Hispanic immigrants help rural county stave off population dip

Immigrants in rural areas work on the farms and also purchase things, pay rent, pay taxes, etc. They are needed all over our country.    - - Donna Poisl

Written by Mario Koran and Lukas Keapproth
Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

Jeremy Meissner, 29, squints in the sunbaked pasture near his 2,200-head Clark County dairy farm.

Huron Mireles, 31, a herdsman and one of Meissner’s most dependable employees, joins him in the field as the two discuss the day’s work. Meissner grew up on this family farm and always knew he would return, to live and to raise his own family.

Unlike many rural Wisconsin counties, Clark County added population from 2000 to 2010, growing by 3.4 percent, to an estimated 34,690. The growth was fueled in part by the Hispanic population, which grew by 219 percent between 2000 and 2010. At the same time, white population grew less than 1 percent.
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