Tour touts ag's importance in Rock County
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Wade Thompson, a Rock cCouty planning official, talks to a group touring the Roger Rebout and Sons farm about the PACE land conservation program.
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The Rock County Farm Bureau invited area politicians to the Roger Rebout and Sons farm west of Janesville on 06-30-10 to here discussion on local farm issues.
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Dan Rebout (with back to camera) leads a tour around the Rebout family farm west of Janesville. The Rock County Farm Bureau invited area politicians to the Rebout's to here discussion on local farm issues.
By the numbers
$1.2 billion—The economic impact of agriculture in Rock County.
1,500—The number of farms in the county.
345,000—The number of Rock County acres that are part of farms.
8,500—Number of Rock County jobs directly related to agriculture.
$450 million—The income generated by jobs in agriculture.
118—Number of dairy farms in the county
12,000—Number of dairy cows
No. 3—The county’s rank in combined corn and soybean production in Wisconsin. Rock County also ranks in the to 10 percent of corn and soybean production among counties nationwide.
—Source: UW Extension dairy and livestock agent Randy Thompson
JANESVILLE TOWNSHIP — To do:
1. Take 50 strangers on a tour of your business.
2. Fire up the grill, serve lunch and send everyone home sunburned and happy.
3. Bale hay.
It’s all in a day’s work for the Rebout family.
About 50 elected officials, candidates, county employees and members of the local media on Wednesday toured Roger Rebout & Sons Farms west of Janesville. The Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation sponsored the tour.
The goal was simple: Remind the people who make ordinances and laws how important agriculture is to Rock County’s economy.
In addition to a walking tour of the farm, the event included presentations from local agriculture officials and advocates.
Some highlights included:
The Rebout farm was founded in 1964 on 250 acres. It’s grown in pieces since then and now includes 4,000 owned or leased acres, Dan Rebout said.
The Rebouts milk 140 cows and sell about 400 dairy steers annually.
The farm’s bread and butter is its cash crop operation. The Rebouts rely on GPS equipment to improve the efficiency of planting and harvesting corn, soybeans, wheat and alfalfa.
As an example, modern corn planters can be adjusted to not plant seed as operators drive through waterways. That has saved the Rebouts enough seed to plant 50 acres, Rebout said.
At $80 an acre, the savings add up fast, he said.
Still, it can be daunting to make such an investment up front, Rebout said. Credit is tight for farmers because of the economic recession and the unpredictable commodities market.
“I’ve heard a lot of farmers can hardly get loans to get their crops planted,” he said. “Banks are leery.”
It’s hard to imagine how people could get started building a farm from scratch, Rebout said.
The outlook for grain prices is a little better, he said.
The weather so far this year has been good for planting and growing corn, Rebout said. In spite of the good yield outlook, corn prices went up Wednesday to about $3.30 per bushel, Rebout said.
A year ago, the price was close to that at $3.34 per bushel, according to records at the DeLong Company in Clinton.
But last year, farmers needed to sell corn at $5 per bushel to make a profit, Rebout said.
“We can make it at $3.30 corn,” he said.
Jul 5, 2010 at 8:44 a.m.
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From '95-'09, three Rock Co. farms took in over 3 million in USDA subsidies. They are:
1. Dane Co. Growers Ptrn., Edgerton = 4.6mill
2. Metcalf Farms, Janesville = 3.5 mill
3. Rebouts at 3 million
Please look over this site for more on federal USDA subsidies nationwide.
http://farm.ewg.org/
Jul 3, 2010 at 11:08 a.m.
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Thank you, KTM.
Jul 3, 2010 at 10:46 a.m.
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The sad fact is the corn grown by farmers today is not edible; Corn is a commodity, used primary for animal feed, ethanol production, and sweeteners.
Only about 2% of corn is raised for human consumption. Farmers should grow some crops we can eat, rather than "process" into other stuff.
Jul 3, 2010 at 7:07 a.m.
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Poobah you are looking at individuals. At that websit go to WI, then go to Rock cty. Then you will see the actual amounts. Many farmers in Rock County have recieved over 100k in 09. Not saying its right or wrong.
Jul 3, 2010 at 12:57 a.m.
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jcommon, link me to your data, please. This is the link I'm speaking of:
http://farm.ewg.org/addrsearch.php?s=yup...
Jul 3, 2010 at 12:19 a.m.
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poobah, please look closer. Rebout farms got over 3 million over those years and none of the names you listed own part of Rebout farms.
Jul 2, 2010 at 11:20 p.m.
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For the doubters:
Rank Name Location Subsidy Total 1995-2009
1 Michael J Rebout Edgerton, WI 53534 $ 47,341.05
2 Catherine Rebout Janesville, WI 53548 $ 21,813.69
3 Richard Rebout Janesville, WI 53545 $ 11,637.07
4 Joseph A Rebout Janesville, WI 53548 $ 5,435.07
5 Jason R Rebout Janesville, WI 53545 $ 2,362.00
Jul 2, 2010 at 11:14 p.m.
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KTM, I don't know which school you and criticialeye attended, but to me the heading "Subsidy Total 1995-2009" means just that. The total of subsidies from 1995-2009. What is so difficult about this?
Jul 2, 2010 at 10:06 p.m.
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No, poobhah that is not the total. That is what they received in 1 year. It doesn't take much of a "farm" to receive $8500 in a year.
Jul 2, 2010 at 7:50 p.m.
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criticaleye, I think you need your criticaleye examined by an optometrist. The data on the site you quoted are totals for the years 1995 to 2009. And I come up with less than the $127K you did. Even if you divide your incorrect $127K by 15 years you are talking less than $8500 per year. Am I missing something?
Jul 2, 2010 at 2:02 p.m.
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they should plant beets right dwight?
Jul 2, 2010 at 1:17 p.m.
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criticaleye - $127k on a farm that size won't even begin to scrape the most basic of needs to the farm operating. The margin between profit and loss, even with subsidies, is very very small.
Jul 2, 2010 at 11:59 a.m.
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Rock County farmers received 14.6 million in subsidies from the USDA in 2009. Rebout farms took in 127K in 2009. For more info look up:
http://farm.ewg.org/
Jul 2, 2010 at 11:35 a.m.
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proartist - your comment has nothing to do with this article, post where proper.
Jul 2, 2010 at 10:53 a.m.
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http://www.care2.com/find/site#q=monsant...
Jul 2, 2010 at 10:30 a.m.
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"It’s hard to imagine how people could get started building a farm from scratch."
They can't, unless very rich and then they would be a fool if they didn't buy and build in Brazil. We're screwed either way. JMHO
Jul 2, 2010 at 9:39 a.m.
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Monsanto does not share your opinion.
Jul 1, 2010 at 6:32 p.m.
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I'd like to see more farmers get involved with producing their own seeds. I don't have anything against seeds producers, and their desire to protect their efforts and intellectual property, but it just seems wrong that a farmer can't buy seeds and use some of the seeds from the crop to plant next year's crop. I think the term farmers use is "brown bagging" when they swap seeds with each other. You can't do that with patented hybrid seeds. I think you still can if the seeds were developed at a university, but then you can't sell them? I only enough about this to be dangerous.
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