America's 250th birthday calls for a big celebration, and that's exactly what the Great American State Fair is. It's an opportunity for each state to showcase what makes them unique and special. Joey Hoey joins us, he's the assistant deputy secretary at the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs. He was in charge of putting together a display that shows off the best of what Wisconsin has to offer. Joey tells us about the road to the Great American State Fair.

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If mosquitoes could talk, I have a feeling they would say the 4th of July is their favorite holiday. From fireworks shows to lake days and barbecues, the influx of people outside basically means we're bringing an all-you-can-eat buffet straight to the doorstep of the homes of mosquitoes. PJ Liesch joins us; he's an Extension Entomologist who keeps an eye on the populations of mosquitoes in Wisconsin throughout the summer. He tells us what he's seen so far.

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Wisconsin beef producers joined a nationwide effort among State Beef Councils to amplify the beef industry’s summer grilling campaign. Kaitlyn Kessler, Communications Coordinator for the Wisconsin Beef Council explains the campaign with Pam Jahnke. The Wisconsin Beef Council invited women with various stills and areas of influence to learn more about grilling beef. It was worth their time, thanks to generous support from Pit Boss for the event – which not only included the use of their smokers but also the expertise of Pitmaster Lee Ann Whippen. Whippen lead the course as a 25 year champion BBQ pitmaster and member of the 2022 BBQ hall of fame.

Whippen shared tips and demonstrated how to cook Tri-Tips, Brisket, and burger
basics. These influencers can then take this knowledge back to their audiences and increase confidence at the grill or smoker. It was very well received.

While giving hands-on skills to those grillers, the WI Beef Council also reached out through virtual experiences. Kessler says WBC's partnership with the Wisconsin Agriculture in the
Classroom, Alice in Dairyland and Poppy Family Farms targeted elementary classrooms across the state with a virtual tour of a beef farm.

Hosted by Wisconsin’s 78th Alice in Dairyland, Sarah Hagenow, alongside farmer
Rebecca Poppy of Poppy Family Farms in Omro, the tour introduced students to
cattle, animal care practices and the role beef farmers play in producing a safe,
nutritious food supply. Preliminary participation estimates show approximately 35 classrooms and more than 600 students joined the live event. The recorded tour will be made available on BeefTips.com and wisagclassroom.org, allowing educators to access the content throughout the
school year.

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Janet Keller is the general manager of Wisconsin Farm Technology Days. She tells Kiley Allan the details you need to know before you go to this year's event. We'll see you on July 14-16 at No Joke Dairy in Stratford!

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After 60 years in teaching and broadcasting on the WI Public Radio Station Network, Larry Meiller is retiring. Bob Bosold (who was a student of Larry's) chats with Meiller about how he started in broadcasting, and how things have changed. One highlight is the amazingly popula call-in show that Meiller hosted. Calls from across the state on people's pets!

Hot and humid. That sums up the forecast for this week according to Stu Muck. Heat indexes will reach the dangerous category for people and animals.

School may be adjourned for the summer but the learning continues at Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton. Kiley Allan tells us about a recent donation of land that will be used for hands on education in environmental sciences. Paul Groell, Department Chair Natural Resources Program, explains what their priorities are for the 160 acres.

Tomorrow is USDA's first estimate of planted acres in 2026. One analyst thinks there were fewer corn acres planted then the government expected. Josh McClure, head of brokerage and consulting at the Farmer’s Business Network, San Francisco, California says they expect 1.2 million fewer corn acres planted. He also notes that soybean acreage didn't pick up those extra corn acres.

Even with the heat and humidity - fairs must go on. This week the Stoughton Jr. Fair in Stoughton gets things rolling on Tuesday. Pam Jahnke gives a brief itinerary update on where folks might want to go for those stories.

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Wisconsin Ag Secretary, Randy Romanski, joins Pam Jahnke in the studio to present a 5 year update on how the WI Ag Export Council's been performing and what progress has been made. Romanski says Wisconsin's dairy exports grew 35% from 2021 to 2025 (the timeframe the program's been in place). He also notes that the Wisconsin Initiative for Agricultural Exports program generated a 200-to-1 return on investment for Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association members in the most recent reporting year. It all bodes well, hopefully, for the continuation of the programs.

Beautiful weekend on the way for the final gasp of June dairy events. Stu Muck will be a part of those and paints a pretty decent forecast through the weekend. He's also got cautionary advice to prepare for heat and humidity beginning on Monday.

From a dream to reality. Meet Brad Laack from rural Plymouth, WI. He grew up a little removed from agriculture, but found his passion helping to raise beef animals that were designed to make hay disappear. Once Laack got involved in that, the dream of building his own farming operation started to hatch. Today, Pam Jahnke visits with Brad at his cash grain and custom operator business just outside of Plymouth. Over the last year, Brad has taken the next step to elevate his grain handling abilities with the partnership of Schultz's Interstate Ag in Monroe. Laack says the time they've taken to work through specific details that he was concerned about have solidified this partnership. Today, Laack and Schultz's Interstate Ag are getting ready for the next phase of grain handling equipment and bins to be installed. Paid for by Schultz's Interstate Ag.

This week Wisconsin dairy operator's got a little good news in the way of a memorandum from the White House. Pam Jahnke visits with Sam Moheban, immigration specialist with Ruder Ware law firm in Wausau. The memorandum made clear that dairies that relay of foreign labor to keep things rolling should be sure they're following all the rules and guidelines within the H2A program. Moheban says while it's not a silver bullet, it does make clear the direction the administration wants agencies to follow.

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The temperatures are warming up ahead of the Independence Day holiday, and so are the grills. But do you know how much to expect your Fourth of July cookout to cost? The Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, as well as the American Farm Bureau Federation, have released their Marketbasket Survey. It's an informal survey performed twice a year by volunteer shoppers. They participate by shopping for 12 different food items that are commonly used in both the Fourth of July cookout and the Thanksgiving holiday. This helps the organizations gauge the food prices across the state and across the country. Cassie Sonnentag, the Director of Public Relations with the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, says prices were up.

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If you love grilling in the summer, you're not alone. In fact, it's a trend so consistent that the prices in the summer meat market typically reflect more and more people going outside and choosing to grill. Jeff Swenson along with us, he's DATCP's livestock and meat specialist. He starts by giving us a 30,000-foot view of what the marketplace is doing right now.

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