In the spring of 2016, a group of farmers led by a young farmer named Michael Dolan, gathered near the Dodgeville-Spring Green area in response to DATCP’s newly announced Producer-Led Watershed Protection grant program. Michael Fields Agricultural Institute worked with the farmers to write a successful grant, and the Uplands Farmer-Led Watershed Group was born. Our group is a mixture of large and small, conventional and organic, grain and livestock, and fresh produce and dairy farmers – a big tent. Our main resource concerns continue to be soil and nutrients lost through polluted farm runoff in this hilly part of the state, and efforts to increase water infiltration into the soil, holding water on farmland where it's needed against droughts, and reducing costs of road, bridge, and culvert repairs when increasingly frequent extreme storm events bring heavy rainfall. Our efforts directly affect multiple sub-watersheds that feed directly into the Wisconsin River, and further down into the Mississippi River.

What We Do

Outside of cooking up some of the freshest Gulf seafood and best grassfed brats and burgers Wisconsin has to offer at our events, our producers work hard to stay updated on the most relevant information on best land management practices that protect our watershed's soil health and water quality. We share these first hand experiences, research, and good spirited conversation through events and collaborations with various organizations, farms, and agricultural/conservation agents. Take a look below to learn more about the conservation practices our producers use on their land, the story behind our connection with Gulf of Mexico fishermen, and the many farm tours and field days we host.

Uplands News & Blog