Archives

The Weather Guys
The "polar vortex" that memorably descended over Wisconsin starting in January 2014 wasn't really all that bad, at least when considered in the context of 66 years of weather data for the Northern Hemisphere's lower troposphere (that is, one mile above the ground).
David Liebl
Wisconsin's climate is gradually warming and is forecast to get warmer by the mid-21st century. Climatologists track this regional reflection of a planetary trend in large part through a series of satellites that gather data about Earth's lands, seas and air, and subsequently, use this information to help model long-term climate projections.
El Niño forecast
Predictions about the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle and the complexity of the phenomenon itself can easily create confusion about its impacts on weather and the economy in the U.S. and around the world.
Ring-necked pheasant
Avian influenza has been in the news quite a bit over the last year, including around Wisconsin. While much of this coverage has focused on the farms that saw outbreaks and its effects on consumers' pocketbooks, comparatively little attention has been given to the costs experienced by other poultry enterprises.
A poultry barn floor covered by young chickens
As a highly contagious avian influenza virus spread through the U.S.'s poultry population in 2015, something else began catching on: the word "depopulation."
Chicks on chicken genome diagram
Many state and federal agencies deal with avian influenza and its effect on agriculture, the economy and human health, and have developed a series of resources and guides addressing the disease and both the latest news and research about it. Additionally, the 2015 epidemic was the subject of coverage by trade and public media outlets in the affected states and elsewhere.
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack
While many in the poultry industry have defended their existing biosecurity practices in the wake of the epidemic, many also say it has highlighted some crucial weaknesses. Most of them have to do with the opportunities humans unwittingly create for the virus to spread from farm to farm.
Eggs
American consumers have experienced the 2015 avian influenza epidemic primarily in the form of higher egg prices. Average consumer egg prices went up as much as 25 percent between July 2014 and July 2015, according to the Consumer Price Index.
Behold, turkeys
Wisconsin has a moderately large poultry industry, though it is much smaller than in the neighboring states of Iowa and Minnesota. Overall, there were more than 19,900 flocks in Wisconsin as of September 2015, as registered by the Wisconsin Livestock Identification Consortium.
farm truck decontamination
The avian influenza epidemic of 2015 required a cooperative effort between state and federal agricultural officials and the poultry industry. Wisconsin's Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection worked with affected farms to confirm the presence of H5N2 and drew on its own expertise and personnel, as well as those of federal agencies and ag-industry partners to coordinate a response.