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Supplemental bill would bring major dollars to Michigan ag

A $1.4 billion one-time investment in Michigan agriculture aims to make major improvements in infrastructure, food distribution, and other areas of one of the state’s largest industries.

“We will shorten the supply chain channels, making sure we have secure, safe, and nutritional food available for all.”

State Senator and bill sponsor Roger Victory tells Brownfield part of the funding is earmarked for needs in rural communities which aren’t equipped to support processors that want to locate near where needed commodities are grown.

“Sometimes these larger processors might be bringing up to a half a billion dollars of investments in, but they would overstrain the municipal water treatment plant and a community might have 3,000 people there—how do they balance that out?” he shares.

Michigan Farm Bureau’s Rebecca Park says funding priorities fall into three buckets: food security; education, workforce, and talent; and rural development and agriculture infrastructure.

“I’m hoping that this covers so many different portions of the industry that we can work together and come with one unified voice to the legislature to talk about the need for this important investment,” she says.

Other major dollars would address labor housing, bovine mitigation efforts, research infrastructure upgrades at Michigan State University, broadband, and innovation funding.

Senate Bill 885 has been referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee for consideration.