Bob Uphoff
Bob Uphoff, who has served on the YPF board since its inception, has a strong appreciation for history. He and his sons, Chris and Brian, continue to manage the farm that Bob’s great-grandfather, Christian Uphoff, established in 1866.
That’s impressive … the Uphoff family farm was established one year after the end of the Civil War.
Despite Dane County’s expanding urbanization these days, the Uphoffs, Bob represents the fourth generation and his sons represent the fifth generation, have carried on the family farming tradition in two major ways.
First, they placed a portion of their land into a conservation easement in the Town of Dunn in 1997. This agreement was the first of its kind undertaken by a town government in Wisconsin. Today the Town of Dunn’s Rural Preservation Program has protected from development about 4,000 acres of prime farmland as well as wetlands and forests.
Bob’s involvement with Yahara Pride Farms and its efforts to protect the Yahara Watershed also have helped his farm roll with the changes. With cost-share funding through Yahara WINS, he and his fellow Yahara Pride Farms members have been able to test and learn from conservation practices such as no-till, cover crops, and low-disturbance manure injection.
The farmers’ primary mission is to reduce phosphorus runoff in the watershed.
But even before Yahara Pride Farms was launched, the Uphoffs were using no-till practices.They began the practice in the 1980s. Today, they practice 100 percent no-till on land they plant with corn, soybeans, and winter wheat. They own 550 acres and rent another 150 acres. No-till has helped reduce erosion as well as nutrient runoff. They also grow oats, which they use to feed their purebred Berkshire herd.
They sell the corn to grain markets. But most of the soybeans they ship are shipped back as soybean meal to feed the hogs. Bob explains that there are no soybean crushers in the state of Wisconsin.
With cost-share funding from Yahara WINS, the Uphoffs were able to first test and then adopt low-disturbance manure injection. This was especially important considering they were raising as many as 800 hogs before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The premium Berkshire pork they produced was purchased by fine-dining establishments and some institutions. But the pandemic took its toll, with many restaurants closing their doors. As a result, the Uphoffs have since reduced their herd.
While the market for their pork has declined, no-till farming and manure management have had a tremendous positive impact on the farm, Bob says.
The Uphoffs have experimented with cover crops through the Cost-Share Program. It’s difficult for those crops to mature enough between corn and soybean harvest windows and the onset of winter weather. But winter wheat has been successful, Bob says.
The Cost-Share Program helps Yahara Pride Farm members to offset risks while they see what does and doesn’t work on their own farms, he says.
Along with the Cost-Share Program he appreciates Yahara Pride Farm’s development of a certification program. Created by Dennis Frame, it assessed the Yahara Pride Farms’ conservation practices, nutrient management, and facilities.
Frame had started Discovery Farms in Wisconsin in 2000. He later established Timber Ridge Consulting to evaluate agricultural environmental performance and help landowners document their practices.
“The Farm Certification Program was important,” Bob says. “You have to get to know the story of a farm and what its limiting resources are to make changes.”
The story of a farm includes its history. Bob appreciates history but adds that one of the most rewarding aspects of farming is seeing how things change.
His advice to the next generation?
“Through the ups and downs don’t lose sight of your goals,” he says.