Auction of Champions

Since its inception in 1982, Auction of Champions has raised more than $5 million for NFMC, an invaluable resource for the agricultural industry, especially in Wisconsin, for more than four decades. Over the past year, with philanthropic support from the Auction, NFMC has addressed and met challenges of agricultural health and safety by:

• Increasing the capacity to develop culturally-appropriate interventions and resources for Spanish-speaking farm workers, especially in dairy.

• Protecting the safety and health of responders by training them to safely handle hazards specific to farm environments in a rescue training program led by NFMC and Pittsville Fire Department.

• Organizing mental health first aid education workshops and supporting mental health research in the farm setting.

• Putting a patient's occupation into the health record maintained by Marshfield Clinic Health System. Knowing whether a patient works on a farm or other occupational setting will help doctors better diagnose and treat illnesses and injuries.

• Offering rebate incentives for farmers to retrofit old tractors with life-saving roll bars through the Wisconsin Rollover Protection Structure (ROPS) Rebate Program.

• Establishing a statewide Slow Moving Vehicle sign distribution campaign in partnership with Rural Mutual Insurance, UW-Madison Extension and the family of Mike Biadasz. These signs are free to Wisconsin farmers and intended to reduce roadway crashes by making farmers more visible.

• Supporting AgInjuryNews.org, an online database of agricultural injury reports used to monitor trends and identify emerging injury agents.

• Editing the Journal of Agromedicine, the world’s leading source of peer-reviewed translational research related to agricultural health, safety and medicine.

For additional information, including sponsorship opportunities and/or donating an auction package, please contact Tiffany Halan at halan.tiffany@marshfieldclinic.org or 715-387-9189.