April Fool's Day Meeting - 7 AM (Mar. 27, 2025)

WinField United and UWRF – A partnership embodied

Catherine White described the partnership between the WinField United facility in River Falls and UWRF. She started with her academic and work history: Catherine holds a BS in agronomy from Virginia Tech and a Master’s from the University of Illinois. She has been at Winfield since 2009. She has had 3 different roles in product development at Winfield, and she also works at UWRF as an adjunct Professor at UWRF in Soil Science. Catherine noted that lately she has become more of a plant physiologist focused on interaction between plants and soil they grow in.

WinField is part of Land O’ Lakes, which is much more than the butter we love. WinField sells a huge variety of agricultural products, both on the seed/supplements/treatment side and on the herbicide/fungicide/insecticide segment, both of which contribute to the success of farmers (by growing stuff and killing stuff, respectively). WinField has a strong relationship with the Mann Valley Lab Farm. Catherine also noted that WinField has a food sustainability focus. [Continued]

Club Assembly - Things We Discussed

George shared some of what he learned at his recent president-elect prep session, and we started with a fun table-by-table discussion of what could be termed "an oddball question". Then we moved on to more serious discussion of upcoming events, the need for member recruitment/retention/engagement, and some specifics about upcoming events in April. We also talked briefly about meeting frequency and times, with several interesting ideas emerging. Another topic was our local profile and how to raise awareness and use what Rotary is about locally and worldwide to attract members. Again, good ideas came out from those at the meeting. Thanks to all the "stay at homes" during spring break week for the schools who shared their thoughts.

Special Announcement

Veterans' Park Cleanup on May 3rd : Scott Morrissette is leading this semi-annual project. He has appealed for more members to step up and put "Service Above Self". Teenagers and other willing volunteers are welcome and needed for this project. Contact Scott at smorrissette@msn.com.

This Week's Announcements

Upcoming Rotary Events and Dates:
Veterans' Park Cleanup Saturday May 3rd -- see the Special Announcement above for details.

District Conference May 1-3: The annual D5960 conference, somewhat misleadingly titled "Make Peace Visible" this year, will be held at the Mystic Lake Hotel & Casino in Prior Lake, MN

The History and Significance of Soil Science at UW-River Falls

Dr. Holly Dolliver presented an overview of the long history and role that UW-River Falls has played in Soil Science and Soil Science education. Using archival photos of some of the pioneers and major figures in the school's history, Dr. Dolliver took us through the development of soil science as an academic discipline. She talked about the undergraduate research, and professional development that her student do, as well as the successes of UWRF's national championship Soil Judging team. Click READ MORE to read about Dr. Dolliver. To see the photos Holly Dolliver provided, Click Download Files below.