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Farm Bureau optimistic for MAEAP passage
The future of Michigan’s voluntary agricultural stewardship program awaits legislative approval.
Sitting in the Michigan House Appropriation Committee is Senate Bill 494.
Rebecca Park with Michigan Farm Bureau tells Brownfield the legislation renews current fertilizer and pesticide fees paid by farmers and agribusinesses to fund the Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program through 2025.
“It remains voluntary, it has no new fees for farmers, and it also maintains that value of the MAEAP advisory council partnerships that has really been one of the building blocks of the program,” she explains.
Ben Terrill says for more than 20 years the program has been working one on one with farmers to solve environmental issues.
“A program that sends actual boots out on the ground to verify the practices that have been implemented, that looks at a farmer’s nutrient management plan—that’s something that few if any states can actually boast,” he says.
Park says there are a limited number of days left for the state legislature to approve the bill before it expires but she remains hopeful it will pass.
