UP: Wisconsin dairy farmers. Emmi Roth USA, a branch of a Swiss company, signs a letter of agreement to buy 20 acres in Platteville, where it plans to build a $44 million cheese plant. Farmers in a 25-mile radius will provide milk to the proposed 70,000-square-foot factory. Says Mike Powers, a state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection administrator: "Right now, the dairy farmers and the cheese processors are optimistic about the future."
DOWN: Wisconsin orchards and vineyards. After an unseasonably warm March, chilly April nights have vineyard and orchard owners struggling to keep overnight frosts from decimating the fragile fruit buds that have sprouted ahead of schedule. Several use powerful wind machines to keep the air flowing and prevent their plants from freezing. Philippe Coquard, co-owner of the Wollersheim Winery in Prairie du Sac, tells National Public Radio: "The month of March was like summer, which we never see in Wisconsin. And everybody is so happy…. Well, it's not good to us."
