How can farmers find the time to run their business, stay on top of all the latest happenings at the State Capitol and make sure lawmakers know where they stand on the issues that impact them the most?
Thankfully for Michigan Farm Bureau members, they don’t have to do it alone.
That’s because MFB’s Government Relations team is always advocating on their behalf and for the organization’s member-driven grassroots policies.
The team shared updates with more than 250 Farm Bureau members at MFB’s Lansing Legislative Seminar on Feb. 24, with updates on key topics, including:
Hunting and fishing license fee structure
There are simply too many deer in Michigan, MFB Associate Legislative Counsel Justin Tomei said in his update to members.
“Everybody knows we need to kill more deer,” he added, noting that of the roughly 2 million deer in the state, 40% — between 800,000 and a million — need to be harvested each year just to keep the herd from growing more.
While Tomei said progress on finding ways to harvest more deer has been slow, he noted that change is coming — even if it doesn’t feel like it right now.
“Maybe the light at the end of the tunnel is just a pinpoint right now, but for the first time ever, it's something that's within view,” Tomei said.
He went on to encourage MFB members to join the organization in urging lawmakers to vote in favor of Senate Bills 276 and 277, which propose changes to Michigan’s hunting and fishing license fees, with emphasis on the reduced license and DMAP costs to remove antlerless deer under the proposal. Read more on those bills here.
Legal protection for property owners
The “open and obvious” doctrine that protected property owners in the state for 20 years was nixed in 2023 following a ruling by the Michigan Supreme Court.
Under the previous legal understanding, property owners had no duty to protect against hazards that were open and obvious unless the hazard was unavoidable or unreasonably dangerous, according to MFB State Government Relations Manager Rob Anderson.
Once that doctrine changed following the rulings, Anderson said the push from law firms — including many that are based outside Michigan — exploded, leading to increased insurance premiums following many multimillion-dollar settlements.
“It's kind of an unending spiral of cost,” Anderson added.
That’s why MFB has joined the Michigan Alliance for Legal Reform as one of the coalition’s 31 founding members, ensuring agriculture has a seat at the table in a statewide effort to promote fairness and predictability in Michigan’s legal system.
Anderson noted MFB’s support for House Bill 4582, which would reinstate portions of the doctrine to provide clearer protection for property owners when hazards are visible and avoidable.
Farm fatality reporting
House Bill 4017 seeks to reduce the financial penalty a family farm could face if the death of a qualifying family member occurs on the farm and isn’t reported to MIOSHA within the required eight-hour window.
While the bill maintains the requirement to report workplace fatalities, it would reduce the penalty for late reporting by 80% for farms with no prior violations.
“We want to protect family farms from excessive fines after losing a loved one,” said MFB Associate Legislative Counsel Josh Scramlin, who noted the bill’s broad bipartisan support.
“This is not a contentious issue, but we want to see it done. We want to see it get to Gov. Whitmer’s desk and signed into law.”
Anaerobic digester permitting
House Bill 4257 and House Bill 4265 propose significant changes to the permitting process for anaerobic digesters — changes that Scramlin said are needed to get Michigan back on track with other states “leaps and bounds ahead of where we are.”
According to data from EPA, states like California, New York, and Wisconsin have far more digesters in operation that are linked to farms, Scramlin noted.
“The permitting process is so cumbersome and so clunky that it has disincentivized digester construction here in the state of Michigan,” he added.
Supported by MFB, House Bill 4257 and House Bill 4265 would create a singular registration process that would avoid the duplicative permits and allow for multiple farms to use the same digester.
Sustainable aviation fuel
Michigan isn’t producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) right now, and House bills 4424 and 4425 aim to change that by creating tax incentive to jumpstart production.
The bills would provide a $1.50 per gallon tax credit for SAF purchasers, producers, or blenders, while capping incentives at $4.5 million in year one and $9 million annually thereafter.
It all adds up to supporting the production of ethanol-derived aviation fuels, Scramlin said.
“These bills would help creates a new domestic market for corn growers during time of suppressed crop prices,” he added.
“Another thing that we really like about this legislation that it puts an emphasis on Michigan grown feedstocks.”
A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City said biofuels will be the key driver for domestic corn and soybean markets in the future, predicting that corn and soybean exports won’t grow quickly enough to sufficiently to offset projected supply increases.