Halopka retiring from Extension after 50 years in agriculture

By Valorie Brecht Over his roughly 50 years in agriculture, Richard Halopka has gotten to experience agriculture from many sides, including crop production, dairy nutrition and manure management. Now, he plans to retire and enjoy a slower pace of life.

“It really benefits a person to have a general knowledge of all phases of agriculture,” Halopka said.

Halopka has served as the UW-Madison Division of Extension crops and soils educator for Clark County for the past 15 years and is also a certified crop advisor. He plans to retire as of February.

Halopka grew up in Stetsonville and lives on one of the farms his family farmed while he was growing up. Towards the end of high school, he became heavily involved in running the home farm.

“My first love is dairy farming. I’ve always wanted to be a dairy farmer,” he said.

After graduating, he farmed full-time and earned a farm management certificate from Northcentral Technical College. But it wasn’t too long until his career took a new turn.

“My dad had some health issues; I also had some knee issues and the doctor told me I should consider a different career, so that’s what I did,” said Halopka.

In his thirties, Halopka went back to college at UW-River Falls as a non-traditional student. He kept busy working to provide for his growing family while attending school.

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“I would stay in River Falls for the week, come home and go to my job, work for the weekend and then drive back,” he said.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in broad area agriculture in 1994. He was also working as a counter sales person for a family feed/farm supply business and developed an interest in ginseng production. Upon encouragement from colleagues, he completed his certified crop advisor (CCA) certification.

“From there, I started focusing more on agronomy and it just went from there,” said Halopka.

After nine years with the family-run business, Halopka took a management position with a local cooperative. After five seasons there, he applied and was hired as the crops and soils agent for Clark County, starting Sept. 1, 2008.

Working for the Extension, one of the requirements was to earn a master’s degree. Halopka enrolled in an online program geared toward people who were already working full-time. He completed his master of science degree in agronomy from Iowa State University in 2013.

“I’ve always said I learned more from experience than education, but education was the foundation of my experience. And, my education has opened doors to a lot of different things,” said Halopka.

Working for the UW-Extension, has been a “diversified” position with no two days alike, said Halopka. One main part of his job has been answering people’s questions. Halopka spent a lot time fielding phone calls and answering questions on anything and everything ag-related, such as how to improve yields, prevent crop diseases, adapt a planting schedule to weather conditions or do nutrient management planning. He talked with young farmers about how to get started in farming and the value of renting crop land in Clark County. He talked with old famers on succession planning and how to transition out of farming.

“I tried to answer every question and if unable to answer it, I attempted to direct the person on a path to find an answer. The other most important aspect of this position was understanding the needs of the county/community and adapting programs and presentations to the people in the area I served,” said Halopka. “Because obviously the needs of Clark County are different than those of Dane County.”

With the help of UW specialists, Halopka developed and delivered programs that would provide helpful information to farmers. He arranged for specialists to come in and talk about adapting management practices, increasing forage yields or other related topics. He’s led nutrient management classes and seminars. He also wrote articles for the Extension Views publication, which reaches approximately 1,400 farmers and agriculture businesses in the county.

Other aspects of his position included setting up field days for people to visit local farms. As an example, a farmer might try different management practices across a field and other farmers could come back and observe which worked the best. He also worked on farm management teams, to develop strategic plans for specific farms.

“I always thought it was fun to work on a team like that, even if it could be stressful,” said Halopka.

He’s been directly or indirectly involved with Wisconsin Farm Technology Days every year, including planning the demonstration plots for the 2022 event in Loyal. He has also regularly helped with the North American Manure Expo, including this past year in Arlington (about 18 miles north of Madison).

“The Extension has provided an open door to travel and visit different states. It’s been interesting to see different management practices on the West Coast versus the East Coast versus here in the Midwest,” he said.

Another part of his job was engaging with the next generation by visiting high school classes and talking about careers in agriculture. He has also worked with local media and sometimes regional and state media to educate the public about the farming industry and perhaps correct misconceptions people may have.

“I tried to keep the public informed on both sides of the story,” he said.

He’s worked closely with the Clark County Land Conservation Department to promote “sustainable and environmentally sound” practices for farmers to preserve land and water quality, with an emphasis on using resources in the most efficient and responsible way possible.

Halopka said he saw many successful changes in the county over 15 years; his main frustration was that sometimes he was involved too late in the game for a farmer to reach an ideal outcome. But, he was happy with the work he did.

“I really enjoy working with farmers and visiting, listening to success and sometimes failure,” said Halopka.

“Extension work was very rewarding and I enjoyed every day,” he added. “It’s like a wise man once said, ‘Enjoy what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life.”

Halopka remains positive in his outlook toward the future of farming in the area.

“The dairy industry has always been very important in central Wisconsin – I don’t think that will change in the next 20 to 30 years,” he said. “The number of Grade A farms in the county has remained fairly stable, and the dairy livestock numbers as well.”

Although he is ready to turn the page to a new chapter, Halopka’s retirement will be a bit bittersweet.

“I’m going to miss the people; that’s the first thing,” he said.

However, he said, he will not miss driving 35,000 to 40,000 miles a year and having to be in the office at 8 a.m. every day. He looks forward to having time to sip his coffee and relax in the morning. He also is looking forward to spending more time visiting his 14 grandchildren, the closest of which live two hours away.

And, he doesn’t plan on giving up his farm just yet. He has a 120-acre farm, where he grows crops and raises a few beef cattle. He’s implemented many new practices on his farm over the years, such as no-till farming, and plans to continue to make his farm available for people to tour, such as agriculture students or members of the National Resource Conservation Service.

The Clark County Agriculture and Extension Committee met in December and will meet again this month with UW representatives to discuss filling Halopka’s position.

“My last word of advice is: Life is a journey, not a destination. You must enjoy the journey of life,” said Halopka.