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.