Around the State: Oct. 18

Farmers Continue to Face Uncertain Corn, Soybean Markets

A new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis finds farmers in upper Midwest states such as Wisconsin might feel the effect of this year’s weather challenges more deeply than the nation as a whole.

The analysis looks at crop-production estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the Federal Reserve’s 9th District, which includes Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and parts of Wisconsin and Michigan.

After widespread flooding and planting challenges this spring, soybean production in these states is expected to be down 26 percent from last year. That’s slightly higher than the 20 percent decline expected nationally.

Craft Distilleries Become Key to Wisconsin Tourism

The business of craft distilling is growing in Wisconsin, and in some communities, Wisconsin-made vodka, whiskey and other spirits are becoming a crucial part of marketing pitches to tourists. 

In 2009, Wisconsin changed its law to permit distillers to operate tasting rooms – that is, to serve and sell their spirits on-site. It led to a boom in independent makers of craft spirits that has tracked a national trend. According to the American Craft Spirits Association, the industry accounted for $3.7 billion in sales in 2017 and has grown each year since 2015, both in the number of distillers and the share of the liquor market that goes to craft makers. Wisconsin is 20th in the nation in the number of distillers, with 30 operating as of the industry group’s 2018 annual report.

The first distillery established in Wisconsin following Prohibition was Milwaukee’s Great Lakes Distillery. Madison’s Yahara Bay Distillers opened in 2007, and Wausau’s Timekeeper Distillery opened in 2018. Northern Waters Distillery operates in Minocqua, and both Death’s Door Spirits and the Door County Distillery operate in Door County.

EPA Wants to Change the Way It Fights Lead in Drinking Water

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will try to reduce lead levels in drinking water nationwide through the first major overhaul of its lead and copper rule since 1991.

The lead and copper rule is a regulation designed to keep people safe from harmful drinking-water contaminants. Standing on a riverfront deck in Green Bay on Thursday, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler detailed the proposed changes to the rule, which would require water systems to create an inventory of all their lead service lines and make that information available to the public.

The changes would also require water sampling at schools and day-care centers. Wisconsin received an F grade in preventing lead from entering schools’ drinking water in a report released earlier this year.

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