Export this, Wisconsin!

"What's so special about bull semen from Wisconsin? Just ask Pope John Paul II." Thus begins contributor Lucinda Tiajoloff's cover story on efforts to turn Wisconsin into an exporting dynamo. Wisconsin, she reports, has erased its trade deficit to become one of 13 states with a surplus. More than 150,000 state jobs are now export-related, at about 1,800 state firms. Among them: DeForest-based American Breeding Service, whose Italian distributor sold "20 to 30 units of semen" to the Vatican. "It's kind of nice to know that John Paul has the daughters of ABS bulls in his herd," says ABS exec Jake Walter. Rolf Wegenke of the state Department of Development stresses the importance of promoting exports: "If Wisconsin companies are not aggressively going after these markets, there are companies in other states and all over the world who will." Wisconsin exports approached $20.6 billion last year - more than double its 1998 total - ranking the state 18th in the U.S.