Michigan’s Corn Producers Vote Down Proposed Assessment Increase

Feb 29, 2024

Michigan’s corn producers have voted down a proposed assessment increase under the state’s Agriculture Commodities Marketing Act, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development announced today which ran the referendum for the Corn Marketing Program.

MDARD received a total of 1,317 ballots with 107 of those ballots being disqualified as invalid. Of the valid 1,210 referendum ballots to determine whether to increase the assessment of Michigan corn by additional $0.01 per bushel, 583 producers voted yes (48 percent) representing 41,612,583 bushels of corn (43 percent) and 627 producers voted no (52 percent) representing 55,402,313 bushels of corn (57 percent).

For the amendment to pass, more than 50 percent of the producer votes cast, representing more than 50 percent of the total number of bushels represented on the cast ballots, must approve it.

The assessment remains at $0.01 per bushel of Michigan corn as supported by growers during the 2023 referendum.

Source : michigan.gov

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.