The state of Wisconsin is widely renowned for its excellent universities, national forests, outstanding
sports franchises and breweries, and for its immense agricultural output. As one of the nation’s leading
producers of dairy products, cranberries, corn, cherries, soybeans and ginseng, the agriculture industry
is a major economic driver that contributes billions of dollars to the state’s economy each year.
Nevertheless, problems related to climate change, soil quality, pests, invasive species, animal
pathogens, population growth, labor, development and land management constantly threaten the
state’s agricultural viability. This challenge tasks you to identify and research a problem related to
Wisconsin agriculture, explore what has already been done to address it, and come up with an
innovative solution to mitigate it.
Getting Started
Reference resources provide a starting point for your research projects.
Credo Reference
Credo Reference provides hundreds of encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, and more in one place. Below is a sample of keyword searches in Credo Reference related to this topic.
dairy industry and dairy products
Call Numbers and Subject Headings
You can use the list of call numbers and subject headings below as keyword searches in our catalog and databases, or you can go to these sections of the library to find books on these topics.
Subclass S
S1-(972) Agriculture (General)
S21-400.5 Documents and other collections
S403 Agricultural missions, voyages, etc.
S419-482 History
S530-559 Agricultural education
S539.5-542.3 Research. Experimentation
S544-545.53 Agricultural extension work
S548-548.6 Historic farms
S550-559 Exhibitions. Fairs
S560-571.5 Farm economics. Farm management. Agricultural mathematics
Including production standards, record keeping, farmwork
rates, marketing
S583-587.73 Agricultural chemistry. Agricultural chemicals
S588.4-589.6 Agricultural physics
Including radioisotopes in agriculture
S589.7 Agricultural ecology (General)
S589.75-589.76 Agriculture and the environment
S589.8-589.87 Plant growing media. Potting soils
S590-599.9 Soils. Soil science
Including soil surveys, soil chemistry, soil structure,
soil-plant relationships
S600-600.7 Agricultural meteorology. Crops and climate
S602.5-604.37 Methods and systems of culture. Cropping systems
Including fallowing, rotation of crops, plowing
S604.5-604.64 Agricultural conservation
S604.8-621.5 Melioration: Improvement, reclamation, fertilization, irrigation,
etc., of lands
S605.5 Organic farming. Organiculture
S606-621.5 Special classes of lands and reclamation methods
Including woodlands, burning of lands, deserts, saline
environments, moors
S622-627 Soil conservation and protection
S631-667 Fertilizers and improvement of the soil
S671-760.5 Farm machinery and farm engineering
S770-790.3 Agricultural structures. Farm buildings
S900-(972) Conservation of natural resources
Including land conservation
Books
Books from Lane Library
Wisconsin agriculture: a history / Jerry Apps | e-book
Growing Wisconsin | AGR.3/2G 76/2020
The future of farming and rural life in Wisconsin | S129.F88 2007
Global Warming in Wisconsin | QC981.8.G56 C532 2007
The impact of government on Wisconsin agriculture: past, present and future | HM261.W57 v.11 no.7
Books from other libraries
WorldCat: Search for books not available at Lane Library and borrow from other libraries for free through interlibrary loan.
Articles
Databases
The following databases are useful places to search for Food related articles. Contact a librarian if you would like more information on how to search for articles on your specific topic.
- Academic Search Complete: Wide range of academic disciplines, including for scholarly and popular journals.
- New York Times: Access to news and archival content from NY Times. If you run into a paywall, here is more information on how to sign up.
- ProQuest Research Library: Includes both popular and scholarly periodicals covering a variety of subjects, with over 3300 titles available in full text.
- ProQuest Social Science Journals: Social science topics.
Get articles from other libraries
If you cannot find a full-text version of the article you need, request it through interlibrary loan. Interlibrary loan is a free service that allows you to borrow books and articles from other libraries. Find answers to frequently asked questions about ILL here.
Government Sources, Statistics, and Websites
Government sources
“The mission of USDA’s Economic Research Service is to anticipate trends and emerging issues in agriculture, food, the environment, and rural America and to conduct high-quality, objective economic research to inform and enhance public and private decision making”
“As the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative, Feed the Future works to give families and communities in some of the world’s poorest countries the freedom and opportunity to lift themselves out of food insecurity and malnutrition”
“Our mission is to partner with all the citizens of Wisconsin to grow the economy by promoting quality food, healthy plants and animals, sound use of land and water resources, and a fair marketplace.”
Statistics
- Wisconsin Agricultural Statistics : Agricultural production statistics
- United States Department of Agriculture Statistics
- CIA World Factbook : Background information on each country in the world
- Gallup polls : Polls on a variety of topics by a trusted organization
- Proquest Statistical Abstract : Statistics from federal agencies
- World Almanac : Collection of statistics and rankings
