Ride to Farm

Please join us for the 10th Annual
Ride to Farm on Saturday June 1, 2013

The ride will start and end at
Birch Lake Park, Barneveld.

Rider check-in begins at 7:45am at Birch Lake Park.
Riders depart at 8:30am.
Send-off speech by Ben Brancel, Wisconsin Secretary of Agriculture.

The 55-mile ride, with 2,130 ft elevation gain, will take place in rolling Iowa County. There will be an easier 52-mile route with 1,585 ft elevation gain. Both routes include rest stops at Uplands Cheese north of Dodgeville and Cates Family Farm south of Spring Green, as well as a lunch break on your own in downtown Spring Green with Culver's as the offical stop.

Ride to Farm is a bicycle ride to raise awareness and funds for the Wisconsin School for Beginning Dairy and Livestock Farmers (WSBDF) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The school's mission is "If you have a dream to farm we're here to help you get started". The WSBDF emphasizes business planning and pasture-based farm management. Donations can be made to individual riders and teams, or you can make a general donation. Riders must raise a minimum of $75 to participate in Ride to Farm. See 2013 Ride Highlights, below, for more details.

Retiring farmers are leaving farming at a much faster rate than new farmers are starting. Our school meets the critical need to train, mentor, and support Wisconsin’s next generation of dairy and livestock farmer stewards who will work to ensure the availability of local food and healthy rural communities. Our dairy and livestock seminar emphasizes low-capital, environmentally friendly, grass-based dairy farming. About 400 students have attended the school and more than 75 percent of its graduates are farming today!

Donations will go to support WSBDF and be used in a variety of ways, including:

Tuition scholarships and internship expenses
Scholarships for student travel to conferences
Honoraria for farmers who help teach this course
Long-term support for the school through its endowment at the UW-Madison

Donations will go to the University of Wisconsin Foundation and are tax deductible.

The Wisconsin School for Beginning Dairy and Livestock Farmers is sponsored by the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems and the Farm and Industry Short Course, both within the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, UW-Madison.

2013 Ride Highlights:

There is no entry fee for Ride to Farm. However, all riders age 12 and older are required to raise at least $75 in order to participate in this event. IF YOU DO NOT MEET THIS GOAL BY MAY 29th, 2013, YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO RIDE. We strongly encourage riders to exceed this fundraising goal.

Rider teams are also strongly encouraged! We will have fabulous prizes for both individual top fundraisers as well as rider teams that raise the most money. So be sure to bring your friends! (Rider teams must raise at least $75 per rider by May 29th to participate.)

There will be rest stops (with local foods, snacks and water available) on two grass-based farms. Lunch is on your own, but the official lunch stop is in Spring Green at Culver's - one of our generous sponsors. If you prefer to ride half of the course, you can start or end your ride at Culver's restaurant (you'll need to provide your own transportation).

Want to join in the fun without riding? Ride to Farm needs volunteers to help the day of the event with registration, rider support and rest stops. We also need volunteers to help mark the route the day before the ride. If you'd like to help out, contact Nadia Alber at nalber@wisc.edu or (608) 265-6437. (If you're planning to ride and volunteer, you can sign up to help when your register as a rider).

After the ride, please join us for an Award Ceremony starting around 3pm. Please come enjoy drinks, food and camaraderie at Birch Lake Park. Families are welcome to join us for the post-ride fun!

More ride details are available on the Event Information page.