U.S. farmers are fighting the EPA’s recent Waters of the U.S. rule, calling it intrusive. We get an update on how Michigan’s largest farmer’s organization, the Michigan Farm Bureau, is responding and a look at the MFB’s 2016 agenda.
The 2015 harvest is all wrapped up in Michigan, but that doesn’t mean farmers across the state are settling down for a long winter’s nap. Hundreds of producers have been meeting this week in Grand Rapids for the Michigan Farm Bureau’s annual policy meeting. They’re looking to the challenges and opportunities that lay ahead for agriculture in 2016.
Farmers are anxiously waiting for a new energy policy to emerge from the legislature. Drones are a hot topic this year; some farmers are using them to survey their crops; some are worried about their property rights. But perhaps the biggest concern right now is the EPA’s new rules governing water.
Current State’s Kevin Lavery talks with Kris Wardin. He’s a dairy farmer from Clinton County who serves on the Michigan Farm Bureau policy development committee. He says farmers don’t like the bureaucracy the new federal water regulations will impose.