Survey Finds Wisconsin Farmers Value Sustainable Practices

May 21, 2025

By Joe Tarr

A recent survey of Wisconsin’s farmers found that 56 percent of them believe climate change is happening. Another 26 percent think it isn’t happening, and 18 percent are unsure.

Those statistics might seem startling for a group of people who work outdoors every day and are attuned to the cadences of nature.

But Michael Bell, the University of Wisconsin-Madison professor who helped conduct the study, said attitudes and behaviors don’t always match up. Bell found encouragement in how the farmers are acting, not their beliefs. The same survey asked farmers if they are practicing any of 15 different sustainable agricultural practices.

“Almost everyone is doing something,” Bell told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.” “Only 5 percent of the respondents to our survey … said they weren’t doing any of them. So, people are really working hard on this. They care, and that’s so wonderful to hear and appreciate.”

Bell and his colleagues conducted the survey because they wanted to see how farmers’ beliefs matched up with their actions. The survey was sent out in 2024 to 3,200 farmers around the state, and 942 of them responded. Bell hopes to regularly survey farmers to see how perceptions and agricultural practices might be evolving.

“We’re hoping to do this on a regular basis to get a feel of the pulse of our farm community here in Wisconsin,” said Bell, who leads the Soil Health & Agroecological Living Lab, or SHALL.

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Video: From Conventional to Regenerative: Will Groeneveld’s Journey Back to the Land

"You realize you've got a pretty finite number of years to do this. If you ever want to try something new, you better do it."

That mindset helped Will Groeneveld take a bold turn on his Alberta grain farm. A lifelong farmer, Will had never heard of regenerative agriculture until 2018, when he attended a seminar by Kevin Elmy that shifted his worldview. What began as curiosity quickly turned into a deep exploration of how biology—not just chemistry—shapes the health of our soils, crops and ecosystems.

In this video, Will candidly reflects on his family’s farming history, how the operation evolved from a traditional mixed farm to grain-only, and how the desire to improve the land pushed him to invite livestock back into the rotation—without owning a single cow.

Today, through creative partnerships and a commitment to the five principles of regenerative agriculture, Will is reintroducing diversity, building soil health and extending living roots in the ground for as much of the year as possible. Whether it’s through intercropping, zero tillage (which he’s practiced since the 1980s) or managing forage for visiting cattle, Will’s approach is a testament to continuous learning and a willingness to challenge old norms.

Will is a participant in the Regenerative Agriculture Lab (RAL), a social innovation process bringing together producers, researchers, retailers and others to co-create a resilient regenerative agriculture system in Alberta. His story highlights both the potential and humility required to farm with nature, not against it.