For more than 30 years, Madison has been home to the World Dairy Expo. This year, the Expo was held from September 30^th -- October 4^th and drew over 65,000 people. Those attendees injected $8.5 million into the local economy, making it Madison’s largest annual tourism event for the city of Madison.

The World Dairy Expo continued to live up to its international billing, with 2,117 international guests from 79 countries. Canada sent the largest delegation. The mood of dairy producers attending the Expo seemed to be one of renewed optimism based on the recent recovery of farm-level milk prices.

Commerce staffed a booth to promote economic development programs targeted to Wisconsin’s dairy industry—the Dairy 2020 Early Planning Grant and Milk Volume Production Programs.

The show also provided an opportunity for Commerce to promote Wisconsin as a destination for dairy producers from around the world that are pursuing plans to relocate their businesses. During the last five years, dairy producers originally from outside Wisconsin have accounted for seven percent of the $1 billion that has been invested in dairy production. There was continued strong interest from Dutch dairy producers wanting to relocate to Wisconsin because of the success enjoyed by the many families that have recently emigrated from the Netherlands.

Highlights of World Dairy Expo include:

• Gov. Doyle announced he had selected the dairy motif for the state’s quarter.

• Over 2,000 dairy cattle were exhibited.

• More than 600 companies offered commercial exhibits.

• Ernest-Anthony Alaina-ET was the high selling animal at $40,000.

--Tim Griswold

The newsletter is issued electronically every other month.

Please send comments or questions to Barbro McGinn, editor.