Agriculture connections found at NFL Draft

Leading up to the National Football League Draft, excitement buzzed across Wisconsin, not just from football fans but also from our agricultural community.

For me, the excitement started last fall when the Green Bay Packers teamed up with four Wisconsin farms to spotlight the connection between farming and football. These family farms created NFL draft-themed corn mazes, helping celebrate both traditions in a uniquely Wisconsin way. One of the mazes was found at Feltz’s Dairy Store in Portage County, Wisconsin, honoring the spirit of the draft and farming roots.

As anticipation built throughout the fall and winter, I found myself genuinely excited. While I would not call myself as much of a football fan as my parents, I was still eager to be part of the experience. So, I made the few-hour drive to Green Bay to experience one day of it firsthand, not for work, just as a spectator.

But, as always, agriculture found its way into the story.

The NFL Draft, held every spring, is when college football players are selected to join the professional league. It reminded me of selecting dairy cattle for the county fair as a kid. Often, I would show a calf one year and then hope to bring her back as a yearling the next year because of the bond we had formed and the hope she would grow into something special.

These young athletes are picked based on talent, potential and how well they fit into a team, just like in agriculture, where success is built on working with good people.

I attended day two of the draft on April 25 as a spectator, and agriculture connections were everywhere. Walking around, I heard the word “butter” being tossed around on the stage where picks were being chosen and references to Wisconsin’s dairy industry.

During a brief segment before a draft pick, former Cincinnati Bengals player Tim Krumrie took the spotlight. He was raised on a dairy farm near Mondovi, Wisconsin, and after high school, he played for the University of Wisconsin-Madison before going pro. He had the honor of announcing the Bengals’ second and third-round picks.

When asked onstage, sitting down by two of the co-hosts of the theater experience, on what were his values he learned as a kid that allowed him to reach great heights in football, he said, “Well, thanks to the Wisconsin people, I had a dairy farm. It’s nothing like getting up at 5 a.m. in the morning, doing chores, getting on the school bus.”

The draft reportedly brought in around 600,000 attendees over the three days, and I was proud to be among them.

That night reminded me why I love telling farmers’ stories and how there is so much history in America’s Dairyland.

Green Bay was overflowing with Cheeseheads, proudly wearing their team colors. And even though it’s the smallest city with an NFL team, the draft proved that size doesn’t matter. What matters is how you make people feel.

As someone who grew up on a dairy farm in Watertown, I now see the little ways farming shows up in everyday life. For my family, Packers games were a tradition. We often scheduled chores around game time so we could gather, sharing joy, pride and connection, giving our family something to look forward to when I was growing up.