Fall On The Farm With Inga Witscher

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• Changes Ahead For 'Around The Farm Table' Host Inga Witscher

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  Many factors have contributed to a sluggish marketplace for dairy producers nationally. The latest report from the United States Department of Agriculture, shows a slight decrease in Wisconsin farms and acres operated in 2015.

  In an attempt to help, the USDA announced in August that nearly $11.2 million in financial assistance would go to American dairy farmers enrolled in the 2016 Margin Protection Program for Dairy. The program is a provision of the 2014 Farm Bill.

  One Wisconsin farmer deciding to get out of the dairy business is Inga Witscher, who owns a small organic farm just south of Osseo called St. Isidore’s Mead.

  Witscher is probably best known as the TV personality for the WPT series, “Around the Farm Table,” which begins its new season at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6, on most PBS stations.

  Although Witscher has been known for her dairy herd and cheese-making, this year she had to make the tough decision many dairy farmers before her have made — to sell the herd.

  “It’s been really, really emotionally tough, but a wonderful family was able to purchase them and they’re actually milking the cows on my farm until they get theirs set up,” Witscher said.

  Witscher’s farm includes 30 acres that were used for rotational grazing of milked Jersey cows that she has been working for the past 10 years, but she still needed to supplement with feed, and the cost has become too much, she said.

  “It’s probably one of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever made in my life. It’s tough making a living on a small chunk of land,” she said. Even in a good year, Witscher said she would only break even.

  On her show, Witscher highlights the agricultural work of many small Wisconsin farmers, and in doing so, she has gotten some new inspiration.

  “It’s really neat to be able to see what people are doing on their property and see how they’re really making it,” Witscher said. “We go to farms where it’s a six-acre farm and they’re doing so much more production than I’m doing on my 30 acres, so I thought maybe it’s time to rethink it.”

  A new adventure for her is a half-acre of garlic.

  “I’m hoping that next early fall or late summer I can have a garlic festival and bring folks out to the farm and teach them about what’s happening and we can all celebrate with a garlic festival. It’s one of my favorite things to eat,” she said.

  Witscher’s Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic recipe is a testament to that.