MONROE - Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Secretary Ben Brancel of the Wisconsin Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection Department stopped at Roth Kase USA in Monroe Monday to recognize the company's expansion in Platteville and showcase Walker's recently introduced Dairy 30x20 Initiative.
Roth Kase is expected to create 45 to 50 additional jobs when it opens a new plant in Platteville next year.
Walker said that job creation by companies like Roth Kase will encourage other companies to follow suit and lead to creating the 250,000 jobs in his four-year term which he promised on the campaign trail in 2010.
Jobs, he said, are the main concern of voters in Wisconsin.
"They're concerned about jobs; they're concerned about creating a better environment so companies can make investments, like they're making just down the way in Platteville and others are making across the state," Walker said. "Jobs aren't Republican or Democrat jobs; they're just Wisconsin jobs.
"We're not giving out money to companies for the sake of it, but with programs like this giving incentives to put more people to work," he added.
Walker is facing a recall election in June; the primary for that election is today. Walker's opponents say he is falling short on his job-creation pledge and say his policies hurt Wisconsin workers. Walker took office in January 2011.
Brancel called Dairy 30x20 a "visionary program" that will encourage annual milk production of 30 billion pounds in the state by 2020 to meet growing demand.
"It's necessary for us to keep milk production going in this state and keep us a strong viable industry because it's all segments working together that gives it a true value," Brancel said.
"What starts out on the family farm ends up here being enhanced in the production capabilities of the people who are involved in cheese, and then the marketing of the product all over the world."
While the dairy industry is struggling nationally, Brancel said, Wisconsin's dairy industry is "strong and vibrant."
"It's one of the futures we have in this state," he said.
About 140 inquiries have been made into the initiative program, which includes two grant programs for "those who want to build profitability into the dairy and those who would like to develop a large dairy operation," and about 50 applications have been submitted, Brancel said.
The initiative provides assistance to Wisconsin dairy farmers, without regard to size or type, focusing on long-term, sustained operations, and uses a multi-agency network of public and private entities for services and referrals.
Jim Natzke, a vice president of Roth Kase USA, said the company has already "started moving dirt" on its $44 million expansion in Platteville, where Roth Kase will make the same Gruyere cheese it produces in Monroe. The Platteville expansion is the "biggest single investment" made outside Switzerland for its parent company Emmi, Natzke added.
"It's exciting for us - a little bit scary," he said.
Although the company considered expanding in other states, Roth Kase chose to remain in Wisconsin because of its milk, Natzke said.
However, Wisconsin dairy farmers are able to produce only about 90 percent of the milk needed by the state's dairy processors. The other 10 percent is being imported.
Walker wants to capture that other 10 percent for today's market and any increases as the demand for cheese world-wide continues to climb.
Wisconsin cheese producers make one-quarter of all the cheese in the U.S. and about one-half of all the specialty cheese in the country. Walker noted that Wisconsin cheese is not just about volume but also about quality, with its cheesemakers winning medals for the best cheeses in the world.
Walker pointed out manufacturer- and agriculture-based tax credits in the state will be growing up to 7.5 percent by 2015, an incentive for business to invest in capital that will lead to creating more jobs in the state.
"Investing is not cheap," he said, referring to Roth Kase's planned Platteville plant, "but it gets ahead of everyone else in the world."
Many consider Walker to be a deeply polarizing governor, with voters either staunchly supportive or firmly opposed to his leadership - including elected officials at the local level. Walker said he is certain actual - not estimated - job numbers coming out soon will show a "different story" about his approach to job creation and about giving power to local governing entities.
"A vast majority of people in this state, overwhelmingly in local government, appreciate what we've done, because it empowers them by and large," he said. "I think for the taxpayers, for the people who elect people locally, the taxpayers want those decisions to be made by them and not by the special interests."
Walker said since he took office, the state has had a net gain of jobs created. He also said he wouldn't change his job-creation pledge.
"And particularly in the last three months, as things settled down, in the first quarter of 2012, Wisconsin gained 15,600 private sector jobs," Walker said. "The unemployment rate dropped ... to the lowest it's been since 2008. I think we're headed in the right direction."
