MON AM News: State’s pool of commercial truck drivers shrinking even as demand rises; Report details AI adoption in food and beverage industry

November 2, 2026

— Wisconsin’s pool of licensed commercial truck drivers is shrinking even as the state’s reliance on trucking to drive the economy has grown, a new study from the Wisconsin Policy Forum shows.

The number of people licensed to handle big rigs hasn’t kept pace with this demand, and with an aging workforce behind the wheel of those heavy trucks, the supply could shrink even further, authors wrote.

The report found 70% of goods, by weight, move through Wisconsin via highways, with an increase of 33% in those shipments between 2019 and 2023. And federal officials project an increase nationally of 50% by 2050 for the amount of freight shipped by truck.

But as the volume of those shipments has increased, the number of people in Wisconsin licensed to drive them has dropped by more than 20,000, or 8.9%, over the past 15 years.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation produced a white paper in 2022 that identified some factors at play. That includes retirements and a loss of licenses due to rule-based disqualifications, drug tests and poor driving records. The study also cited a drop in pay and working conditions.

There have been several efforts to help boost the number of licensed CDL drivers, including a state grant program created in 2024 that helps cover the cost of training. That led to $250,000 in grants in 2026 awarded to help 170 new license holders.

Meanwhile, the Wisconsin Policy Forum suggested autonomous vehicles may eventually be part of the solution, though the deployment of the technology is not moving rapidly enough to make up for the shortage in licensed drivers.

Authors point to Roehl Transport, headquartered in Marshfield, as one example of progress being made in the state. The company has been involved in a project testing self-driving trucks, deploying vehicles on a route between Dallas and Houston.

“This example, and other Wisconsin experiences, shows that in the future there may be less need for trained drivers behind the wheel,” authors wrote. “However, legal and technological progress in this area has been relatively slow, and any use of autonomous vehicles will ultimately be a political decision that is difficult to predict.”

See the report.

— Food and beverage companies are using less than half of all the data they collect even as the vast majority are rolling out AI or plan to do so soon, according to a new Rockwell Automation report.

The Milwaukee-based industrial automation firm recently issued a report on the technology’s use within this sector, noting food and beverage manufacturers have “largely moved beyond” just exploring AI.

It says 90% of these companies are using AI and machine learning or will do so in the near-term, signaling “the industry is no longer questioning” if these technologies have value.

“The greater challenge is translating that momentum into measurable business outcomes at scale,” authors wrote. “For many organizations, the barriers are not the AI models themselves, but the underlying operational and organizational foundations required to support them.”

They point to a “persistent data gap” in the industry, with 40% of company leaders saying effectively collecting and using data is a major obstacle to growth.

Manufacturers in this space report they only use about 45% of the data they collect, the report found. This results in both AI applications and decision makers being left with an incomplete picture, authors wrote.

Meanwhile, respondents in the industry expect AI-supported manufacturing to grow from 37% now to more than 60% by 2030, the report shows.

Wisconsin has more than 3,800 food and beverage companies, as well as at least 146,000 jobs connected to the industry, according to sector figures from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.

See the report.

See the release.

— Rates for individual health insurance plans on HealthCare.gov will jump 21.7% in Wisconsin next year, according to the state Office of the Commissioner of Insurance.

The state agency on Friday announced the weighted average increase for the 2027 plan year ahead of the open enrollment period starting Nov. 1.

This increase would have been as high as 33% without the Wisconsin Health Care Stability Plan, a reinsurance plan that leverages federal funding, the agency says.

Next year’s increase comes after expanded premium insurance subsidies expired at the end of 2025, which OCI notes has impacted plan availability and affordability on the marketplace.

For 2027, the agency says no insurers are leaving the state’s health insurance market and a new option is being offered off the marketplace. A total of 12 insurers will participate for next year’s plan year, while two insurers are offering plans off-marketplace that are compliant with the Affordable Care Act.

In the 2025 open enrollment period, a record 313,579 customers in Wisconsin signed up for coverage on the individual market, OCI notes. But that total fell to 291,336 during the 2026 enrollment period “due to market destabilization driven by federal actions,” the agency says.

See the release.

— Wisconsin hospitals provided more than $2 billion in uncompensated care in fiscal year 2025, marking a 15% increase over the prior year.

The Wisconsin Hospital Association on Friday released its annual guide to hospitals in the state, as well as its latest report detailing uncompensated care activities. This category of care includes both charity care and bad debt, when the hospital expects payment but can’t collect.

During the prior fiscal year, hospitals in the state provided about $1.8 billion in uncompensated care. And in the one before that, fiscal year 2023, the total was below $1.4 billion.

Authors note about one-fourth of Wisconsin’s hospitals make up a substantial portion of the charity care portion. Of the 170 hospitals in the state, 42 each reported $5 million or more. That group collectively provided $887.9 million in charity care, making up 86% of the state’s total for the year.

Meanwhile, 55 hospitals incurred bad debt exceeding $5 million, the report shows. Those hospitals had $814.2 million in bad debt, making up 81% of the $1 billion total incurred by all hospitals in the state.

University Hospital in Madison had $114 million in bad debt for fiscal year 2025, while Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee had $68 million and Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center in Milwaukee had about $41 million. No other hospital exceeded $35 million for this measure.

WHA notes this increase in uncompensated care is mirrored by rising hospital expenses, which increased 9.3% overall in fiscal year 2025. That includes a 12.2% jump in supply and service costs. Half of the state’s hospitals reported lower operating margins over the year.

See the release.

For more of the most relevant health care news, reports on groundbreaking research in Wisconsin, links to top stories and more, sign up today for the free daily Health Care Report from WisPolitics and WisBusiness.com.

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— The Board of Regents has unanimously selected Tonja Johnson, a senior vice chancellor in the University of Alabama System, to become the Universities of Wisconsin’s next president.

Johnson, 57, will be the first person of color to lead the system since its creation in 1971.

“My goal is to help our remarkable UW universities become even stronger, more connected, and more consequential to the future of Wisconsin,” Johnson said Friday in a statement.

Johnson was one of three finalists for the position, along with Steven Gareth Holley, executive vice chancellor and chief operating officer at the University of Mississippi, and Bernard Savarese, vice president for academic affairs, research, and student success at the University of Tennessee System.

Renée Wachter will continue to serve as interim president until Johnson takes office on or around Jan. 1. Wachter will then return to her post as chancellor of UW-Superior.

Johnson will be the 10th president in system history, replacing Jay Rothman, who the regents fired in April.

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– Tonjanita Johnson tapped to lead Wisconsin’s 13 public universities

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FOOD & BEVERAGE