Grace Kirchner, Leader Correspondent
Wisconsin Secretary of Agriculture Ben Brancel will be the featured speaker at a farm appreciation luncheon Monday at Clintonville Lanes, 250 County Road I.
Brancel was appointed secretary of agriculture, trade, and consumer protection in 1997 by Gov. Tommy Thompson.
Brancel ran a dairy farm for more than two decades and now raises registered Angus and Hereford beef cattle. He founded the Wisconsin Discovery Farms and Pioneer Farm projects and led the effort to revitalize the Wisconsin Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory on the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison.
Brancel has received an honorary American FFA Degree. He was awarded the Distinguished Service to Agriculture Award in 2009 by the Wisconsin Farm Bureau.
The luncheon, which is open to the public, features a pig roast. Tickets are $10 each and available at the Clintonville Chronicle or the First National Bank in Clintonville. The event begins at 11:30 a.m.
The Clintonville Chronicle also will announce its Farm Family of the Year at the luncheon.
The event is sponsored by the Clintonville Rotary Club, and all proceeds will benefit the club’s community endeavors.
For more information, call 715-823-7323.