Below is an excerpt from the most recent edition of WisBusiness Tuesday Trends.
The full version of this weekly look at the state of Wisconsin business is available for free to anyone who signs up for the Tuesday Trends mailing list.
The full product includes several items in each of the rising, mixed and falling categories plus a look at upcoming business events across the state.
To get the full version of Tuesday Trends in your inbox every week, sign up now for the free mailing list. (If the preceding link does not work for you, simply send an e-mail to trends@wisbusiness.com with “Subscribe to trends” in the subject line.)
WisBusiness also publishes a summary of state business news sent to paid subscribers every weekday.
Sign up for a free two-week trial of WisBusiness subscriber products.
RISING
Janesville: The economically embattled Rock County city gets some good news when medical isotope firm SHINE Medical Technologies announces plans to build an $85 million manufacturing plant in Janesville. Middleton-based SHINE says the new plant will employ more than 100 people at salaries averaging $60,000 annually. Janesville was chosen over sites in Chippewa Falls and Stevens Point as well as locations in Louisiana and New Mexico. The start of construction is still pending approval of the new plant from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission; that process is expected to last 18 months to two years, according to company officials.
MIXED
Farm income: A new analysis by UW-Madison economists says record prices for a number of commodities fueled a new state record for farm income in 2011. Last year’s prices for corn, soybeans, milk, cattle and hogs set records, leading to a net farm income of $2.4 billion in Wisconsin. That’s up 17 percent over 2010 income levels and three times 2009’s total, which was plagued by falling milk prices. But while high grain prices boosted profits for producers of corn and soybeans, those prices ate into profits for farmers who needed them to feed livestock. The report also projects that profits will shrink this year as grain prices remain high while milk prices fall off by an estimated 6 to 10 percent. Analysts also expect milk production to remain nearly flat after rising just 0.2 percent last year, again attributing the lack of expansion to high grain prices.
FALLING
UW funding: Wisconsin ranks among the top states in the country for its cuts to higher education, according to a new report from Illinois State University’s Center for the Study of Education Policy. UW officials say state aid dropped from $1.33 billion in the last fiscal year to $1.15 billion in the current year. That decline of more than 13 percent would place the state 11th in the country for higher ed cuts year to year, according to the ISU Center’s annual Grapevine study. And those numbers don’t include additional budget lapses for the UW System pending in the Joint Finance Committee. Overall, 41 states saw a reduction in higher ed funding this year, and one-third of them cut aid 10 percent or more. Wisconsin is also one of 29 states giving colleges less money in 2011-12 than they did in 2006-07.
