Proposed Policy

Local Resolutions

Appreciation

Livingston County Farm Bureau members benefit from the dedication of members and staff working in all different areas throughout the year.

Therefore, we commend all volunteers and staff who help promote Livingston County Farm Bureau.

Support for MSU Extension Service

Whereas:

• Agriculture and rural living are an important part of Livingston County life,

• The Livingston County MSU Extension office has a great deal of benefit to both agricultural producers and home owners alike in diagnosing various disease conditions in plants and animals and therefore helps to protect the economy of this county, state, and country, and

• The increasing population of Livingston County requires more services and advice,

The Livingston County Farm Bureau urges the Livingston County Board of Commissioners to continue their active support of the MSU Extension program in this county.

State Resolutions

Bottle Bill

We recommend that the existing bottle bill be expanded to include all bottled or canned beverages sold for human consumption be in returnable or recyclable containers, (i.e. bottled water, Gatorade, orange juice, etc.).  Currently bottled water is the "thing" to drink and all water bottles go in the trash.

Purchasing Prescription Drugs

With the high cost of prescription drugs, many Americans are forced to choose whether to buy drugs prescribed by their doctors or to buy food.  We urge Michigan Farm Bureau to support legislation to allow American citizens to purchase prescription drugs from Canada.

Term Limits

Whereas term limits are a good tool to keep career politicians out of our Capital in Lansing, the limits put in place are too short for our elected officials to be effective (currently the limits are 6 years for the House and 8 for the Senate, Governor, and other statewide officials).  By the time they get settled in and learn the ins and outs, they are being termed out.

We support the continuation of term limits, but feel that the terms should be lengthened.

Continued Right to Farm

With the increasing pressures of urban sprawl, combined with the need for farmers to increase the size of their operations because of the tightening profit margins, the Right to Farm Act is being pushed to the limit.  Concerns for air and water purity are hallmark.  We believe that Farm Bureau should continue the fight for sound science testing of air and water, while pushing for laws that limit the number of nuisance complaints filed against a single producer.

New Home Purchaser Notification

Fewer American citizens are involved with agriculture every year.  Due to increased population growth more urban people are moving to farm areas.

Whereas Michigan farmers receive nuisance lawsuit protection from the State when we follow the GAAMPs, the fact that non-farm neighbors often oppose our efforts to generate food, fiber, and fuel still causes problems.

And whereas California has just passed a law to notify all new home purchasers when they buy a house or property within one mile of an active farm.  It is expected this advance notice will minimize potential conflicts between farm and new non-farm neighbors.  Therefore be it resolved that MFB pursue state law to implement a similar law in Michigan.  Agriculture is important to Michigan, so we need to protect our family farms.

Hunting Permits

Farm Bureau should encourage farmers to actively use hunting permits to reduce the population of deer and wild turkeys and eliminate wild pigs on their farms.  The DNR should be encouraged to make the necessary permits available and a program developed to educate farmers on the need to reduce these wild animal populations.

Road Funding

As road repair and maintenance costs increase, the funding for these stays somewhat the same with price per gallon taxes.  With less miles being driven and higher fuel economy we are losing more revenue.  As our revenues decline we are missing on some matching federal funds.

Therefore we support a state fuel tax increase up to double what it is now, with half the increase going to our local roads.  To avoid taxes on taxes the state sales tax should be applied to the cost of fuel before any per gallon taxes are added.

We also support the elimination of industry specific discounts (i.e. farm, log, and milk plates).

Michigan Farm Bureau Promotion & Education Committee

Promotion and Education Budget has been drastically cut.  We would like to have a check box on membership forms for a voluntary donation to help fund the Promotion and Education Budget.

Advisory Committee Appointments

Michigan Farm Bureau has established a well-respected grassroots policy development process that includes resolutions generated by County Farm Bureaus and issue or commodity specific Advisory Committee resolutions for consideration by the State Policy Development Committee.  It is the purpose of the Advisory Committees to provide a unique state-wide perspective as they delve into very specific issues important to each industry.  Obviously, the recommendations from each Advisory Committee are generated by people appointed by the State Board.  Livingston County Farm Bureau believes such individual appointments should be carefully made so the committee members reflect a good cross section of farmer members of MFB.  A situation where committee members over-represent a size of farm or number of animals creates a situation where biased recommendations may occur and this should be avoided.

Therefore, be it resolved, future state appointments to MFB Advisory Committees should reflect a balanced combination of both total product produced and number of producers to reflect a good cross-section of any particular industry.

National Resolutions

Animal Protein as a Feed Additive

Because Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) has never been shown to be transmitted naturally to swine or poultry, the use of rendered ruminant and other species protein should be allowed as an additive to rations for swine and poultry.  Strict safeguards would need to be in place to prevent cross contamination of ruminant feeds with ruminant by-product during the formulation of the feeds.

