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Grassroots Issue Surfacing Meetings
MFB hosted four statewide Policy Development/Grassroots Issue Surfacing Meetings June 29-July 1. The meetings provided members and leaders an opportunity to participate in discussions about emerging agricultural policy issues and Farm Bureau's grassroots policy process. Below are the issues surfaced at the four meetings.
Issues Surfaced at the 2009 Statewide Policy Development Meetings
Grand Rapids Meeting - June 29
- Increasing size of federal government through mandates
- Placement of utility cables (too low). Should be 16 feet. Include cable TV?
- Increasing deer population
- Liability of allowing hunting on property
- GAP audits: Paying for inspection fee, excessive regulations; will cause more fruit to come from overseas
- Too much or too little food safety regulations?
- Michigan works should be verifying legality of guest workers; need user-friendly guest worker documentation forms
- Animal care
- GAAMPs or Right to Farm protection for agricultural burning; use of burning for frost protection in orchards
- Michigan Merit Curriculum requirements; affecting graduation rates and vocational training. Small school districts can't keep up with curriculum requirements.
- Negative agricultural PR affecting public perception. (Food Inc. - motion picture)
- Proposed "voluntary fee" for state parks added into to fee for license plates; used for building and maintenance at state parks
- Energy Surcharges being applied to bills (get info out to members)
- Low milk prices - too many cows, less exports. Possible solutions:
- Less replacements
- Dairy buyout
- Sexed semen
- Explore supply & demand polices
- Quota system
- State of Michigan Term Limits - need reform; legislator benefits packages (health insurance, etc.)
- Funding for road repair; use of toll roads; distribution formulas; how the gas tax is calculated; Ballot proposal for state sales tax dedicated for road funding
- Future of tax loopholes (including state sales tax agricultural exemption)
- 2010 Constitutional Convention - how will it affect the state; "we don't support it as we don't have right people that will make the right decisions."
- U.S Census - fines for not answering census questions. Too much detailed information to government.
Chelsea Meeting - June 30
- What items in the DEQ and DNR could be consolidated into different or (same) departments?
- Catfish
- Horse racing
- Budget: If cuts are made across the board among the state agencies, this will be an issue. The cutting of MDA programming that tests fuel and seed.
- Food safety is and should always be an important issue for the MDA and the state government.
- What is the true mission of the MDA?
- MFB and county Farm Bureaus need a policy that reprioritizes county fairs and county fair premiums.
- There is a need for MSU to refocus their original land grant purpose. The community feels their mission needs to be revisited.
- Because of the lack of slaughter facilities in the area, there needs to be a focus of making these facilities pertinent in the area, especially bringing the local aspect to the surface.
- TB problems in the north will continue until eradicated. Steps will need to be created. Positions on the issue are divided among the agricultural community. TB testing across the state should give the local veterinarians the ability to perform the testing.
- Road funding: Act 51 distributed to townships as opposed to county road commissions.
- Encourage expansion of processing to be more ag friendly through tax incentives to the ag producers.
- In the area of tourism, $30 million is devoted to the advertisement of the tourism industry, whereas, $33.9 million to the MDA. There needs to be priority given to agriculture.
- Residential development is not supporting the services it requires. For example: fire and road. Developers should take the responsibility.
- Huge swings in commodity prices, speculation
- Problems with the power grid; insufficient capacity; brownouts
- Ethanol industry: could it be a problem for the animal industry? Balanced?
- Because of electricity shortages due to the plan for increased electric vehicles, MFB should work with the government to create a reliable energy supply that is made available to agricultural producers.
- Sand Hill cranes: Could more be done? They are no longer a rare species in the area.
- Deer overpopulation: The hunting season should be expanded, possibly year-round. Should a different methodology be approached? Maybe the amateur deer hunters are no longer a viable control method.
- PA 116: Doesn't protect against road paving assessments.
- Health Care should contain a trauma assist funding. Ask for $1 million funding for the implementation of the MI statewide Trauma System Plan.
- Farm Bill: Ten acre parcels - no payments for farms that were enrolled prior to 2002.
- Animal agriculture vs. pet-There is a need for animal agriculture in Michigan. Correct information needs to be distributed; animal welfare education: Farmers have a purpose and a mission
- Priority review of penal system funding versus the funding of the education of children.
