Members of Michigan’s House Agriculture Committee came away from their latest meeting with a renewed knowledge of Michigan Farm Bureau’s grassroots history — and a new book to share with kids in their districts during March is Reading Month, where lawmakers routinely read to school groups.
Chaired by Rep. Jerry Neyer, an Isabella County Farm Bureau member, the committee also includes fellow Farm Bureau members Rep. Jen Wortz (Branch County Farm Bureau), who serves as vice chair, Rep. Greg Alexander (Sanilac County Farm Bureau), and Rep. Sarah Lightner (Jackson County Farm Bureau).
In her testimony, MFB Legislative Counsel Rebecca Park spoke to the organization's birth in 1919 and how its members have advocated for agriculture and helped inform the public — and lawmakers — about the need for farm-friendly legislation at the local, state and national levels.
“What a lot of people don't know about the Farm Bureau story is that we actually started from a legislative perspective,” Park said. “Our farmers wanted a voice at the Capitol all the way back in 1919, so it's that basis of advocacy and responsibility and helping to tell the members' story, not only to legislators, but also to the general community.”
Park also shared an overview of the MFB Family of Companies' social mission to end childhood hunger in Michigan, along with youth outreach efforts like Farm Crates and the FARM Science Lab.
Her audience followed up with several questions about MFB’s member-driven policies on key agricultural issues.
Afterwards committee members received copies of The Soil in Jackie’s Garden by Peggy Thomas. The accurate-ag book follows Jolie and her faithful rabbit Munchy as they discover how delicious, rewarding and complicated it can be to grow your own food. The book was recently chosen by the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture’s 18th Book of the Year.
Park encouraged lawmakers to read the book to students in their districts during March is Reading Month to boost ag literacy.
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