Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer​ Protection (DATCP) accepts AEA ​petitions requesting designation once a year. Wisconsin law allows up to two million acres to be designated as agricultural enterprise areas. Petitions are developed through the cooperation of the landowners and town and county governments where the proposed area is located.

The Agricultural Enterprise Area petition period for 2025 is open. Petition applications for new AEA can be found below. ​Petition instructions are incorporated into the application. The petition applications​​ are due by August 1, 2025.​

• 2025 Petition Application and Instructions
  

Agricultural Enterprise Area modification petitions for the 2025​ cycle can be found below. A modification petition is used to amend an existing AEA, often times to add new landowners to a boundary. Petition modification instructions are incorporated into the application and include details on modification components and submission.

• 2025 Modification Petitio​n Application and Instructions​​
  

• Petitioning Landowner Digital Signature Page
  
• Political Subdivision Digital Signature Page​
• County Conservationist Digital Signature Page​
• Non-Petitioning Cooperator Digital Signature Page​

Please contact Wednesday Coye at DATCPWorkingLands@Wisconsin.gov with any questions, or to schedule an informational meeting regarding the petition process.