Preserve Michigan's Right to Farm Act
Speak up at the Public Comment Period this Wednesday or Send an Email!
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Livestock on land zoned for residential
use will no longer be protected!
Preserve the Michigan
Right to Farm Act and
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Wednesday Jan. 22, starting at 9 a.m.
State Secondary Complex
General Office Building, Room A
7150 Harris Drive
Dimondale, MI 48813 [directions]
Michigan has the best Right to Farm Act (RTFA) in the country; under the RTFA, all Michigan citizens have the right to farm as long as they are a commercial operation (with no minimum sales requirement to be considered commercial under the law) and the farm is following applicable generally accepted agricultural and management practices (GAAMPs) issued by the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD).
The protection that Michigan's RTFA provides to suburban and urban farms on non-ag zoned land is now in jeopardy, however, due to proposed revisions to the GAAMPs from MDARD.
MDARD has issued GAAMPs for "Site Selection" to help determine the suitability of sites for livestock production facilities. Until now this site selection criteria applied only to larger agricultural operations, not to farms in urban and suburban areas; under the proposed revision, the Site Selection GAAMP would apply to any farm with livestock.
The proposal states that "sites that are exclusively zoned for residential use . . . are not acceptable locations for livestock facilities regardless of [the] number [of livestock]. Confining livestock in these locations does not conform to the siting GAAMP." In other words, those with livestock on land exclusively zoned for residential use will no longer be protected by RTFA.
This move by MDARD is unjustifiable. In the words of attorney Michelle Halley, who successfully represented FTCLDF members Randy and Libby Buchler in a right-to-farm case one year ago,
"The agency can't rewrite the law. They have only the authority to carry it out as the legislature intended. If they're going beyond that, they're violating the separation of powers. Period."
Speak up at the public comment period on Wednesday, January 22, starting at 9 a.m.
Can't attend the public comment period? See what else you can do below!
Please share this alert with friends and family.
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What You Can Do
The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) is meddling with the Right to Farm Act! Please speak up at the public comment period or via email!
1. Voice your support for the Michigan Right to Farm Act at the public comment period scheduled for Wednesday, January 22, 2014, beginning at 9 a.m. in the State Secondary Complex General Office Building, Room A at 7150 Harris Drive, Dimondale, MI 48813.
2. Email comments by 5 p.m., January 22nd to [email protected].
The most important story to tell is yours. Let MDARD and the Commissioners know why it is important to you that all citizens in Michigan have a right to participate in the production of their own food, wherever they live.
Talking Points for your public comment or email:
1. According to the law, changes to the GAAMPs should be based on scientific evidence; no evidence has been provided that supports the current changes to the Site Selection GAAMPs.
2. According to the law, changes to the GAAMPs should be for purposes of improved public health or the environment; no evidence has been provided that small farms in residentially zoned areas are a threat to public health or the environment.
3. The proposed changes create language in the GAAMPs that contradicts the language of the law (that is, the GAAMPs require zoning to regulate Livestock Facilities while the Law prohibits zoning from regulating them). While the Agriculture Commission has the authority to change the language of the GAAMPs, they do NOT have the authority to change the meaning of the law, and that is what this change attempts to do.
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Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit [EIN 20-8605130], defends the rights and broadens the freedoms of family farms and artisan food producers while protecting consumer access to raw milk and nutrient-dense foods. Learn more About Us or read the FTCLDF 2012 Summary.
Membership benefits include the possibility of representation in court; the Fund typically pays for all court costs. The Fund is not an insurance company and cannot guarantee representation on all legal matters. Your membership fees and donations help to keep local food sources available and preserve family farms facing unjust enforcement actions.
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Please forward this alert to others who are concerned about protecting locally-sourced nutrient-dense foods and preserving sustainable small family farms and artisan food producers as well as defending the rights to sell and to access the foods of one's choice from the source of one's choice.
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