Breakfast on the Farm: Connecting farmers and communities

Mike Gerrits is ready to welcome thousands of people over for breakfast on June 18.

Gerrits and his family are hosting the annual Brown County Breakfast on the Farm at their dairy, Country Aire Farms, in Greenleaf, located 20 miles south of Green Bay.

This year marks the second time the dairy has hosted the event, which includes not only a hearty breakfast but also farm tours and educational exhibits. The money raised at the event goes to agricultural education programs.

“Breakfasts on the farm are important to agriculture since they provide an opportunity for the community to come onto a dairy farm and realize that milk isn’t from a grocery store,” Gerrits said. “They learn about the process and everything that goes into getting the milk to your table.”

While Country Aire Farms is hosting the event again, Blue Star Dairy-Middleton is hosting the Dane County Breakfast on the Farm for the first time on June 10.

“We saw hosting the breakfast as a way to welcome the community so more people can have the experience of coming out and being on a farm,” said dairy owner Art Meinholz, adding that other Blue Star Dairy Farms locations have previously hosted a breakfast. “We think we’re going to have a great turnout – maybe 6,000 people – given our close proximity to Madison.”

With each passing generation, Meinholz said families move further from the farm, which makes events like Breakfast on the Farm so vital. “We host a lot of pre-school and kindergarten tours out here and so many of the adult chaperones have never been to a farm,” he said. “We are really getting away from life on the farm.”

Gerrits agreed that the majority of people do not know anyone who lives or works on a farm, so Breakfast on the Farm is a chance to show “community members what we do here. We received a lot of positive feedback after we first hosted several years ago.”

Rob Juneau, an agriculture consultant for Wisconsin Public Service who serves as the chairman of the Brown County Breakfast on the Farm Committee, said the annual event attracts many families.

“The breakfast is a big thing that families look forward to,” he said. “It is a great event that gets people out to the farm.”

Juneau said finding a host farm can sometimes be difficult given the scope of the effort. Gerrits stepped up at the last minute to host this year’s event.

Both Gerrits and Meinholz are used to having visitors at their dairies so they are typically prepared for guests — just not so many at one time. Meinholz said Dane County has great coordinators in place to handle the logistics — for example, lining up the food and volunteers.

“The coordinators are really the ones who make it happen,” Meinholz said.

Juneau credited the support of local businesses, who provide sponsorships, donations and volunteers.

“The businesses supporting the breakfast know how important it is to support ag education and promotion,” he said. “All the money we raise at the breakfast goes to dairy promotion and teaching kids in Brown County about agriculture. Ag businesses know how important it is to do that.”

“At the end of the day,” Meinholz said, “I think we are going to provide a pretty darn good experience to our visitors. They will get to see what a dairy looks like and enjoy a great breakfast.”

DBA members hosting Breakfast on the Farm

• May 20: Prestrud Dairy - Dunn County
• June 10: Blue Star Dairy Farms - Dane County
• June 10: Omro Dairy - Winnebago County
• June 11: C Dairy LLC - Neillsville Dairy Breakfast
• June 17: Quonset Farms LLC - Sheboygan County
• June 18: County Aire Farms - Brown County

Are you hosting a June Dairy Month event? Let us know so we can help promote it. Send us an email at info@widba.com.