Michigan Farm Bureau President Carl Bednarski has appointed nine members to serve on an ad hoc cannabis task force that is charged with developing further policy recommendations for the organization.
The task force includes county Farm Bureau members Tom Piepkow (Calhoun), Brian McKenzie (Cass), Jim Orr (Eaton), Doug Gingrich (Osceola), Christie Apple (Gratiot), Greg Whittaker (Cheboygan), Greg Shooks (Antrim), Christian Kapp (Hiawathaland), and District 8 Director Mike Mulders.
“In 2022 we experienced an influx of cannabis policy recommendations from counties that touched on regulation and oversight, general cultivation, medical and recreational marijuana, and hemp research,” said MFB Industry Relations Specialist Theresa Sisung. “With a myriad of issues surrounding the commodity, the state policy development committee determined we needed to collect more information and hold more discussions to help give the organization direction.”
The committee’s solution was a new state-level policy approved by delegates to the 2022 MFB State Annual Meeting. It reads, in part:
“The task force should consider both regular tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and non-THC cannabis production policies. Task force members should include but not be limited to active MFB members, local officials, those involved in cannabis production and landowners who have rented their land for cannabis production.”
Sisung said the task force will likely focus on regulations, licensing, and landowner challenges, but that the members may decide if there are additional topics they need to review.
Any recommendations made by the task force can be deliberated by county Farm Bureaus and the state policy development committee through the annual policy development process.
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