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Michigan Farm Bureau tackles farm bill needs

Michigan Farm Bureau members are debating policy revisions that should be part of the 2023 Farm Bill.

Public Policy and Commodity Division Director Matt Smego tells Brownfield farm bill listening sessions with members this year confirmed most areas of the legislation is effective.

“The general message that we heard resoundingly was that there are a lot of things that are working well within the farm bill that we want to maintain,” he shares.

But he says Whole-Farm Revenue Protection could go further for specialty crop growers as a form of crop insurance.  

“In certain instances where one crop is doing well on the farm, even though another one is not doing well, if the average is to the positive there’s no kick in for the insurance coverage for that crop that didn’t do so well,” he explains.

National dairy policy is also expected to bring together recommendations made by Farm Bureau working groups and the National Milk Producers Federation.

“I expect we’ll see some robust changes in looking at a unified support with a number of the other groups,” he says.

On a state policy level, Smego says creating cannabis recommendations along with better guidance for agricultural drainage will be top discussion items.

More than 560 resolutions were made this year as part of policy discussions across the state.