While a large number of ag groups support a bill in Michigan’s Senate that continues the state’s voluntary environmental stewardship program on farms, some details are under debate.
Ben Tirrell with Michigan Farm Bureau tells Brownfield Senate Bill 494 introduced by state Senator Kevin Daley continues current fertilizer and pesticide fees which support the Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program, or MAEAP, and provides some enhancements including shifting funds within the program.
“It takes some ancillary activities that weren’t really being conducted by MAEAP that don’t perhaps belong as part of the MAEAP program and just moves them to another piece of statute where those could potentially be funded conducted in an intentional way,” he says.
