Wisconsin Farmers Union president Von Ruden on expired farm bill, price to pay a kid for picking rocks

Wisconsin Farmers Union president Darin Von Ruden in the WIZM studio Wednesday for La Crosse Talk PM discussing the expired farm bill, big farms v. small farms, the giant loss farmers see in consumer spending and how much you pay a kid now to pick rocks.

La Crosse Talk PM airs weekdays at 5:06 p.m. Listen on the WIZM app, online here, or on 92.3 FM / 1410 AM / 106.7 FM (north of Onalaska). Find all the podcasts here or subscribe to La Crosse Talk PM wherever you get your podcasts.

The farm bill expired in September and Congress has yet to pass a new one or some kind of continuing resolution to keep the status quo. Von Ruden noted it doesn’t appear to change much but would love to see huge changes to it.

We also got into how for every consumer dollar spent, a farmers’ piece of that has gone from $.44 in the 80s to $.14 now, and why that is.

Von Ruden is a third-generation farmer and now produces organic dairy. He has been the union president for 12 years.