The summer issue of the Custom News is here!

In this issue:

• Member profile: Hoff Farms
• Safety event - April 9
• WCO and PNAAW affiliate
• State budget update

Greetings from northern Illinois!

As I write this, we’re experiencing yet another hot and humid day – part of a seemingly endless pattern of high temps and regular rain showers. These conditions are making hay production, whether for silage or dry hay, particularly difficult. I hope the weather is treating you better than it is here and that your operations are running smoothly.

By Mike Rankin, senior editor, Hay and Forage Grower

Farming is never easy, but it can be made that much tougher when you’re beginning from scratch. As with many who set their life’s sail toward a sustainable farm business and start with little or nothing, Allen Hoff knows what it’s like to simultaneously fight for a bank loan, operate with and constantly fix older equipment, build and keep a client base, and start a family.

In a move that will benefit members and strengthen the custom farming community in Wisconsin and beyond, Wisconsin Custom Operators (WCO) and the Professional Nutrient Applicators Association of Wisconsin (PNAAW) are proud to announce a formal agreement to join forces under a newly signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). This “affiliation” represents the beginning of a closer relationship between the two organizations, with the goal of a full merger at the end of the two-year MOU.

State budget  signed – in early July,  the Legislature and Gov. Tony Evers passed the 2025-27 state biennial budget, which includes key investments that support custom farming and rural communities.