During a time when fewer and fewer lawmakers have ever set foot on a farm, agriculture could easily fall behind. But Wisconsin’s agriculture industry has something others don’t: a coalition that refuses to play the game alone and achieves budget and legislative wins because of it. The Wisconsin Ag Coalition is a collaboration of roughly 30 organizations representing production agriculture in Wisconsin. While it isn’t a formal institution, the organizations form a family that works together on state-level issues. The strength of the coalition comes from their grassroots force, a united voice and access to farmers willing to share their story. However, the key to their lobbying success lies with knowing how to play the game, including accepting the gameboard as it is, using trusted relationships, and being willing to pivot when political capital is at risk.
Understanding the rules of the game
Politics and advocacy are two very different things. The Wisconsin Ag Coalition focuses on advocacy, setting aside personal political motivations and focusing on pushing forward for agriculture regardless of who is in office. Lobbying is embedded in a specific political environment that is constantly changing, making it important to read the gameboard and identify potential opportunities or obstacles to determine whether certain changes are possible in the current context. This makes timing an incredibly important aspect of lobbying, especially knowing when to push and when to hold back within a legislative session, a career or relative to other priorities. Lobbyists also must understand that many legislators don’t have an ag connection, meaning that outreach must educate as well as advocate. During outreach, policymakers don’t want to just be presented with a problem; they want a clear and actionable solution.
How to move the game pieces
Getting a big win like funding for the Agriculture Road Improvement Program (ARIP) or a bill signed into law is a complex process that requires a lot of strategic moves behind the scenes, not just fundraising or isolated asks. Being able to leverage different organizations’ strengths, use existing relationships to choose the best messenger and determine the urgency of specific issues is a large part of the coalition’s power.
Trusting your teammates
The Wisconsin Ag Coalition works well because the member organizations are team players, not line champions. While members don’t always agree, they keep disagreements contained in private settings and avoid presenting mixed messages to policymakers. Having a strong and consistent position with one point of contact for legislators makes lobbying efforts more effective.
By teaming up and sticking together, the coalition can produce wins that single groups often cannot achieve on their own. This unity, and the bigger wins that it produces, saves resources and allows savings to be passed on to members. While many other lobbying groups have significant monetary resources, the Wisconsin Ag Coalition wins the game not with money, but with strength in numbers. Each member organization brings different attributes to the game, including money, relationships, policy expertise and grassroots reach, and it is important to trust and rely on those complementary assets.
Trust isn’t only important between lobbyists in the coalition but between members and their lobbyists as well. Lobbyists are trusted by the organization to make tactical decisions, and members should know that they can always trust their lobbyists to use their skills and relationships wisely. If a policy priority can’t be achieved in the current environment, rest assured that your lobbyist has used every tool they have access to in the process.
Playing the long game
Things don’t always go as planned, and lobbyists have to have the humility to know when something isn’t possible. Not every goal is achievable now, and some have to be part of the long game. Timing, workload and interpersonal dynamics all shape when to activate certain issues. Working harder isn’t always the same as being successful and sometimes strategic patience and being ready to respond quickly, propose fixes and regroup when the time comes, is the key to winning the game.
How members can get skin in the game
Grassroots are the force multiplier and the real strength behind the Wisconsin Ag Coalition. Elected officials want to hear real stories from real people, not just talk to lobbyists. Members can get into the game by learning who your legislators are, building relationships before you need their help, volunteering for a farm tour, stepping up when lobbyists ask for help, activate quickly when asked for comments and participate in advocacy events like Ag Day at the Capitol. Sometimes the game needs a tiebreaker, and a powerful testimony from a farmer or agriculturist could be the path to getting another win for Wisconsin agriculture.
Kelly Herness is a senior at UW-Madison, double majoring in agricultural and applied economics and life sciences communication, with a certificate in public policy. She grew up on her family’s dairy and crop farm in western Wisconsin. Kelly is involved in the agriculture community at UW-Madison through Collegiate Farm Bureau and the Association of Women in Agriculture, holding leadership positions in both organizations. She is looking forward to improving her communication skills to become an effective agriculture advocate and bridge the gap between farmers, policymakers and the public. Kelly served as one of the WFBF Event Ambassadors in 2025.
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