Agriculture

Demand high, supplies tight for some Michigan-grown organic foods

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By WEI YU
Capital News Service
LANSING – Even during economic recession, Karen Lubbers, an owner of the Lubbers Family Farm in Grand Rapids, faces the challenges of growing demand at her small organic farm. It sells beef, pork, lamb and eggs. “Our sales increase every year,” Lubbers said. “We generally sell out of both beef and pork. During the summer months, we sell out of eggs regularly as well.”
The supply from Lubbers Farm is often hardly enough meet the demand.

Agriculture

Michigan farmers eye exports to Colombia

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By JON GASKELL
Capital News Service
LANSING — Colombia could be the next big market for Michigan agricultural products, as representatives from the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development tour the South American country, looking to capitalize on recent free trade agreements and to open new markets for state-grown products. Department Director Keith Creagh said Michigan wants to increase its global market share for agricultural commodities, a sector that has seen exports grow 10 percent between 2009 and 2010. Jamie Zmitko-Somers, the department’s international marketing manager, said Colombian buyers are enthusiastic about importing more Michigan commodities like apples, soybeans, blueberries, cherries, corn and dry beans. “What we’ve heard from buyers is they want American products and they know that Michigan has a reputation for high-quality produce,” Zmitko-Somers said. Over the next 15 years, Colombia will eliminate several tariffs on U.S. agricultural products.

Agriculture

Farm program expansion could reduce pollution

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By XINJUAN DENG
Capital News Service
LANSING — A proposal to increase state spending on the Michigan Agriculture Environmental Assurance Program (MAEAP) would reduce pollution from farm operations in the next few years, advocacy groups said. The voluntary program helps farmers evaluate their operation and make them economically and environmentally sustainable. More than 1,000 verifications have occurred in the past decade. The Snyder administration said the $1 million proposed for 2012-13 could pay off with five times that many verifications by 2015. If approved by the Legislature, it would almost double state funding for the program from this year’s $586,400.

Agriculture

Feds revisit proposed limits on young workers

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By PATRICK HOWARD
Capital News Service
LANSING – Faced with considerable opposition from state farmers, the U.S. Department of Labor is reconsidering regulations that would exclude children 16 and younger from most farm work. The regulations would prohibit young people from milking cows, feeding cattle, stacking hay bales higher than 6 feet, picking fruit from ladders more than 6 feet tall and operating basic farm equipment – except on farms wholly owned by their parents. Rep. Kevin Cotter, R-Mt Pleasant, said the proposed rule is a case of the federal government over-stepping its boundaries and playing the role of “expert” in an area it knows nothing about. Cotter said many farmers have contacted him in opposition to the regulations, indicating the measure’s unpopularity. “Agriculture is the second-largest industry in the state,” Cotter said.

Agriculture

Farm exports rising, new markets sought

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By WEI YU
Capital News Service
LANSING – With a new South Korea Free Trade Agreement, state officials are pushing hard for more Michigan-based companies to sell their products abroad. The pact eliminated all duties such as tariffs and import quotas and virtually all other restrictions on trade between the two countries. The most recent figures show Michigan ranks eighteenth in the United States for agricultural exports, with a total value of $1.75 billion. It is the seventh-largest exporting state for fruit and processed fruit products and the ninth-largest exporter of vegetables and vegetable products, according to the state Department of Agriculture. More than one-third of Michigan agricultural commodities are exported each year.

Environment

State wants federal OK on chemical to fight apple blight

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By BRIAN BIENKOWSKI
Capital News Service
LANSING – The state is seeking federal permission to use an unregistered pesticide on up to 10,000 acres of apples trees that are susceptible to a deadly disease. The bacteria causing the disease have grown resistant to current treatments, agricultural experts say. The spray-on fungus killer, an antibiotic called kasugamycin, would control fire blight, which has been on the uptick in Michigan orchards the past few springs. The bacterial disease attacks apple and pear trees’ blossoms, shoots and limbs. Branches, leaves and trees look scorched when infected.