- Duplicity of regulations.
- Legislator pay cuts now!
- Processing plants-MI highest unemployment rate, the employment within the ag industry should increase.
- Horse slaughter: Need legislation to deal with unintended consequences of the initial law.
- Ag related businesses and organizations need to work together for the future.
- Racing industry gone from Michigan and rising in other states-we should support this industry.
- The lack of large animal veterinarians. We need them in Michigan for our farms.
- Concern for wild hogs
Mackinaw City Meeting - July 1
- Dairy Prices - farmers need to be supporting supply management; need to Assess why the retail prices have not gone down yet in relation to farm gate
- Wolf management issue (create a collective resolution for all UP Farm Bureaus)
- Deer Numbers-too high! Need to determine what the right number is and then figure out how to reach that number; deer problems are also negatively impacting forestry and regeneration of hardwoods); may need to create special provisions for the areas that have the deer population issue because not all areas have deer management problems.
- Allowing biomass plants to compete for pulp wood for fuel. (Currently not allowed to do so due to possible competition with paper mills, etc.)
- Animal Care-using self-policing standards
- Ag Production promotion (using slogans, billboards, etc.): Remind the general public that farmers feed people and without famers there is no food.
- HSUS using the Humane Society name to get funding. (Work with local humane societies for the Farmer's Care action groups)
- Problems with the media not accurately covering agriculture news. (Counties need to work collectively to present information to the media); need to utilizing new forms of media (i.e. the internet, etc.) on the local level; consolidation of media resources (papers cutting back resulting in less coverage)
- State meat inspections: Put it back in MDA vs. USDA. Include suggestions on how to fund it?
- Need to keep MDA prioritization Ad Hoc Committee meeting on a yearly basis to determine what is most important, etc. to the industry.
- Milk inspections should be based on quality vs. routine inspections. Make inspections more cost-effective and efficient. (For example, the Wisconsin model - once a year, based on cell count); Instead of having both USDA and MDA inspections (for milk, meat, etc.) put it with one agency. Cut costs!
Frankenmuth Meeting - July 1
- Fewer fertilizer sampling concentrating on violators; high percentage makes fertilizer industry look bad. What is fair oversight?
- Industry should be represented in any fee determination [overview board] and ensuring fee is being used appropriately (accountability).
- County road/bridge funds are needed [local infrastructure]. How do we make that happen? Local resources such as county road commissions are excellent resources. Statewide "gas tax" doesn't filter back to the local level; some townships are reverting to paying shares of people that live on the road or a road millage for maintenance, not necessarily bridges. Environmental/natural resource regulations can challenge/slow projects.
- Distribution of PA 51 and streamlining of funding to the local level; fund allocation. MDOT would be a good resource.
- Shouldn't companies that move from Michigan after being provided a tax break have to refund the money to Michigan? Should these companies be penalized for leaving early?
- Is the Saginaw Bay "muck" something we have to live with? Is it best dealt with education? Citizens are very concerned with permit fees for removing muck. Do we need beach groomers in Michigan (or at least make grooming easier)? Can the muck become a value-added commodity to be harvested as a nutrient? What research can be done to determine value?
- Threat from animal rights groups that send "spies" onto farms; the spy doesn't try to correct the problem, just create a story. Should farmers adopt a statewide "Employee Cares" form that requires an employee to report abuse or be fired? What is the role of MFB in distributing the form?
- Is there any way MFB could work to proactively stop advancement of policies in Michigan that prohibit over-restrictive animal welfare standards (cages, crates, tail docking)? Is there research to show that some of these practices are ineffective?
- Wetlands regulation: Should Michigan give the program back to EPA? Would this advance agricultural production in Michigan like cranberries?
- Right to Farm: Is there anything we have in place to replace Right to Farm if the funding is stripped?
- Water use
- Should we explore a farm tax to save MDA? How can we be assured the funds would not erode funds from the general fund? How broad/narrow should fees be? What is the measure of accountability for each of the restricted fees?
- Is now the golden time to encourage urban revitalization and redevelopment or to preserve good farmland around urban centers? The interests that fought MFB before are not as active today. Services that are required for new development are paid for by all.
- Are the big dairies in Huron County causing the problems with the muck in Saginaw?
