U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin Announces Guest for State of the Union Address

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin today announced that grain and dairy farmer Les Danielson from Cadott, Wisconsin, will join her for President Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday.

Les has been farming for 30 years in northwest Wisconsin. A member of the Wisconsin Farmer’s Union, Les has witnessed firsthand as dairy farms have gone out of business throughout the state since President Trump took office, including one only three miles from his farm in Cadott. Les is concerned about the future of agriculture for his children and family farmers as Trump’s trade wars and tariffs have produced tough times for Wisconsin farmers.

“Wisconsin farmers are a key driver of our agriculture economy and the backbone of our rural communities, but right now our farmers are facing a perfect storm of challenges that have threatened their businesses and our communities,” said Senator Baldwin. “President Trump’s trade wars have hurt our Wisconsin economy and more than 1,900 dairy farms have gone out of business since he took office. I’ve met with farmers across the state, including Les, and they need President Trump to keep his promises and deliver results for them before it’s too late.”

“I’m grateful to Senator Baldwin for inviting me to attend the State of the Union and for her work supporting Wisconsin family farmers during these challenging times,” said Danielson. “I’m tired of the broken promises from President Trump. Farmers in Wisconsin are facing some really tough market conditions and President Trump’s trade wars have only made things worse. During his address on Tuesday, I hope he will move past empty promises and outline a clear plan to get the job done for farmers like me.”

Senator Baldwin has championed reforms to do right by Wisconsin’s farmers and agriculture economy. As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Baldwin worked last year to secure $20 million for Dairy Business Innovation, as well as $10 million to provide our nation’s farmers and agricultural workers with more mental health resources as they work through these stressful times.

Baldwin’s bipartisan DAIRY PRIDE Act of 2019 would combat the unfair practice of mislabeling non-dairy products. Current FDA regulations define dairy products as being from dairy animals. Although existing federal regulations are clear, the FDA has not enforced these labeling regulations and the mislabeling of products as ‘milk’, ‘yogurt’ and ‘cheese’ has increased rapidly. This hurts dairy farmers that work tirelessly to ensure their Made in Wisconsin dairy products meet FDA standards and provide the public with nutritious food. It has also led to the proliferation of mislabeled alternative products that contain a range of ingredients and nutrients that are often not equivalent to the nutrition content of dairy products.

In 2018, Senator Baldwin joined Les at his farm in Cadott to discuss the reforms she authored in the 2018 Farm Bill to support Wisconsin farmers and help boost Wisconsin’s agriculture economy. In that bipartisan farm bill, Senator Baldwin successfully secured improved risk management tools for dairy farmers, grants for Dairy Business Innovation, mental health resources for farmers and provisions to combat fraudulent organic imports.