Patty Edelburg, who farms near Amherst, Wis., was elected vice president of the National Farmers Union board of directors.

This is the first time a Wisconsin Farmers Union member has been elected to the national board. Edelburg has been a WFU member for the past 20 years. She served 12 years on the state board of directors.

In April 2016, she was named USDA Wisconsin Farm Service Agency executive director, a job she held until January 2017.

Edelburg was elected NFU vice president on March 5 during the 116th annual meeting of the National Farmers Union in Kansas City, Mo.

“Over the last 20 years, I have taken on leadership roles on the county, state and national levels of Farmers Union with great pride and energy,” Edelburg said in her election speech. “These positions confirmed my natural desire to continue the hard work of fighting for family farmers across the country.”

Edelburg says she knows firsthand the challenges farmers face and has also endured the struggles of being a beginning farmer. She looks forward to engaging with young farmers and offering a fresh perspective.

Members also re-elected Roger Johnson to another one-year term as president of the organization. 

“Patty is a passionate advocate for family agriculture, and she brings with her a wealth of on-farm, cooperative, government and policy experience,” Johnson says. “She's going to be an excellent representative of our national organization, and I look forward to working with her to advance the interests of family farmers and rural communities."

Edelburg is active with the Wood-Portage-Waupaca Farmers Union and has attended numerous NFU conventions and fly-ins to Washington, D.C., during her two decades of WFU membership.

“We’re very eager to have Patty’s input at the national level, helping to guide the organization through what we expect will be another very difficult year for family farmers,” says WFU President Darin Von Ruden. “I think we’re experiencing exciting momentum that is not only moving Farmers Union ahead at the state level, but also at the national level, and our members are feeling like we’re on the cusp of creating some important changes in the policy realm and across the countryside.”

Edelburg has a bachelor’s degree in animal science from University of Wisconsin-River Falls. She and her husband, Gary, and their 17-year-old twins, Angie and Luke, milk 120 registered Holstein cows on their 350-acre farm. 

Source: Wisconsin Farmers Union