Podcast: Talkin' Politics & Religion Without Killin' Each Other: Barbara McQuade

Wisconsin built its identity as “America’s Dairyland” on family farms and world-class cheese production. But behind the barns and milking parlors, farmers and workers alike acknowledge a quiet reality. Without undocumented labor, the state’s dairy industry would struggle to survive.

Immigrants, many of them Latino and without legal status, make up the majority of workers who milk cows and clean barns across Wisconsin. A 2023 survey from the University of Wisconsin’s School for Workers estimated that immigrant labor accounts for about 70 percent of the state’s dairy workforce. Farmers say they cannot find enough U.S.-born workers willing to take on the grueling, round-the-clock work, and without immigrant employees, the milk supply would not be able to meet demand.