Farm-learned lessons prove beneficial in legislative chambers

HAZELHURST, Wis. — Tom Tiffany was raised on his family’s western Wisconsin dairy farm, where he learned life lessons about the value of hard work and the importance of community. Those lessons stayed with him and eventually propelled him into public service.

Tiffany grew up on his parents’ 50-cow dairy farm near Elmwood, Wisconsin. With his seven brothers and sisters, Tiffany attended the local public school in Elmwood before pursuing a degree in agriculture at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

“Three things led me to the decision to throw my hat in the ring to run for public office,” Tiffany said. “One, I remember my dad would sometimes talk about politics when we were milking cows. I was about 10 years old, but I’ll never forget that. I didn’t understand much of it back then, but I certainly remember it.”

The second was a class Tiffany took while attending the UW-River Falls — free market, free enterprise taught by Milton Friedman, who also taught at the University of Chicago’s School of Economics.

“That really left a great mark on me,” Tiffany said. “What the free enterprise system does for free markets, that is part of what has made America prosperous.”

The third motivating factor came when Tiffany became a business owner.

“I began to understand more clearly the impact of taxes and regulations,” Tiffany said. “After a decade of running our own business, I began to think we could do a better job on the public policy side.”

Following his graduation, Tiffany worked for a farm supply cooperative based in Plainview, Minnesota, where he witnessed the impacts government policy could have on rural businesses and communities.

“It was a tough time in the early 1980s with the farm recession,” Tiffany said. “It was a great experience, though, working with farmers on everything we did, whether it was feed, seed, fertilizer, whatever.”

During his time in Minnesota, Tiffany’s Wisconsin roots called, and he moved to Wisconsin’s Northwoods, where he met his wife, Chris, a native of Minocqua, Wisconsin. The couple purchased and operated a business called Wilderness Cruises, a dinner and excursion boat on Willow Flowage, which they operated for 20 years. During that time, Tiffany worked part time as a dam tender on the Willow Flowage, where he earned the nickname of “The Dam Man,” which has followed him beyond his time spent on the flowage.

“It was a great business and a lot of fun,” Tiffany said. “We got to meet so many wonderful people, not just from around Wisconsin but throughout the Midwest and the entire U.S.”

As the owners of a small business, the Tiffanys witnessed firsthand how taxes and government regulation impacted the very people small communities rely on for their vibrancy. Feeling called to do something, rather than just complain, Tiffany answered the call of public service. He ran for and was elected to the board of supervisors for his township. Driven to do more, Tiffany went on to serve in the Wisconsin Legislature as both a senator and an assemblyman, before representing the 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Last fall, Tiffany chose not to run for reelection for his seat in Congress, instead launching a campaign for governor.

“As a lifelong Wisconsin resident, I’m concerned about the direction our state is going in,” Tiffany said. “You see the educational decline. Our energy prices used to be among the lowest in the Midwest, and now, they’re among the highest. There is so much red tape people have to fight through — we’re one of the most regulated states in the country — and a lot of it is just duplicative. I think Wisconsin can do so much better.”

Tiffany credits his farm upbringing with giving him the basic skills needed to be successful representing his constituents at all levels.

“First, you learn the value of hard work; when the work is ready, you’ve got to get it done,” Tiffany said. “The work’s got to get done, the cows have to be milked twice a day, no excuses. My first job on the farm was feeding calves.”

Resiliency and accountability are character traits learned on the farm, Tiffany said.

“One not-as-pleasant memory was when I was a bit older, I was pulling a hay rack out of the field with one of the tractors,” Tiffany said. “I went over a little too far, and the wagon tipped over — the whole hay rack full of hay bales went into the ditch. The tractor didn’t tip, thankfully. You learn early on you can’t just quit or hang your head and walk away when you make a mistake or something isn’t going your way. You have to stick with it because there is more work to be done. You can’t let one little setback hold you down.”

On the farm, Tiffany learned that not every job is fun or glamorous — much like working in politics.

“Things like cleaning around the silo chute, it could get nasty and was dirty,” Tiffany said. “When I was in college, I worked for a local grain elevator. We hauled corn and oats and things like that, shoveled oats out of a grain bin, dealing with the chaff. That was nasty stuff, hard work, but it was good work. It made you stronger to realize you could do it, and a job done well feels pretty good inside.”

Not all the lessons Tiffany learned while being raised on the family dairy farm were taught by particular jobs.

“Growing up, doing that work with seven brothers and sisters — that teaches you teamwork and how to get along,” Tiffany said. “There’s going to be a few conflicts now and then, but you learn early on that you better get along and figure out a way to get things done.”

With his background, Tiffany values the things that make rural life special and unique — things he fears will be forever lost if Wisconsin’s rural communities are lost.

“We see some states in our country that are in decline,” Tiffany said. “They have high crime; they’re not successfully educating their populace; they’re highly regulated and very highly taxed. People in those states are voting with their feet — they’re leaving to go to other states that give them more freedom and opportunity. I want Wisconsin to be one of the states that provides just that. I believe with the right leadership, Wisconsin can be one of the greatest states in America.”