House Party Fundraiser Hosted by Margaret Krome and Steve Ventura

MFAI is in the process of designing a simple yet appealing facility on their beautiful, certified organic and ecologically sensitive Pickerel Lake Road Farm near East Troy. This property is on an agricultural easement and has been given special status by both DNR and The Nature Conservancy. We are in the pre-launch stage of a “Raise the Roof” Capital Campaign for this project and your early support is momentous! We can't wait to see you and tell you all about this exciting project. We'll have wine, Steve's home-brewed Kernza beer, The Cider Farm cider, and a big spread of savory and sweet treats.

Why should you care?

MFAI is an institution that supports agricultural resiliency through a wealth of programs and initiatives. We’ve been serving the regenerative community through research, policy advocacy, and education since 1984. Perhaps you’ve heard of Wisconsin Women in Conservation or the Milwaukee Urban Ag Network.  Maybe you’ve attended an Iowa County Uplands Watershed Association field day.  Or maybe you’ve used some of the federal or state programs that MFAI’s Policy Team has helped create or worked to fund. 

MFAI’s Research Team conducts crop trials with local farmers, the University of Wisconsin, and USDA’s Dairy Forage Research Center on many topics, including cover crops and alternative grains like Kernza, a perennial wheat that protects soil and water. Please see MFAI’s website for more information.

The Research and Education Station will be multifunctional to accommodate a number of uses:

-store tractors and other equipment for on-site field trials

-provide lab space for MFAI’s Research Program work on Kernza, alternative cover crops, vegetables, and more

-host educational events and field days for farmers, researchers, youth, and beginning growers

-anchor an interpretive landscape with kiosks and trails through woods, trial fields, protected moraines, and prairie restoration areas to portray the importance of agricultural stewardship in sensitive watersheds

How can you help?

Funds raised at this party will provide a foundation to draw up the architectural plans, pay for permits and engineering, and pave the way for a more public capital campaign. Feel free to come and hear about the project before you donate, but we do already have an amazing list of Co-Hosts and Co-Sponsors. If you'd like to join this group, donate $250 to be a Co-Host and $150 to be a Co-Sponsor. Of course ANY AMOUNT is welcome and appreciated.

If you can't come or you want to donate NOW, give at THIS LINK.

You can write a check out to Michael Fields Agricultural Institute and send it to Box 990, East Troy, WI 53120

If you can come, please do RSVP below to help us plan for food and drink!

To see the work that MFAI is currently doing through Research, Policy, and Education to support regenerative farms, farmers, and communities, visit the website HERE.

For questions about the building project, contact Kriss Marion, Director of Development, at 608-646-4652 or kmarion@michaelfields.org.

For more information about the fundraiser, contact Margaret directly at mkrome@michaelfields.org.