Capitol Square to protest Walker’s budget bill. Thousands of cheering protesters gathered to watch the “tractorcade” go by.

“I’ve never been hugged and thanked so many times in my life,” said Greeno, who is vice president of Family Farm Defenders. “Everyone was walking together, talking about how this was the wrong direction… If we don’t fight back soon, the power of the corporations will be tilted too far to pull back.”

Wisconsin Farmers Union President Darin Von Ruden said farmers have been attending Farmers Union meetings around the state to voice their concerns about BadgerCare.

“They’re all very concerned because they’re going to have to decide whether they can put food on their tables or get health insurance,” Von Ruden said. “It could become a catastrophic thing with people deciding not to go see a physician for check-ups because they can’t afford it. And it’s always more expensive to treat things in the emergency room.”

Von Ruden said the Farmers Union is trying to set up a meeting with Gov. Walker to relay these concerns.

In addition to the cuts to BadgerCare, Wisconsin farmers are worried about the proposed elimination of farmland preservation programs.

Signed into law by Gov. Jim Doyle in 2009, the Working Lands Initiative is a series of programs designed to help farmers keep their land rather than sell it to developers.

One of the programs Gov. Walker’s proposed budget would eliminate is a farmland conversion fee that the government collects from companies seeking to develop farmland.

“Wisconsin has been a leader in the loss of farmland over the past decade,” said Bill Berry, spokesman for the American Farmland Trust. “The fee is meant to discourage the conversion of the best farmland in the state to other uses such as development. Farmland that’s protected under this law is some of the most important and stewarded land.”

The proposed budget would also eliminate the Purchase of Agricultural Conservation Easement (PACE) program, through which the state essentially buys development rights from a farmer to allow him or her to preserve the land.

“These programs provide certainty to communities that agriculture will continue to thrive,” Berry said. “We don’t want to kill development... But for the good of our economy, the preservation of farmland is pretty darn important. We are in many ways the food basket of not only our state but well beyond our boundaries.”

Berry said members of the American Farmland Trust have attended every hearing of the Joint Finance Committee to express their concerns.

“This is a true grassroots expression from citizens across the state,” Berry said. “We’re not going to sit down and just let it happen. We’re going to make our points heard.”