We urge strong action by the American Farm Bureau Federation to maintain the ability to utilize this source of animal protein as a feed additive.

Horse Slaughter

Whereas the intent of the Horse Slaughter Bill was to prevent cruelty to animals and stop horse slaughter for human consumption it will have the effect of causing the neglect and starving of many horses no longer considered useful by their owners.

Whereas the people of the United States and our trading partners should have the right to decide which kinds of foods that they wish to consume, this legislation will effectively prohibit the consumption of horse meat by humans in the United States.

Whereas the U.S.D.A. is removing inspection of horse slaughter and effectively removing the ability for plant owners to slaughter for human consumption, they do inspect the slaughter for other types of livestock.  This type of discrimination is not a responsibility of government to make and horse slaughter plants should have the same rights as other slaughtering plants

Whereas many of the comments about banning slaughter of horses were about humaneness of slaughter and humaneness of transport to the plants.  There are already rules that can govern the activities and ensure humaneness.

Therefore be it resolved that the Farm Bureau should expand their efforts to repeal this ban and allow for the humane slaughter of horses for human consumption.

Food Labeling and Testing

Whereas this is a national security issue that needs to be addressed.  Whereas American farmers are under strict regulations and inspections to assure the American public a safe food supply.  It is then tolerated when food stuffs are imported into our county that are produced under unsafe methods and then contaminate our food supply.

Case in point - The ecoli scare/outbreak involving tomatoes and peppers that took several weeks to track down and cost American farmers and businesses countless millions in lost revenue and produce with the culprit ultimately being Mexican produced tomatoes and peppers that were irrigated with contaminated water.

Therefore be it resolved that if other nations wish to trade and/or sell food stuffs to the United States of America, they should be held liable to the same standards as that of the American farmer/producer.  Including chemicals, sprays, fresh water rinsing, inoculations, labeling, testing, etc.

Energy Independence

Energy independence is important to guarantee our countries economic stability and minimize the impact on farmer's expenses. 

Therefore, we resolve Farm Bureau should support the following sources of energy to continue the path towards energy independence:

• Wind energy

• Biofuels

• Solar power

• Nuclear energy

• Clean burning coal

• Methane digesters

• Energy conservation

• Non-petroleum based renewable energy sources

Sustainability

Our nation's security and stability hinges on a dependable source of home-grown food such as has been provided by the nation's family farmers. 

Therefore, we resolve that American Farm Bureau should be doing the following to keep our family farms sustainable:

• Encourage minimal rules and regulations

• Promote policy that enables profitability

• Encourage tax advantages & incentives

• Less government intervention and use anti-trust laws to discourage monopolies that endanger the family farm

• Encourage favorable estate and inheritance rules to allow family farms to prosper from one generation to another

• Promote agriculture as a career choice for our youth

• Provide true facts to our regulators to counter the claims by environmental groups that seek to change farming and livestock as we know it today.

Food Safety

Everyone from the farmer to the person stocking shelves in a store has an effect on food safety.  In the last few months there have been several instances involving spinach, peanuts, ground beef, and other products.  These incidents have increased pressure to regulate and inspect our food supply.  The problem is we have several federal, state, and local agencies overseeing production and processing of our food supply and now some buyers and processors also want to oversee food production.  All this causes some confusion as to what standards apply and add extra costs to food production.

Therefore be it resolved that:

1. There be one agency established to control the production and processing of our food supply.

2. There be programs established to educate consumers on food safety.

3. Farmers markets and on the farm markets be encouraged and promoted so that the grower and consumer have more control over food quality and safety.

National Dairy Policy

Agricultural commodity prices have become increasingly volatile.  Dairy is no exception.  Therefore we support changes to the Federal Milk Marketing Order and Dairy Futures Pricing System that allow for a more rapid and accurate determination of milk prices.  We are concerned over current utilization and inaccuracies of dairy futures trading on the CME along with delays in class pricing.

We recommend American Farm Bureau Federation monitor the Foundation for the Future program as proposed by the National Milk Producers Federation, along with other programs by the USDA and other organizations, until a better program can be agreed upon and enacted.  We support continuation of language in current policy that states, "We support a market orientated national dairy program that includes a national countercyclical income assistance component such as the Milk Income Loss Contract (MILC) program which is consistent with a worldwide farm and open trade policy."

We also support continuation of the national dairy price support program.  The MILC and dairy price support programs are important and necessary tools to help producers cope with unexpectedly low prices.  Hopefully neither program will have to be used.  However, both programs provide an important safety net and should remain available until a better program is developed and implemented.