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Michigan ag regulations streamlined

The Michigan legislature has streamlined several agricultural measures ahead of the summer recess.

Legislative and policy director Matt Blakely with the Michigan Department of Agriculture tells Brownfield 18 bills related to agriculture were completed during the last week of the June.  “The Department’s pretty proud of, over the last five years, repealing about 40 percent of our rules.” He says, “We took an opportunity to clean up old rules or laws that have been on the books but are no longer effective.”

Blakely says the Farmland and Open Space Preservation Program was updated to provide more stable funding and timely responses to farmers.  “The state realized that it was pretty important to help farmers keep that farmland as operational farmland because once it gets changed it’s very hard to bring back into farmland.”

He says other major legislative updates were also made to the state’s Grain Dealer Act.

Blakely says he expects the next push for new legislation to come after the November elections.

AUDIO: Interview with Matt Blakely