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Evaluating MAEAP ahead of legislative renewals
Michigan agricultural leaders are evaluating the future of the state’s voluntary environmental stewardship program and its funding before reauthorization is needed in December.
Michigan Farm Bureau’s Senior Conservation and Regulatory Relations Specialist Laura Campbell is the co-chair of the Michigan Agriculture Environmental Program, MAEAP, Advisory Council.
“MAEAP is actually a really unique program in that instead of coming primarily from public tax dollars, it comes from fees that are charged to anyone who buys wholesale fertilizers and pesticides, so essentially, the farmers are paying for their own program,” she explains.
The program sunsets at the end of 2025 and Campbell says partners want to make sure conservation districts and farmers have enough resources for the next five years.
“These are not cheap practices in some cases,” she shares. “Making more funds available from the state to help put those practices in place I think is one thing that we really want to take a look at.”
Campbell says only about a third of projects seeking federal funding to help farmers implement conservation practices encouraged by MAEAP are awarded annually.
Michigan Farm Bureau members recently approved a policy supporting technicians be housed locally, not employed directly by the state as was proposed last year in Governor Whitmer’s state budget.
Farmers are also supportive of a state-funded cover crop and filter strip cost-share program and immediate efforts to find a dedicated funding source for conservation districts.
Campbell says the advisory council’s February meeting is expected to provide more clarity on legislative actions needed as part of the reauthorization process.
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