According to an April report from the state Department of Workforce Development, preliminary seasonally adjusted data show "private-sector job numbers declined by 4,300 over the month and 6,100 over the year, but grew by a net 15,600 since December 2011 and 5,900 since December 2010."
Roth Kase is expected to create 45 to 50 additional jobs when it opens a new plant in Platteville next year.
Walker said that job creation by companies like Roth Kase will encourage other companies to follow suit and lead to creating the 250,000 jobs in his four-year term which he promised on the campaign trail in 2010.
Jobs, he said, are the main concern of voters in Wisconsin.
"They're concerned about jobs; they're concerned about creating a better environment so companies can make investments, like they're making just down the way in Platteville and others are making across the state," Walker said. "Jobs aren't Republican or Democrat jobs; they're just Wisconsin jobs.
"We're not giving out money to companies for the sake of it, but with programs like this giving incentives to put more people to work," he added.
Walker is facing a recall election in June; the primary for that election is today. Walker's opponents say he is falling short on his job-creation pledge and say his policies hurt Wisconsin workers. Walker took office in January 2011.
Brancel called Dairy 30x20 a "visionary program" that will encourage annual milk production of 30 billion pounds in the state by 2020 to meet growing demand.
"It's necessary for us to keep milk production going in this state and keep us a strong viable industry because it's all segments working together that gives it a true value," Brancel said.
"What starts out on the family farm ends up here being enhanced in the production capabilities of the people who are involved in cheese, and then the marketing of the product all over the world."
While the dairy industry is struggling nationally, Brancel said, Wisconsin's dairy industry is "strong and vibrant."
"It's one of the futures we have in this state," he said.
About 140 inquiries have been made into the initiative program, which includes two grant programs for "those who want to build profitability into the dairy and those who would like to develop a large dairy operation," and about 50 applications have been submitted, Brancel said.
The initiative provides assistance to Wisconsin dairy farmers, without regard to size or type, focusing on long-term, sustained operations, and uses a multi-agency network of public and private entities for services and referrals.
Jim Natzke, a vice president of Roth Kase USA, said the company has already "started moving dirt" on its $44 million expansion in Platteville, where Roth Kase will make the same Gruyere cheese it produces in Monroe. The Platteville expansion is the "biggest single investment" made outside Switzerland for its parent company Emmi, Natzke added.
"It's exciting for us - a little bit scary," he said.
Although the company considered expanding in other states, Roth Kase chose to remain in Wisconsin because of its milk, Natzke said.
However, Wisconsin dairy farmers are able to produce only about 90 percent of the milk needed by the state's dairy processors. The other 10 percent is being imported.
Walker wants to capture that other 10 percent for today's market and any increases as the demand for cheese world-wide continues to climb.
Wisconsin cheese producers make one-quarter of all the cheese in the U.S. and about one-half of all the specialty cheese in the country. Walker noted that Wisconsin cheese is not just about volume but also about quality, with its cheesemakers winning medals for the best cheeses in the world.
Walker pointed out manufacturer- and agriculture-based tax credits in the state will be growing up to 7.5 percent by 2015, an incentive for business to invest in capital that will lead to creating more jobs in the state.
"Investing is not cheap," he said, referring to Roth Kase's planned Platteville plant, "but it gets ahead of everyone else in the world."
Many consider Walker to be a deeply polarizing governor, with voters either staunchly supportive or firmly opposed to his leadership - including elected officials at the local level. Walker said he is certain actual - not estimated - job numbers coming out soon will show a "different story" about his approach to job creation and about giving power to local governing entities.
"A vast majority of people in this state, overwhelmingly in local government, appreciate what we've done, because it empowers them by and large," he said. "I think for the taxpayers, for the people who elect people locally, the taxpayers want those decisions to be made by them and not by the special interests."
Walker said since he took office, the state has had a net gain of jobs created. He also said he wouldn't change his job-creation pledge.
"And particularly in the last three months, as things settled down, in the first quarter of 2012, Wisconsin gained 15,600 private sector jobs," Walker said. "The unemployment rate dropped ... to the lowest it's been since 2008. I think we're headed in the right direction."
According to an April report from the state Department of Workforce Development, preliminary seasonally adjusted data show "private-sector job numbers declined by 4,300 over the month and 6,100 over the year, but grew by a net 15,600 since December 2011 and 5,900 since December 2010."