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Michigan House budget plan shifts ag funding, boosting animal ag research while cutting MAEAP staff

Michigan House Republicans have approved a budget that would cut funding and staff at the state’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development by almost 10 percent.

Appropriations subcommittee chair Ken Burton told members during this week’s meeting many programs have been reduced to their three-year average actual spending levels.

“We’re not cutting off the most vulnerable at all, he says. “They’re going to continue to receive exactly what they have been receiving and what they’ve been spending.”

Approved by a partisan vote, the proposal would reduce environmental stewardship staff, including those with the Michigan Agriculture and Environmental Assurance Program, by nearly 40 percent next fiscal year.

Funding for the Michigan Craft Beverage Council would be eliminated, while the committee increased funding for the Michigan Animal Agriculture Alliance by $1.5 million and local conservation districts by $500,000.